Local SEO Checklist with Tips and Education

• Google Analytics
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Bing Webmaster Center

Step 2. Local search is likely to drive the majority of your traffic. These are the most important places to submit:

• • Yahoo Local
  • Google MyBusiness
  • Bing Local
  • Ask City
  • CitySearch (data on this site feeds Ask.com and Bing)
  • Yelp (data on this site feeds Bing and Yahoo)

Step 3. Submit to other directories

Submit your website to industry specific directories if there are any.

Step 4. Create and submit sitemaps

Create a sitemap. Then login to Google Webmaster Central and Bing Search Webmaster Tools and submit it.

• Help for getting reviews.
  https://www.whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator
• If at all possible, don’t use cookie cutter product descriptions. Come up with your own unique descriptions and try to localize them.
• Leverage your events and anything unique about your business or products as much as possible for your blog and social media strategy.
• Make sure you have a social media strategy.

Tips from Ryan at Strider SEO:

• The quick hits are NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) consistency, doing the leg work for local citations (if you don’t have the budget to pay for them), and of course a claimed Google My Business page.
• Using neighborhood names in the product names is a nice touch, too.
• Don’t be afraid to use local references and neighborhoods in the written directions to your shop.

Tips from Bob at Threadless Media

• Make sure your product page descriptions are well written, with relevant content and up to 250 characters.
• Make sure you Google map address update is complete.
• Get reviews, many reviews!
  
• Make sure your business name, address and phone number is consistent across all directories.

Tips from us, here at epicShops:

1) Blog, blog, blog. Google loves to see new content on your website. Be sure to use key words that you think customers would use to search for your business in a search engine. For example, if you owned a florist, Red Roses in Portland Oregon could be your blog post title. Then in the body of your blog post talk about red roses or floral care with a couple of product images that link to their respected product page.

2) Moz Local is an excellent service that will push your website listings to all the major data aggregators. Cost: $84 a year per website