As more people begin using search engines to find local businesses and services, many search engines have begun to focus on localized content. This means that when someone searches for "pizza delivery," their top results will include the websites of local restaurants. Webmasters
1. 4 Tips To Localize Your Content
By: Martin Armstrong
As more people begin using search engines to find
local businesses and services, many search engines
have begun to focus on localized content. This
means that when someone searches for "pizza
delivery," their top results will include the websites
of local restaurants. Webmasters can take
advantage of the promotion of local results by
localizing their content so that they achieve higher
search engine rankings, sometimes higher than
websites that are better optimized but are not local.
Here are some of the best ways to localize a
website.
Create Keyword Content Well-Known Areas
Creating keyword content for every area that a business serves is nearly impossible, which is why
webmasters should focus on major metropolitan areas. Google and other search engines will still display
results for the closest businesses and websites to a user, meaning that people do not have to worry
about creating content for little towns and small villages. Instead, webmasters and search engine
optimization professionals should focus on heavily populated areas, which will provide the largest
amount of localized coverage.
Don't Use Clunky Keywords
While Google and other search engines are giving some of their highest search engine rankings to
localized websites, they are still looking for well-written content. Despite the fact that many people
search for terms like "used cars New York," trying to shoehorn those exact phrases into keyword
content will only produce what search engines consider low-quality content. The good news is that
indexing and ranking algorithms are able to connect keyword phrases, so webmasters can localize
content by using the terms "New York" and "used cars" in the same article without having them next to
each other.
Get Listed On Local Review Sites
2. While search engine optimization is mainly based on indexing a website, indexing robots also take cues
from links to a website. To ensure that a website is registered in search engines as localized content,
webmasters should become listed on local review sites. In addition to increasing a website's high-quality
linkback numbers, these listings will also indicate to search engine robots that a website is associated
with a particular geographic location.
Localized Content Is Not Exactly Like SEO
It is also important to note that localized content is not entirely based on keywords. Instead, most
indexing systems look for a number of factors that indicate a website provides localized content, so
repeating the phrase "New York" multiple times may not be as effective as simply putting an address at
the bottom of a web page. This is also why being listed on local review sites is helpful because it
provides a better indicator than a keyword that a website is associated with a particular location.