The Internet opens up
worldwide possibilities to even the smallest enterprises and organizations. But
if your business or website is set up only to deal with local or national
clients, local search engine optimization will help you target your customers
and deliver the highest performance. Since Google's country-specific searches
offer diverse rankings compared to Google.com, it is essential to know how to
benefit from local search traffic.
Search engines, like Google, index sites in the most appropriate index they have, thus a UK-based website will be primarily indexed and ranked in the Google.co.uk search results. But country-targeted sites seeking top placement in search results should not only target their audience but also prepare to compete with local sites. They should be flexible in their approach and country specific SEO techniques. You have to be aware that the closer a website is to the user, the more relevant it will be to that user.
Below you will find several simple tips that will help you feel assured that the search engines are aware of their site's true geographic location.
Country-Specific
Local SEO Tips
1. Arrange for local domains
and local hosting
The major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Live Search) check Top Level Domain (TLD) names to determine where a website is located. If your site has a Country Code Top Level Domain Name - that is, a domain name that ends in a country code like ".ca" for Canada, ".uk" for the United Kingdom, or ".fr" for France - then your site will be included in the country-specific search results. In most cases, the local TLD will outrank a .com name when it comes to local search results.
Registration criteria differ from country to country. It is fairly easy to register a .co.uk or a .co.nz, whereas registering a .com.au name, for example, involves establishing a business entity inAustralia
The second method search engines use to determine the geographic location of a website is the IP address of the site. If your site is hosted on a server that is physically located in the target country, then that site will be included in country-specific searches, even if you have a generic TLD domain name like ".com", ".net" or ".info".
You can also register and redirect domains from other countries. It's possible to register aUK website with a hosting provider from anywhere
in the world, e.g. the US
2. Include contact
information
Specify your address, location, and contact details in the footer of each page. This will help tell your clients and the search engines that you are a local business. It doesn't really help if you have offices in multiple locations, because mentioning many countries/cities in the footer won't do much for your local profile in each of those places.
3. Take care about language
issues
Take the time to check your spelling and use the type of wording your clients will understand and are familiar with. Different English-speaking countries use different spellings and different words in their specific use of the English language, so you should use the most appropriate for the country you are targeting. For example, if you are optimizing a US-based travel portal, you will use "vacation". However, searchers from theUK ,
Australia and New Zealand
In targeting different countries you encounter the problem of mirror content when you simply put the same content to your websites located on different domains. You might think Web pages translated into different languages avoid the mirror content problem. Not really. You have to remember marketing demands will be different among English-speaking readers in American,Canada ,
New Zealand
In performing local optimization, you need to adhere to local approaches. For example, theUSA sales language is more direct compared with
the tone adopted in Australia ,
the UK and New Zealand
4. Get local inbound links
Search engine spiders consider the inbound links that form your link profile. Inbound links from local TLDs will help you to get into the top results of local search engines. Try to gain links from local business partners, chambers of commerce, government agencies, suppliers, etc.
Local directories are also very userful, particularly local Yellow Pages such as Yellow Pages Australia, Yellow Pages New Zealand, and Yell (UK). Listings in the regional sections of the DMOZ, Yahoo, and BestOfTheWeb global directories will also help to improve local link popularity.
5. Make use of Google
Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools help you control the country association of your content. Country specification will help determine how your site appears in search engine country-specific search results, and also improves your search results for geographic queries. You can set specification on a domain, sub-domain and directory level.
If you don't want to go to the effort of setting up structures in other countries, the alternative is to set up a Google Webmaster Tools account for the site you have and specify which country you are targeting.
This is one of the most simple but effective methods. Here is the four-step process of Google Webmaster Tools specification:
6. Submit to Google Local
Business Center
Google Local Business Center offers you free listing on Google Maps. When potential customers search Google Maps for local information, they will easily find information about your business: your contact details, hours of operation, even coupons to print out and bring to your shop. You may edit your listing to have your Google Map results updated in a few weeks. Google Local Business Center may be of help even if you don't have a website of your own.
Search engines, like Google, index sites in the most appropriate index they have, thus a UK-based website will be primarily indexed and ranked in the Google.co.uk search results. But country-targeted sites seeking top placement in search results should not only target their audience but also prepare to compete with local sites. They should be flexible in their approach and country specific SEO techniques. You have to be aware that the closer a website is to the user, the more relevant it will be to that user.
Below you will find several simple tips that will help you feel assured that the search engines are aware of their site's true geographic location.
Country-Specific
Local SEO Tips
1. Arrange for local domains
and local hostingThe major search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Live Search) check Top Level Domain (TLD) names to determine where a website is located. If your site has a Country Code Top Level Domain Name - that is, a domain name that ends in a country code like ".ca" for Canada, ".uk" for the United Kingdom, or ".fr" for France - then your site will be included in the country-specific search results. In most cases, the local TLD will outrank a .com name when it comes to local search results.
Registration criteria differ from country to country. It is fairly easy to register a .co.uk or a .co.nz, whereas registering a .com.au name, for example, involves establishing a business entity in
The second method search engines use to determine the geographic location of a website is the IP address of the site. If your site is hosted on a server that is physically located in the target country, then that site will be included in country-specific searches, even if you have a generic TLD domain name like ".com", ".net" or ".info".
You can also register and redirect domains from other countries. It's possible to register a
Specify your address, location, and contact details in the footer of each page. This will help tell your clients and the search engines that you are a local business. It doesn't really help if you have offices in multiple locations, because mentioning many countries/cities in the footer won't do much for your local profile in each of those places.
Take the time to check your spelling and use the type of wording your clients will understand and are familiar with. Different English-speaking countries use different spellings and different words in their specific use of the English language, so you should use the most appropriate for the country you are targeting. For example, if you are optimizing a US-based travel portal, you will use "vacation". However, searchers from the
In targeting different countries you encounter the problem of mirror content when you simply put the same content to your websites located on different domains. You might think Web pages translated into different languages avoid the mirror content problem. Not really. You have to remember marketing demands will be different among English-speaking readers in American,
In performing local optimization, you need to adhere to local approaches. For example, the
Search engine spiders consider the inbound links that form your link profile. Inbound links from local TLDs will help you to get into the top results of local search engines. Try to gain links from local business partners, chambers of commerce, government agencies, suppliers, etc.
Local directories are also very userful, particularly local Yellow Pages such as Yellow Pages Australia, Yellow Pages New Zealand, and Yell (UK). Listings in the regional sections of the DMOZ, Yahoo, and BestOfTheWeb global directories will also help to improve local link popularity.
Google Webmaster Tools help you control the country association of your content. Country specification will help determine how your site appears in search engine country-specific search results, and also improves your search results for geographic queries. You can set specification on a domain, sub-domain and directory level.
If you don't want to go to the effort of setting up structures in other countries, the alternative is to set up a Google Webmaster Tools account for the site you have and specify which country you are targeting.
This is one of the most simple but effective methods. Here is the four-step process of Google Webmaster Tools specification:
Click on Tools
Set Geographic Target
Associate a geographic location with this
site, and finally
Select the Country or Region you want to
target
Remember, this feature is
restricted to sites with a country code top-level domain. They will be
targeting their country accordingly.Google Local Business Center offers you free listing on Google Maps. When potential customers search Google Maps for local information, they will easily find information about your business: your contact details, hours of operation, even coupons to print out and bring to your shop. You may edit your listing to have your Google Map results updated in a few weeks. Google Local Business Center may be of help even if you don't have a website of your own.
I find that companies without a digital strategy (and many that do) don't have clear strategic goals for what they want to achieve online in terms of gaining new customers or building deeper relationships with existing ones. And if you don't have goals you likely don't put enough resources to reach the goals and you don't evaluate through analytics whether you're achieving those goals.
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