Google’s appropriately named “Hawk” is the latest SEO algorithm that is bound to crawl websites soon and rank it based on the expected standards of the algorithm. While Google doesn’t get too specific with what to expect when they change algorithms, a major component is to ensure that two similar small businesses within a small area are visible in a given search.
Google is also looking to eliminate listings that use the same address to get in an attempt to climb up the rankings. This can still be problematic if two similar businesses are in the same building or office park, but is still considered better for small businesses. In the end, these changes mean that businesses close to another won’t be able to bump one another out of the rankings so that one is completely missed when conducting a local search.
Google has also provided updates that give the user more accurate searches that meet their criteria when looking for local listings. This may prove as a better use for longtail keywords, as they could prove to bring in good leads for a reasonable price.
With a new algorithm, there are always changes and adjustments that have to be made in order to keep a good SERP ranking, or attain a better one. Here are some tips for your business to rise among the local rankings now that Hawk has been implemented.
List with Google My Business
In order to learn more about your business, Google’s search algorithms always crawl your listing in order to attain the information about your business. You need to make sure your address and contact information is completely up to date on Google My Business so you don’t get penalized or miss out on customers for having the wrong information.
Search relevant keywords for your business
Looking at all of the search terms relevant to your business show up, and gives you an idea of potential filters that could be harming your results. This is another way to make sure that your information is up to date. Also, it gives you a chance to find opportunities both hidden and not. Where could you be doing better?
Be extra thorough
SEO in itself is continual website maintenance, with tasks both big and small that need to completed in order to drive traffic to your site. You need to make sure all of the mundane details of standard SEO work are taken care of. Make sure that your article titles and content are properly optimized for the keywords that you’d like to rank for, and that the meta tags and meta descriptions are optimized as well. The smallest discrepancy in your SEO could impact your rankings, and you must continually be on top of these things in order to stay relevant.
As you may have surmised by now, SEO is a continual effort that needs constant attention in order to yield the best results. If you don’t have the resources to maintain an SEO effort in house, you can hire an experienced company to help you climb the rankings and to get customers in front of you.
