Just yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a pizza restaurant owner who has a website and wanted to optimize it so that it appeared on Google’s first page for the word ‘pizza’. When I stopped laughing (he was smiling a little too), I had to sit down and explain to him that this was equivalent to his setting up a business to deliver hot, freshly-made pizza to Kathmandu. His business is based in Stockport (a town just outside Manchester) and he delivers in a five mile area from his restaurant, though the effective range is probably closer to three as he has stiff competition.
The case is far from unusual and it highlights one of the most common issues encountered when optimizing a website for a business to appear on Google’s first page. Namely the failure to understand that while the web is global it really works best when its results are local. Funnily enough I use Google to search for Pizza restaurants in my local area because I can’t be bothered to drive around, find them and get their menus. When I go on the web I really want to find what’s around me first and only when researching something or looking for products which I cannot find locally will I consider going across borders.
This is why the correct kind of optimization is vital if you are looking to really attract customers to your business. As a website owner you really need to understand that although your website can be viewed by everyone with an internet connection and a computer what you really need to do is make sure your SEO efforts deliver it first to everyone in your local area ready to make a purchase.
This is exactly why you either need to know what you are doing (which means you need to read at least one SEO book) or talk to an expert SEO who will be able to guide you. Either way the optimization of your website needs to begin with a complete grasp of and understanding of what it is you need to accomplish and how it will work. That’s the only way you have of putting in place an optimization strategy which will deliver clear, measurable results for your SEO efforts particularly if you want to take advantage of Google’s mobile search platform which delivers local search results to users on the Google mobile phones and mobile search which delivers information geared to local business and local results.
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I’ve led the discussion on how social media and SEO are changing the processes we use to work and live, online, with the publication of my book ‘The Social Media Mind’. I combine experience in journalism and blue-chip corporate management with a penchant for explaining complex issues in simple terms. Contact me for media interviews, presentations and panel discussions
