STEP 7: WIX SEO COURSE - Off page essentials!

Off-page essentials consists of 3 things:

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1. Google My Business

2. Citations / Directory listings

3. Link building

 

Google My Business

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What is Google My Business?

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It is a way for your customers located in the same area (town/city) as you, to find your business easier through the Google Maps feature.

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Why is Google My Business important?

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1. Once you get your business ranked in the three-pack (the maps section on the search results page), you have twice the chance of someone local contacting your business.

2. The three-pack appears above the organic listings.

3. Your customers can find your physical location easier.

 

How do I create a Google My Business listing?

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1. Sign into your Google account or create one.

2. Click https://www.google.com/business/ or search ‘Google My Business’.

3. Click the blue ‘Manage now’ button at the top right.

4. Type in your business name.

5. Click ‘Create a business with this name’.

6. Add your business category.

7. Click ‘Yes’ if you want your customers to come to you.

8. Add your full address.

9. Add your contact details and website.

10. Click ‘Finish’.

 

Once your Google My Business account is created, add as much information as possible.

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• Opening hours

• Logo

• Images

• Description

• Video

• Etc…

 

How do you get ranked in the 3 pack?

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There are over fifty different things you need to consider when gaining a top three ranking within Google Maps. Below are the top 10 priority things you should consider…

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1. Select the right primary category. Look at your main competitors to see what GMB category they have used.

2. Having your main keyword in the business name. ONLY if your business name includes your main keyword.

3. Distance between your address and the person performing the search. Nothing you can do about that.

4. Your address matches the city/town of search criteria.

5. Additional GMB categories. Only if they are applicable.

6. The number of local businesses linking to your website who have good quality and authority.

7. The sentiment of your reviews.

8. High Google Rating score (4.8/5.0).

9. The number of quality reviews.

10. Removal of spam competitor listings.

 

Citations / Directory listings

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What is a citation?

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It is simply a listing of your business information that displays on a single page of an external website.

 

Citations can also be referred to as NAP listings – Name, Address & Phone.

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Why are citations important?

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• The more times your Name, Address and Phone number is mentioned on quality third part websites, it is a trust signal to Google that you are genuinely located in that town.

• When someone searches your brand name on Google, you have a better chance of securing all the ten organic spots.

• Although, directories are not as used as they once was, you might just directly receive a quality lead.

 

NOTE:

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Citation building is NOT link building. The links (your website URL) from directories carry extraordinarily little SEO value if any as Google has de-valued most of them.

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Which directories should I list my business in?

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• Any directory that is ranking on the first two pages of Google for your main local search term.

• Any local based directories. Just search ‘Miami Business Directory’ (or whatever your location is) and get listed in the ones on the first two pages.

• Any industry related directories. Just search ‘Automotive Business Directory’ (or whatever your industry is) and get listed in the ones on the first two pages.

• Any National based business directories. Just search ‘Business Directory’ and get yourself listed in the ones ranking on the first two pages.

 

Why the first two pages?

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Because Google trust those directories.

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Link Building

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What is link building?

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It is simply the process of getting other websites to link to your website.

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Why is link building important?

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• It is one of the top three ranking factors.

• Unless your business is within a super-niche industry or hyper-local, it is exceedingly rare you ever see a website ranking high with zero backlinks.

• Links have the potential to drive more than just rankings.

 

What should I consider when link building?

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• It is against Google guidelines to simply buy links.

• Securing a backlink from a low-quality website will have zero value.

• A truly natural link is one you do not have control of.

 

How do I perform link building that does not go against Google guidelines?

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Are you a link building robot?

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A link building robot is someone who thinks like…

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• Give me a link coz I’m really, really good.

• My content is really good, so I deserve a link.

• I’m begging you. Please give me a link as I need to feed my kids!

 

STOP doing link building that does not work!

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By getting into the right mindset, you will be able to:

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• Think differently about link building.

• Find it so much easier to source new links.

• Have an endless supply of link opportunities, even in the most boring of industries.

• Stand above your competitors.

 

Above all. It will be so stupid simple; you will kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself.

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Please stop doing that!

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Most SEO professionals are in the game of ‘link manipulation’.

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Sure, it does work and done right, it does increase rankings.

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However, just imagine what you could achieve if you thought about link building with a ‘business development’ mind!

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Trust me! The results are staggering.

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Now, let’s change your mindset!

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To give you a business development link building mindset, there are three simple questions you need to keep asking yourself repeatedly:

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1. “Does this link have the potential to drive new business?”

2. “If this was my business, would I want this link?”

3. “If I was investing my own money, would I want to secure this link?”

 

It’s not rocket science – it’s just logical thinking!

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OK. My mindset is sorted. Now what?

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Now you are in the zone. First, get all those metrics out of your head you have heard other SEO professional’s mention!

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• Forget about DA (Domain Authority) or PA (Page Authority) metrics

• Forget about ‘dofollow’ or ‘nofollow’

• Forget about all the other metrics that can easily be manipulated.

 

Start thinking logically!

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Let us go and source some links!

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Grab yourself a pen and paper and make a list.

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Remember to ask yourself:

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“Does this link have the potential to drive new business?”

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Just imagine!

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If every link you secured also drove a constant flow of targeted visitors to your site, what would this do to your new business development?

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Here are three possibilities to get you started:

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1. List any sites your potential customers are hanging out at and reading.

2. List down all your related industries.

3. Was there something they needed first before purchasing your product or service?

 

Believe me. This list will grow and grow when you are in the right mindset.

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As an example…

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Imagine you are a wedding planner!

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What do your customers need to do before they contact you?

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They need to get engaged, right?

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Now, in order to get engaged, what do they need?

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An engagement ring, right?

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Where do they purchase an engagement ring from?

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A jewelry store.

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If you had a link on a local jewelry store website, would that link have the potential to turn into new business?

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100% YES!

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Why?

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Because the next logical step in their personal journey after purchasing a ring, is to start planning their wedding and a percentage of those people are going to need a helping hand to do that.

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BOOM! That one link on that one local jewelry store not only helped you to increase your rankings, but it also generating you a constant flow of new highly targeted enquiries from people who want your service.

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Time to filter your list.

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To filter your list of link opportunities, you need to make sure that each site on your list is:

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• Ranking on the first page for their targeted keyword – If they are a ‘wedding planner in Atlanta’, then just search Wedding Planner in Atlanta in Google. If their website appears on the first page of Google within the organic listings, you need a link on their website as Google trust that website.

• The site is actually generating traffic – Use the SEMrush Traffic Analytics Tool (https://www.semrush.com/lp/traffic-analytics-7/en/) to see if the websites are receiving real visitors. They offer a 7-day free trial, so make the most of it.

 

Now, that wasn’t hard, was it?

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Go and secure those links!

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This is probably the easiest part of the whole process, yet it is what most SEO professionals and link builders struggle with.

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With your new-found logical thinking mindset, put yourself in the shoes of the person who owns the website and ask yourself:

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“What is IT that would make me add a link to this website?”

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Now, go and make it happen!

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Here is a little story…

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A few years back now, a company director came to me with two goals:

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1. To improve her SEO.

2. To help them to increase new business.

 

I took on the challenge and got to the stage in their SEO campaign where I started to do link building. I followed the exact steps detailed in this guide and spent one solid month building up a relationship with one website owner, then they dropped me a link on their website.

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Did the company director call me to complain that I had only secured one single link in a full month?

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No.

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In fact, she sent me a voucher to a top hotel for myself and my wife to go away for the weekend.

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Why?

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Because they had just confirmed a 7-figure order as a direct result of that one single link.

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That is the true potential of having a business development link building mindset!