Want More Local Web Leads? Target Local + Country Search Content.

Localizing Content Can Bring Lead Generation and Search Engine Success.

Focusing SEO and PPC into optimizing key local country search campaigns can be effective and very profitable.

So why localize webpage content, when appropriate? Because it works... really well. The quality leads I see generated every day on a global basis generated from localized webpages tell me we're on the right track, and getting leads we may have missed otherwise.

Localized Search Optimization
will produce additional quality leads.

Targeting localized search is another example of using long-tail search marketing tactics. There is extra work ahead in order to succeed and dominate in location focused search results. Adding localized content also means thinking through how to harmonize such pages with more global, "generic" content pages which are located on the same website. Assuming the website is global and one language (English), webpage duplication must be minimized, and cross-linking must be logical.

This article will focus on localized content on webpages for localized SEO in English.

There are very effective localization tools which will not be discussed in this article, such as Geo-targeting call-to-actions and using Google's Local Search Listings. These SEO tools deserve their own time.

Another extremely powerful technique to dominate local search, not covered here, is the creation of additional language (Spanish, French, German, Chinese, etc) and language specific country websites (Mexico, Spain, France, Germany, China, etc). This tactic also deserves separate time and attention.

So, how does localized search work, and when should you create local content webpages in addition to generic content pages?

First, be aware that Google operates different search engine websites for different countries. The results on those national search engines will serve up different results than Google.com, in English and especially in the local language. In English, don't assume that if your page is doing well with organic SERP on www.google.com, that the page will also do as well on www.google.co.uk!

It really doesn't matter if your business is global (like mine), or national, regional, and local. People will search for goods and services millions of different ways. Adding location to a search query is a common search tactic, and using location in a search may indicate a high quality prospect is looking for a vendor. That global vendor may as well be you.

For example, I may have a global generic-content webpage focused on "Turbo Ionic Cleaners". The page is global in scope, and any visitor will see content geared to a global audience. It works really well on www.google.com.

But what about a potential customer in India who wants to know more about "Turbo Ionic Cleaners in India"? If all goes well, my generic page will hopefully rank on www.google.co.in. But if that market is big enough, a competitor may feel it worth building a webpage all about "Turbo Ionic Cleaners in India", and their webpage will have specific references to India and the Indian market. I suspect their India focused webpage will easily outrank mine on search results. In fact, my generic page may not even appear in organic listings, depending upon the search query.

This makes complete sense. Google wants to serve up the most relevant results possible. If a searcher adds local information like country, state, city, even street, Google will ruthlessly sort out results which fall outside those search terms.

So adding local content to a localized webpage designed to target locally focused search can be successful and expand the potential market audience you can reach. The trick is to make sure the page is not duplicating a generic webpage, but is rather complementing the generic page and 'orbiting' it in terms of hierarchy.

Once a new webpage is developed which meets localized country-specific content criteria, consider launching niche Adwords and BING campaigns to further support this page in the country or market being targeted.

Local search content is a variant of long-tail content search. If you want quality leads, go long-tail.

Even with English being commonly used across the world for technical search term queries, adding local intent into search terms can greatly impact search result rankings. Becoming aware of these variations and exploiting for local markets can make a big difference in lead generation.

Niche Organic Search Can Dominate for Quality Lead Generation

Long-tail search SERP home-runs can be achieved, if you know your target market language. 

I've just achieved one of those relatively rare, enjoyable SEO events where some of my niche technical service webpages dominate the top three organic search spots for one key search term, out of over 3,200,000 indexed pages... along with the number two spot on Adwords. Rarely, some of my webpages even achieved the top four organic SERP results, a "grand slam", beating out millions of other indexed pages.

SEO Niche is Nice:
How did I do this? Long-tail search exploitation is the main answer. Finding service niches and exploiting them. Often, just creating a new, cross-indexed, market-niche, sub-category webpage with relevant content will do the job nicely for top SEO results.

Niche Content Benefits SEO.

Focusing on location is another powerful way to differentiate a webpage and catapult it to the top of the SERPS. With proper research and reflection, this sort of niche long-tail SEO success can be duplicated many times. You'll get less visitors to these niche pages, but visitor quality will be higher. For business-to-business technical web marketing, I'll take quality visitors over quantity any day.

Can I rest on my laurels? Never. SEO is a lead generation contest that never ends.

For every SEO victory, there is another SEO challenge. For example, while building overwhelming success with one long-tail search term, another location-specific search term gave me "good" results, but the page I really expected to be top-ranked is not listed on page one, yet. OK, so is it time to think, analyze and take action? It is a newer page, but to ensure that new page ranks in the top results, I must monitor for it, and if results in a few weeks are not satisfactory I'll have to work on optimizing that new page.
Winning at SEO takes skill, analytical ability, productivity, a search-friendly website, patience, work, and persistence. 

Think Local for Great Organic Search Results.

Local + Generic Content SEO: New Web-page gets Google Top Ranking in less than 24 Hours.
A very successful organic search engine marketing tactic is to target local content searches for your product or service. Build relevant, precise web-pages geared towards specific locations and the business services/products you offer... then watch the leads come in. Using local search tactics is a classic form of long-tail search marketing optimization, with proven results.

Local  Search SEO can bring Big Business Benefits.

By "local", I mean a specific geographic area - - which can be as large as a state or province, and as small as a town or neighborhood. When the geographic targeting is combined with your targeted service or product, excellent search results can occur quickly.... resulting in more lucrative business enquiries for you, and less for your hapless competitors.

To give an example, I recently built a new web-page targeting a few niche technical services for a geographically targeted area - - a state in the USA, in this case. In less than 16 hours after going live, this newly minted web-page is scoring in the top 5 organically ranked web-pages listed on Google, beating out another 8 million web-pages indexed by Google per search, on average, to get these coveted positions. And the page is ranking very high for a variety of quality searches I want to be ranked on.

So quality content and geographic targeting for a new webpage resulted in top Google organic search rankings in less than 24 hours. Not all first attempts will be so successful. And even with this excellent debut, the new page is not yet ranking for other desired searches, so I'll monitor and tweak the content as needed. When it comes to successful SEO results, everything is always a work in progress!
A related topic for small business: Getting leads and promoting your business with a limited ad budget.

Connect with Erik Holladay on Linkedin.

Stuck with an Old Webpage? Don't Hit "Delete" Just Yet!

As good B-to-B web marketers, we've all been there before: One of your business units, locations, brands comes to you with a request: "Hey, we stopped making right-handed widgets.... now we make left-handed widgets. Please make a new webpage for left-hand widgets and delete the old page for right-hand widgets - - the old page is no good anymore !"

Before you kill the old page and build a new replacement page, consider your options and consequences! 

Killing a webpage without proper thought and evaluation can cause self-inflicted damage with search engine optimization and lead generation. Salvaging an old webpage and putting it to new use can help bring in more business. The situation with worthy old webpages is not unlike keeping a valuable older building and renovating it for new uses... this can be far more profitable than simply knocking it down and being stuck with an empty lot full of weeds.

Over the years, I have enjoyed consistent, often exceptional, SEO and lead generation success from keeping, transforming and focusing select old webpages to new tasks, with many of the pages ranking in the top 5 organic search results for key search terms, against tens of millions of other indexed webpages.

That old 'obsolete' page can be transformed into a formidable niche or lower-level webpage - - targeting a very concise precise service, feature, topic. If linked to a bigger cluster of related business pages, you may be able to transform that old webpage into a new search engine 'category killer' for some valuable long-tail search terms - - a great quality lead generation win.

To Be or Not to Be: Points to consider when looking at an old webpage's future:

1. Can the old webpage still sit in your service/product offerings? Can it still fill a supporting role, or valuable niche of some sort, with proper modification? Is the URL for the old page a relatively neutral factor in terms of name and structure? If yes, then the page is a candidate for salvage and renewal.

2. How does the old webpage perform in Google and other search engines for organic search? If the page is achieving high search rankings, it is absolutely a serious candidate for salvage and renewal... or intelligent redirecting.

3. If, on the other hand, the old webpage cannot obviously fill a supporting or new role on your website, or search rankings are poor, then the page is a candidate for redirect to a new page, with a lower risk of lead generation damage.

4. But never just simply kill or delete a old webpage. This will cause broken links, not good for visitors and search engines. Instead, 301 redirect the old page to the new webpage you want to replace it. The old page may rank on Google for awhile, but the redirected link will take visitors to the new page so potential customers don't drop out due to a bad link. Redirects preserve visitor 'favorites' so they can find you again, and allows visitors to navigate to the new webpage from the old page listed on search engine results, a temporary but important period of time. Properly 301'ing helps impart any SEO success the old page had onto the new page, for a while. Eventually, over time, the new page must achieve organic search engine ranking on its own.

5. Housekeeping is important when redirecting to a new webpage. Internal links to the old webpage on your website should be changed to point to the new replacement webpage. Paid Search campaigns should be updated as well.

Every public webpage on your website has history, search engine rankings, 'favorites' followers, and internal navigation linkage. So before simply deleting and redirecting an old webpage, take some time to review the page, where and how it sits in your offerings, what function is it performing, and what potential uses that page has for the future. Perhaps with some modification and optimization, that old webpage can become renewed, working as a formidable niche asset for your SEO and lead generation efforts.