SEO agencies are always after big-name, big-spend clients, but the reality is our bread and butter is usually made up of a large number of smaller accounts. With only a few hours each month how can we as SEO specialists make a difference on a small account?
1. Think Local
What’s your client’s target market? The majority of small businesses operate locally, so their SEO strategy should reflect this.
First of all, you should ensure your client’s website is listed in all relevant directories. You can quickly check this using something like the Moz Local online tool or similar, which provides a score based upon their current online listings. You can also use Moz Local to add your client’s website to the relevant directories, and maintain the data from one place. Whilst this involves a small, annual cost, it gives you back time to spend on other activities, so it is perfect for any small business clients who rely on showing up for local search results.
It’s extremely important for you to ensure your client’s NAP footprint (name, address and phone number) remains consistent. Ensure their NAP is consistent throughout their website and on all directory listings – the Googe+ Local (Google Places) listing being the most important to keep consistent with.
If any of the details are inconsistent, Google may not assign the listing to your client’s business, which means their authority will be split over alternative listings, rather than combined.
A good way to strengthen the link between the onsite NAP info and that on other sites is to use Schema local business mark-up to tell search engines exactly what text is referring to the NAP details onsite and what each section of the text is referring to (i.e. what is the street, what is the city etc.). Google has a really hand tool that allows you to input a client’s details and it will spit out the mark-up for you, so you can easily implement it (or ask the client’s developer to implement if necessary).
5 Actionable and Effective SEO Tips for Small Business Clients
