In this week’s video, I channel my inner Adam and Jamie and do a bit of Local SEO mythbusting. There’s a lot of content out there about Local SEO, and unfortunately, some myths just won’t die – so I share five of the most common Local SEO myths and bust them, so you can be a better marketer.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m channeling my inner Adam and Jamie – ‘cause this week, I’m doing some Local SEO mythbusting.
There is a metric butt ton of content on the internet about Local SEO. For more than a decade, people have been writing content, doing interviews, and creating videos. Not only is a huge amount of content outdated, there are more than a few myths that just won’t die… So people who are new to Local SEO have to sort through the junk to find the info that’s truly helpful.
So I figured I’d do a little mythbusting this week, and shoot down five of the most common Local SEO myths that just won’t die.
Number one: Including important keywords in your Google My Business description helps you rank for those keywords. This never worked in the first place, so I’m not sure why people still think this is a good tactic. The GMB description has zero play in the local algorithm. Write something conversational that describes your business. Don’t worry about keywords, just write something awesome.
Number two: Including important keywords in your review responses will help you rank for those keywords. Again, simply not true. I get where this one comes from though – keywords in reviews will actually help you rank for those keywords. I even made a video about this one… But keywords in review responses absolutely don’t matter when it comes to ranking. Answer the review the right way, and don’t worry about stuffing important keywords into your response.
Number three: Using a call tracking number on your Google My Business listing is bad for SEO. This one actually used to be true. Way back in the early days, it was more important to have the same local number everywhere. Google’s algorithm evolved though, and now it’s perfectly OK to use a tracking number in GMB – in fact, it’s best practice. As long as you include your local number as an alternate, you’ll be perfectly fine.
Number four: Geotagging images helps you rank. This one has been tested again and again, and every time it’s proven that geotagging images has no influence. For some reason, this one won’t die – but it absolutely doesn’t influence visibility.
And number five: Ranking for a specific query is the number one goal of SEO. This one is flawed on several levels. Most importantly, you don’t hire someone to do SEO to get you to rank, you hire someone to do SEO to get you more traffic and more leads. Ranking doesn’t tie in to your bottom line. Also, rank trackers aren’t even accurate, since real world physical location is factored into search results – so rank trackers should really be used for a high level view of trends. I made a video about this as well. Don’t buy into the hype – use the right success metrics or you’re doomed from the start.
That’s all we’ve got for this week, ‘cause we’re out of time – so you know what that means.
Put your hand on the screen right here:
We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome.
Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
