SEO Tucson Or Tucson SEO Which Do Searchers Use?
November 24, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
SEO Tucson Or Tucson SEO Which Do Searchers Use?
If you ever tired ranking your local business well you will eventually have to choose what keyword phrases that you want to target. This is where understanding searcher behavior plays a huge role. That’s why I am asking which is better to use within my home pages page title. Is it better to target SEO Tucson or Tucson SEO. If you are a carpet cleaner in Tucson you will need to make a choice between Carpet Cleaning Tucson or Tucson Carpet Cleaning.
This is why it is extremely important to understand the search process for most individuals. Most searchers will simply enter what they are looking for. In this case, it would be carpet cleaning. Now, if the searcher did find what they are looking for they will search again. This time they will add there cities name to the search by entering carpet cleaning Tucson into the query box.
I hope you see the point that I am attempting to make here. People don’t usually search by their city and then add the product or service. Yet, everyday I see local websites that target the city first and then the their keyword phrases. What really drives me crazy is when I see SEO provider, some with more than 10 years experience, making this mistake.
Now, I will admit that I made the same mistake when I got into this business. That why my business name is Tucson SEO Solutions and not SEO Solutions Tucson. However, it didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t the best approach after I started using Google Analytic’s.
The reality is that only about 30% of searchers today will ever include the cities name where they are looking to do business. So it makes sense that your focus should be on your products or services then your city. You want your most important keywords to appear first then you indicate the city or area where you do business.
If your website page title reads Tucson Carpet Cleaning you are telling the search engines that Tucson is more important than anything else. And this just isn’t true. Your products or services are the most important words here and not the location.
Now, I can understand when the local business owner makes this mistake. But I become livid when I see SEO providers make this mistake. After all, it’s their job to know how search works so that we can assist other in ranking well.
I just did a search for SEO Tucson and found that my home page, my Twitter page, and one of my YouTube videos are in the top 10 on Google. Of the other 7 other positions on the first page of Google 3 of these use Tucson SEO. That means about 43% of SEO providers in Tucson are getting this wrong.
Folks, this is so sad, as this is Basic SEO 101 stuff here. How can these companies sell services that they lack the rudimentary fundamentals simply baffles me. But their is more to this story. Those who search using the city first are usually your competitors. And they are not actually looking to do business with you.
Website analytic’s prove my point. Those that search using the location first have a much higher bounce rate and and they leave very quickly. They seldom bother to visit other pages because they will never be your customers. Those that use their keywords and then the city have much different behaviors. That’s because they came to fulfill a need, want, or desire. They bounce less, they stay longer, and they visit more pages. That’s because there intend is to do business now or in the future.
It’s been this way ever since I started using analytic’s. So I ask you this which searcher to you want to target. Do you want to get your competitors or those that are likely to become customers?
What say you?
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Do you own a local small business in Tucson, Arizona or elsewhere and you need Google Places SEO or Places Citations services? Then please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 or email me Now!
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Learning Can Be A Tough Task
June 2, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
Learning Can Be A Tough Task
I created my first video which I may eventually post here. It is an introduction video for a link building series that I will be doing for the next two years. I have had a certain amount of fear and self doubt about creating videos. That is why I have put off this day for about a year and a half!
It really was a lot easier than I had imagined, but then I have lots of experience in my past at making radio commercial spots. So I thought that would help. The toughest part was learning how the editing software works. I would by no means ever want to show this in a competition but it did exceed my expectations.
This video also represents a weakness in my marketing program. Videos are a great way to market ones business. It also can be a great source for the link builder. Many sites allow you to use HTML links in the description field for your video. They also can become link magnets when others start linking to your videos.
They also pose a problem when you host them on a blog. They can slow your website down a lot. That’s all I have for now!
Update 05/21/2011: Well, This was originally written last year. I have gotten over my fears and completed over 100 videos. THis has been a very interesting experience indeed.
What say you?
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If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
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Niche SEO What A Concept V 2.0
May 24, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
Niche SEO What A Concept V 2.0
Yes, this is yet, another look down this blogs memory lane. Niche SEO What A Concept is one of the posts that I really enjoyed and I am going to take another look at today.
I have grown to really appreciate Niche SEO and the long tail keyword phrase. The reason is very simple it is very easy to obtain high results rankings when entering into niche markets. As I have often pointed out that local SEO is all about Niche Markets. When you define any product or service by a geographic location you have created a niche market. I still cringe when I see local businesses that still are using Google AdWords to drive traffic to their websites. It is usually a waste of money.
Niche Markets however, are not limited to a single geographic area. For many companies the lack of competitors in their markets define them as niche. My first large account was from a company that I had previously work for in another century. They manufactured dust collection equipment used in manufacturing processes. There is only a very small group of competitors globally for these products. Yet, after eight years their website was doing poorly in the search results.
The interesting challenge for this business was that several other markets were competing in the “dust collection” category. They were competing with direct competitors. They also were competing against vacuum cleaners and home dust collection units. This actually made this niche way more competitive than it would initially appear to be. Fortunately, none of these industries had embraced SEO yet.
As it turned out I was able to rank their site high onto the first page of the Google results for dust collection. This came as a surprise to me. I had originally told them that because of competing industries in this market that this likely would not occur. This is why I like niche markets so much. There is little competition to begin with and most of your competition will likely not be actively deploying SEO or a link building program.
What amazes me even more is that I have been able to conquer dozens of SEO related long tail keyword phrases in an industry that knows the rules and the ropes. This has in most cases been extremely easy to do. I think my brethren often rely on AdWords when they can not succeed in the search results themselves.
I known that I have recently noticed one of my direct competitors here in Tucson has begun to actively use AdWords to gain business. They can’t get business by out ranking me in our home market so they have had to depend on paid traffic. They had an opportunity in the past to outsource to me and choose another path now they pay for almost every visitor.
This is the path many businesses take when they can’t rank well and is so sad because niche markets are so easy to overcome.
Here is the originate post Niche SEO What A Concept:
We live in Tucson, Arizona, which is a website marketing backwater of sorts. Most business owners that I speak with at my many networking events have little knowledge of the services that we provide.
I ran a local SEO meet-up group but we were lucky if 5 people showed up. So it’s not easy to find a group to talk shop with. Desperate to mingle with others in the industry I traveled the 125 miles north to Phoenix to attend an SEO Meet-up group there.
It was run by a woman from New Mexico. She holds the Arizona franchise for a training academy and travels here monthly to provide training and to market herself through this group.
I was especially thrilled by what I had learned at this gathering. The focus of the meeting was to share our favorite SEO tools and website. It’s always nice to come across useful resources, especially the ones that are free.
In a private conversation after the meeting I discovered that this woman had been providing SEO services and training for seven years. Which is to say, a way long time in this industry.
I mentioned that we specialized in niche SEO and she expressed amazement at what she just heard. The concept of Niche SEO seemed about as far away as Yuma, Arizona or her native New Mexico. She explained that she had never heard of niche SEO before today. Actually, I wasn’t sure who was more surprised me or her.
Our version of niche SEO is exactly what the name implies. We offer SEO to niche industries. It’s merely a more focused approach to SEO. We simply go where the competition isn’t. After all, isn’t this what keyword search and long tails are all about? It’s about finding niches that are related to our client’s products or services that others are not using.
What say you?
Our Services:
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Are You Ready To Crush The Competition?
May 11, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
Are You Ready To Crush The Competition?
This was originally posted back in 2009.
Today I am going to take yet, another look at where we are at as an SEO services/website design website. What we have been able to accomplish in 18 months is nothing short of incredible. This website is ranked on the first page of Google nationally anywhere from 8-13 times for keyword searches that include the search engine optimization acronym SEO. When we began designing the new website we knew we had to use a content management system.
This website was originally designed as a static website but it could be regularly updated using a WSYIWYG editor. This was a nice feature but it wasn’t a blog and it lacked the advantages that a content management system offered.
We can’t overstate the value that a blog hosted on your website can have. And there is an even greater advantage for the website that is built using a CMS. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Google likes “fresh content.” A content management system allows you to add content at will. In most cases, this only requires the ability to type.
Most blogging software can easily be set up to automatically ping whatever site you want. A ping is a message that basically says “Yo’ I have added new content over here.” These sites then visit and record a snippet of your updated information and then make it available to others on their website. Technorati is a good example of such a site.
Millions of visitors flock to these sites that aggregate information from other websites. You simply type in your search query hit enter and bingo you have the latest that the blogosphere has to offer. These sites are designed to work best with content management systems.
This is a huge marketing advantage that a content management system has over a static website. Changes on a static website are often only noted by the search engines when they crawl your website. The public at large will miss these changes. Having the ability to ping creates dozens of websites that are providing you a platform to promote your website. Many of these sites that aggregate this information are the busiest n the world. The advantage here goes to the blog or CMS site.
Many of you may be skeptical, so let me provide you with some interesting numbers. This website existed as a static site for the first year. We were able to acquire roughly 1,000 backlinks from relevant blogs and websites during that year. In April of 08 we transitioned to a WordPress website. Then in May we began the process of branding our website through our blog.
At this time we were doing well building a major presence in the local SEO market. We basically own the SERP’s for anything search engine optimization related in Tucson. It took a content management system to be able to become a national SEO player in the search rankings.
When the site became a WordPress website it had no national presence for SEO. The best that we could do was number 35 for local SEO. Four months of blogging has moved us onto the first and second pages for this search. So do I believe in the power of a blog, content management systems, and fresh content, you bet!
In just four months we have acquired more than 5500 backlinks (most of these are industry related.) We have been written about or mentioned in another 30 or so blogs. We have a game plan and we are working that plan. We have already posted 150 articles on the blog. We created some good linkbait and we promote our blog often.
These accomplishments could not have occurred using a static website. I truly believe if a website transitions to a CMS such as WordPress it will begin to crush the competition. You must be prepared to put in the time and effort and If you are motivated and willing to work a specific marketing plan and blog almost daily, then my friends anything is possible. There are no secrets to success, it merely requires desire, a plan properly executed, long hours, and the ability to work smart and not hard.
Update 05/17/2009 After one year as a blog this is what we have to report. Having a blog has allowed us to acquire an additional 8,000 links to our website. Now, we lost about 3,000 links because forums that we actively used went out of business or changed their link policy. Had these changes not occurred that number would be close to 11,000. This has vaulted our website from a regional SEO player to a national leader in SEO search results across multiple keyword phrases. We could not have accomplished this as a static website.
What say you?
Our Services:
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
The Buzz In Local SEO
May 4, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
The Buzz In Local SEO
This was posted back in 2009 and a lot has changed since then.
If you are into providing Local SEO services then you are very much aware of the big changes that are coming to Google’s Local Maps (Local Business Center.) For the rest of you here is what is happening. Please pay attention here if you have a local business.
Google is rolling out a new advertising program it has been appearing in the San Diego and San Francisco markets for a while now. It allows local businesses to purchase ads that appear above the organic search results. These ads are currently highlighted with a blue push pin. So what’s the big deal.
Google generally has marketed this area of the search results to national players and has not gone after local markets. It had left this market basically to Yellow Page type information sites. To make room for this new advertising they have reduced the amount of listings that appear in the maps from 10 to seven. So three businesses will no longer be appearing in their local maps.
The pricing for these ads has not been made public and it will vary by location and by keywords. This has the potential is up end the local SEO cart in a big way. We have already seen the roll outs effects on the maps listings for several weeks. There was been huge shifts in the rankings for almost everyone involved with using Google’s Maps. Most of the information that was being used for maps rankings have been removed.
Google’s algorithm for its Local Business Center listing is different than for its organic results. A lot of weight is given to reviews that appear on other websites or local directory listings. If someone gave you are a review on Yelp then that was a good thing. These mentions on other sites are known as citations. Our listing had 29 citations showing in the Google Maps. It has been reduced to 4! It has been theorized by some that Google rolled back the listings to represent what your listing looked like a year ago and that make sense to me.
This all came at an awkward time for me. I was rolling out my own service offering for local maps when this occurred. I have put these plans on hold till I see how this all works out. Prior to these recent changes we ranked #1 for are primary phrases Tucson SEO and Tucson SEO Solutions. While we still rank #1 for Tucson SEO we now rank # 3 for Tucson SEO Solutions. Also all of my actions over the last two weeks to move the rankings has failed. It appears that new citations are not being added at this time.
If you are interested in placing one of these new ads you will have to have your LBC account verified and this may not be easy. I was updating an unverified account for a client this week and the update got flagged. After doing some research on the LBC help forum I discovered this has been happening a lot lately. I posted a thread asking for assistance two days ago and I have yet to get an answer. However, I did notice that one person from Google has been assigned to answer these threads. So I do still have hope.
So until things get worked out I am holding off offering this service and its full blown marketing push.
Update 05/04/2011: Wow, a lot has changed since I first wrote this article. First Google has changed the Local Business Center to Places. It has rolled out what it calls Places Search which is a major change in its algorithm. Now, Google places emphasis on local search results based on your ip address.
The advertising product that mentioned earlier is now called Boost. However, it is still not available in most markets. It tried something it called tags that sold for $25.00 a month, but has since dropped it.
Yes, in 2011 the buzz is all about Local SEO.
What say you?
Our Services:
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
