SearchEngineOptimisation.com, only one way up

We often point out how important local SEO and link building in the UK is for smaller businesses when trying to attract a more targeted clientele in their area. But exactly how important is local SEO for larger brands? The online arm of the Yellow Pages, Yell.com, appear to be putting all of their weight behind local search for the future of their business, to compete against the likes of Google and Groupon.

Yell.com’s shares fell by more than 10 per cent on Tuesday, leading chief executive Michael Pocock to announce changes in the company’s online strategy, which will be officially unveiled in June. 25 per cent of Yell’s revenue is made up from its digital media accounts, and Michael’s looking for a more aggressive online approach for the future.

“Is it too late? No way. There is a lot of opportunity for us to keep the position we have enjoyed for years in print. We have to become relevant in digital media. We are moving, we just have to have a more robust, well thought through strategic plan.”

Michael is looking for the company to do what it does best moving forward, supplying local information as one of the UK’s largest listings and directories. But the new strategy is also being introduced to stop the company breaching financial covenants with banks, as Yell finance director, Tony Bates, explains:

“It will get to a point in 2012 where we will get very close to the limits. Some scenarios could see us get close this year, others in 2013. But that is only on a ‘business as usual’ basis whereas there are a number of levers we can and will be using.”

So Yell looking to expand on their local roots, and are looking to make a bigger impact online than they have done in the past. It’ll be interesting to see how they plan to keep Google and others at bay, and if they can provide something different than the norm.

Selecting an SEO agency is not straightforward. It is a decision which can have significant ramifications for a firm’s progress. It is important for a firm’s management to take some time and reflect on how best to choose between the available SEO services before any contract is signed. There is an awful lot of choice which makes it harder for site owners to discriminate between what is on offer. Fortunately it is possible to indicate some aspects of SEO which may be relevant to those obliged to distinguish between competing offers.

At SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk we provide good advice to site owners through our content provision. The central point is that SEO is not a science and that each site requires its own recipe of coordinated techniques. These techniques have to change because keeping ahead of the competition and being in tune with the evolution of the sphere of search is absolutely essential.

There are several factors which should be appreciated when a manager is deciding between SEO firms. It is not possible to list them in order of priority because what is of most importance will vary from site to site. Nevertheless, the process listing factors requires them to be put in an order. Firstly, it is important to reflect on the budget which the firm is willing to spend on the campaign. Secondly, it makes good sense to consider the level of experience a firm has. Thirdly, looking at client testimonials can provide a firm with some idea of past performance. Fourthly, studying the quality of the content on the site should give a firm an appreciation of how efficient a SEO firm is likely to be. Also, an inquiry by telephone should permit a manager to assess the SEO outfit’s awareness of various issues. Conducting a reasonable amount of research before making the decision is an obvious necessary if the process is to be performed astutely.

How important locality is as a factor is a matter of some debate. The answer is really dependent on the nature of the site owner’s firm. It is possible to make the obvious point that it is the cost and quality of the SEO that is of primary importance. However, other factors being more or less equal, firms may prefer to go with a local provider of SEO because of at least three quite persuasive reasons.

If the site owner runs a business which does most of its business locally it may benefit from outsourcing its SEO to a firm which has some knowledge of the local context. This knowledge can help with keyword research, for example. If the site owner wants an SEO company to appreciate aspects of the local culture it may prefer to ‘go local.’ For instance, a firm in the creative industries may do better in a partnership with a firm that has an understanding of various cultural dimensions of the region. Another way in which a local operation can score highly with a site owner is because it is easier and more affordable to arrange face-to-face meetings which can be useful at cementing mutual trust.

If a user is searching for a type of company or service within a specific area, then the location becomes one of the most important aspects. When it comes to searching for local companies it is of course important that the location of your business is present within your main content and keywords, to enable search engines to pick up on it. The actual service or product which you are offering should also be clear and concise and present in keywords to enable your site to be ranked correctly. All that being said, there can be too much of a good thing, and one thing which we at SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk see far too often is the over use of SEO and keywords within content.

An example of this is when the content on a site does not flow naturally and is not particularly easy to read. Instead it is crammed full of keywords and phrases in different variations just so that it ranks higher within SERP’s. Granted, this is a good thing in theory, however if your site content looks shabby and forced then it is not user friendly at all and people clicking through to your site are unlikely to stick around.

An example of over forced and keyword packed content could be something along the lines of the following. Let us say for argument’s sake, that you are a company offering homemade curtains in Birmingham. Of course, you need to get in various forms of search phrases but a bad example could be something along the lines of, ’If you are looking for home made curtains in Birmingham then look no further. We provide homemade curtains in Birmingham and surround and are proud of our services. Our curtains are the best made to measure homemade curtains Birmingham has to offer and you will not find better curtains in Birmingham. The problem with this content is that it is too jam packed with ‘curtains’ and Birmingham’ that you almost cannot see the woods for the trees and as a reader are just overwhelmed by keywords. An SEO campaign that relies on techniques such as this won’t result in long term benefits as the resulting content isn’t good for human users.

Most search engines nowadays do not require or approve of this much keyword stuffing. They are much more advanced and smarter than this and can recognise what services you have to offer much easier than this. The likes of Google and Bing in fact favour more solid content which reads naturally and appears to be original. Rather than over egg it, try to just write clear, informative and fresh content about your services.

To tick the locality box you can always introduce other pages which are just specifically about the area you are based. It can also be a good idea to broaden the area, so for the Birmingham example you may want to include the Midlands as a whole or at least areas such as Coventry, Solihull, and Sutton Coldfield etc. Writing clever and interesting content will still enable you to rank high within the SERPs but it will also be attractive to customers and encourage them to convert to a sale.