Local SEO HOUSTON

Who Offers Local SEO Marketing in Houston?

When it comes to marketing your business and getting the brand recognition you deserve, you will want to work with an established local SEO marketing company. There are many different marketing firms that help businesses with gaining different types of exposure. At Houston Small Business Marketing, our team has a track record of proven success with increasing online visibility for businesses from many different backgrounds and industries.

Our team is dedicated to providing comprehensive online marketing services including Local SEO marketing in Houston. We help our clients to identify the top service areas surrounding them that they wish to target for their online campaign. This begins with the development of your website but will continue with our targeted social media and blog posts. By targeting specific areas around your business, you will be able to slowly start to dominate more and more areas in your industry.

Visibility is extremely important for businesses, especially small and medium-sized companies. This is because even if your brand offers the most superior services available, if you are not properly representing yourself online, this can make it difficult to spread awareness about your brand. A lack of awareness about your brand can quickly turn into a problem for your business.

At Houston Small Business Marketing, we understand how important it is for your business to be seen by locals looking for the services you provide. This is why we help small and medium-sized businesses secure high rankings on Google, in order to compete with larger corporations and businesses that have been around longer than them.

Additionally, for small and medium-sized companies, competing against larger businesses that have multiple locations throughout your state or country can be a difficult task, but it is possible. With enough thoughtful web development, social media marketing, blog posts, and Google Business Listing marketing, your small to medium-sized business does have the ability to outrank nationwide brands. This sort of goal will require time and continued efforts in order to achieve, as nationwide brands have already developed and nurtured a marketing strategy that has led them to grow.

It can also be a challenge for new businesses, or businesses that have not spent any efforts developing their online presence to rank against businesses that have been a part of the communities they serve for an extended period of time. Local SEO services help even the smallest businesses carve out a place for themselves in their market. The more competitive the marketing strategies are from your competitors the more difficult it can be to outrank.

Luckily, when you work with the local SEO professionals at HOUSBM we can help bring your business to the top listings for Google Maps marketing. We understand how difficult it can be for small and medium sized businesses to thrive in a city as large as Houston, where competition can be steep. This is why we custom tailor our local SEO services to help our clients reach their goals online and increase their visibility.

If you are tired of being outranked by your competitors online, the team at HOUSBM is here to help you. Contact us today to learn more about our comprehensive online marketing services.

Why Is My Competitor Ranking Higher?

One of the most important ways to connect to new customers online is by ranking high for local search terms related to your business on Google. Most online users will only look at the first few results that come up, meaning if your website is ranking below the top 3, your visibility is likely to be low.

So, why is it that your competitors are outranking you?

There are multiple reasons why this may occur, including:
Their business has been around for longer. The longer a business has been around and the longer they have had an established website, the more value will be placed on the company’s website. This is because Google can see that the business has consistently been around for several years, legitimizing the company, which improves its overall rank. The good news is that even if you are a brand new business owner, aggressive marketing techniques can help you to quickly gain recognition online. At Houston Small Business Marketing we have the experience needed to help new businesses thrive and reach their goals online.

They have a well established brand. For small businesses outranking brands that have multiple locations or an established nationwide or local brand can be difficult. The more familiar your potential customers are with the competition the more difficult it can be to overcome their placement online. You will need to focus your marketing efforts on spreading awareness about your brand and increasing the number of online users that know your business exists. At Houston Small Business Marketing we specialize in working with small and medium-sized businesses to help them compete with household brands and corporations. We believe in the importance of small businesses in our communities and make an effort to support this with our work. If you are interested in learning more about how our business can help your business, contact us today.

They have more reviews. Believe it or not, the number of reviews listed for your company, specifically on Google can greatly factor into how well your business ranks online. Businesses with several positive reviews will quickly rise to the top, making it a huge priority for business owners to ask their customers for help leaving reviews. We encourage our clients to ask every customer they interact with to leave them a review. Additionally, responding to reviews is an important aspect of increasing the value of your business online. At Houston Small Business Marketing we can help you find new ways to connect with your customers to increase the number of reviews you receive. We also work on brand management, helping business owners respond to less than satisfied reviews to minimize their impact.

They have a more advanced marketing strategy. If your competitors have advanced SEO strategies that they have been utilizing on their website or with their listings online, this will dramatically increase their placement. It can be difficult to go up against strategic marketing techniques, making it important to pair up with experienced SEO experts. We believe in a comprehensive marketing strategy that encompasses many different online options to get you the most out of your website and online presence. From social media marketing to running a blog with rich creative content, we do it all.

Our team of Houston local SEO experts can help to evaluate your online presence to determine what areas you are lacking in and how we can get you a higher ranking against your competitors. If you are ready to increase your visibility online, contact us today.

How Long Does Local SEO Take?

When it comes to Local SEO marketing, it is important to understand that it is an ongoing process that will require continued efforts over time in order to experience success. These multifaceted marketing efforts must be developed, published, and picked up by Google’s algorithm in order to yield any results for your company.

Many Local SEO firms will tell you that it takes 4 to 6 months to start seeing results from an aggressive Local SEO campaign. That’s generally accurate for extreme changes, but keep in mind SEO results grow over time. For smaller businesses that are not working in highly competitive industries they will be able to see results more quickly than others. If you have many competitors around you that have been implementing SEO strategies for an extended period of time it will take more time and effort to see results than if you are at a smaller business going up against other small businesses. Whatever your situation is, our team can help you.

While results will vary between customers, we typically tell the businesses we work with that the first changes will start somewhere between the first two months after your website has been fully developed. These changes will gradually become more dramatic as time passes and your SEO strategy has been in place. This is because Google will need time to recognize all of the effort you are placing into your business’s marketing strategy. Google will evaluate your website, your social media presence, your Google Listing, and any directories where information pertaining to your company exists online. From here the search engine will begin to find ways to rank your website among competitors, choosing where to place you and what is most relevant to your specific goods and services.

If your website and online presence already have organic SEO traction, it may take even less time to notice a change. We can come in and improve whatever current strategy you have to bring you the results you are looking for. Another factor to consider is how many of your competitors are actively utilizing SEO for their own websites. The steeper the competition, the more important it is for you to utilize SEO- but also the longer it will take to see results. We can help to evaluate your competitors to give you an understanding of how aggressive your strategy will need to be to get your phone ringing and traffic on your website.

Our team has a proven track record of success. We have helped many companies outrank their competitors and grow their business through active Local SEO marketing. If you are looking to make changes to your online presence to dominate in your industry we can help you! The sooner you start the better it will be for your business since local SEO marketing requires time and energy in order to succeed.

We are ready to help you reach your goals. Contact us today to begin the process of creating your brand’s local SEO campaign.

Who Needs Local SEO Services in Houston?

Local SEO is the process of improving search engine results to rank the most relevant and authoritative websites at the top of the list. The higher the website’s ranking is, the closer to the top of the search results it can be found- generally resulting in more traffic for the site. SEO services have the ability to help all businesses that have a website by growing their visibility online.

The more frequently your website appears at the top of search engine results, the more times your website is visited. The more visitors a website has, the higher the potential is to convert online visitors into customers. This is why Local SEO is such a powerful resource for businesses.

Most companies, but especially those working in competitive industries can benefit from SEO services. Small and medium businesses have to work extra hard to stand out from national brands and major corporations. Our Local SEO services can help you do just that. This is done through specifically targeting local service areas and deciding which services or goods you want to advertise for your company.

If you have ever looked for a local restaurant or had to call a repairman near you, there is a good chance you have turned to Google to do a quick search of the businesses around you. Whenever your results show you businesses around you on a map listing, this is done through local SEO. It is important to take your SEO seriously and make the steps necessary to improve your ranking. Optimization helps you to have your site and Google listing indexed properly online to match you with the most relevant online users.

When it comes to your local SEO marketing, there is no reason to settle! Ensure you are working with a company that is staying on top of the latest trends to increase your visibility and improve your placement online. At Houston Small Business Marketing, we take the steps to increase brand awareness for your business and make your quality services and products visible from those with an organic interest in your business. Our team works to help you dominate search results in order to become an industry leader.

We understand how important engaging with your current customers and new customers is, this is why we put a strong focus on developing your Google Listing and continuing to add informative content to help increase your chances of converting online users into actual customers. If you would like to improve your company’s website and expand your reach online, contact us today.

Our team of Houston online marketing experts can help to answer any questions you may have and explain in depth the services we provide to small and medium-sized businesses, designed to help your company reach new levels of success. Whether you are a brand new business or a company looking to increase your visibility online, we can help you reach your goals with our local SEO services in Houston.

Do You Have To Pay For Your Business To Be On Google Maps?

Your Business Profile on Google is a free business listing from Google My Business, that allows you to show up in local search and on Google Maps. You’ll be asked to fill in some basic information about your business, including the location, address, business category, and hours of operation. This will allow you to claim your business listing so that it can begin to populate on Google Maps.

While it is free to claim and manage your business listing, you will want to fully optimize your profiles, filling out all fields, and providing as much detail as you can about your business. Additionally, it is a good idea to continue adding new content, such as photos, short videos, Google 360 photos and more to your business profile.

Doing this will help to increase your placement against your local competitors online. Additionally, you will want to encourage all of your customers to leave you a review through your Google map listing, as this also has the ability to increase your placement overall.

While it is free to create or claim a Google Business Listing, you can run Google Ads attached to your free Google Business Listing. Google Ads attached to your business listing can be highly beneficial to helping attract new customers and increasing your online visibility.

Our team will help you to create an online ad quickly and easily that spreads the information you are most interested in sharing with your potential customer base. You are able to select demographics, key search terms, and service areas that you wish to appeal to. This will create a custom, targeted campaign that allows you to meet your business goals.

Your ad will be set up in a way that you only have to pay whenever someone clicks on your ad. These types of ads are highly effective for bringing new customers to your website and Google Maps Listing. These ads are easy to maintain after they are initially set. You just determine the budget you are comfortable with and go from there.

These Google Ads allow you to reach customers on desktop computers and mobile devices- including tablets and smartphones. You are able to review the effectiveness of your ads in your dashboard, which will help you to decide if the ads are right for you.

Our team can help you reach your goals online without having to implement these ads. They can be helpful, especially in the beginning of your marketing campaign to get quick results and traffic for your website. We have experience working with a wide range of clients, running ads may be more effective for certain industries than others.

If your business is not showing up on the top results on Google Maps listings you are losing potential customers to your competitors. It is important that you actively work to rise in the rankings online in order to spread awareness about your brand quickly.

Our team can help you gain traction online and get the attention you are seeking online. Contact us today to grow your business.

What Increases Local SEO The Most?

When it comes to the marketing and brand awareness of your business you are likely to be interested in finding the most effective methods to increase your local SEO. This is because local SEO is the method in which online users are paired with your business online when they display a natural interest in the services you provide.

Think about it this way, if you were to look for a pet store near you what would your process be? Are you going to pull out a phonebook and search the yellow pages? Are you going to listen to radio ads until a commercial mentions a pet store in your local area? What about driving around aimlessly until you find one? The chances are you will not do any of these things because there is a much more effective and simple method to locate local businesses that meet the criteria you are searching for– doing a search on the internet. Whenever you do a search on the internet for a local business, the results you are paired with are directly due to local SEO. You will likely see two different types of results, first you will probably see a Google Map of your immediate area. On this map there will be several businesses listed, businesses Google believes match the inquiry you have made online. The top three businesses listed typically are the main ones to trigger an action by online users. These top 3 spots are highly sought after and are referred to as the “Google 3-pack”.

In addition to the results that show on Google Maps and more specifically in the Google 3-pack, you will also see search results that come up under this map. These will be links that lead directly to websites with information that, again, Google believes is most relevant to the inquiry you have made online. Much like the results in the Google 3-pack, the top results that appear here are prime real estate for businesses looking to increase online traffic and convert online users into real world customers.

So, how do you land one of these highly sought after and lucrative online placements? The answer is not as simple as checking a box. In order to have a highly effective local SEO presence you will need to combine efforts on multiple different platforms to get the attention of Google and be seen as a source of reliable, original, and industry-relevant content.

At Houston Small Business Marketing we understand how important it is for small and medium-sized businesses to get exposure online in order to make a name for themselves against the competition. For new businesses it may feel like an uphill battle to outrank your established competitors, but there is good news.

By utilizing a comprehensive digital marketing campaign that puts a heavy emphasis on local SEO marketing you can gain the favor of Google and outrank industry giants. It will require continued efforts and a multiplatform strategy. Our team works to first give our clients a properly formatted and functional website, from there we build out social media accounts, optimize Google Business Listings, and continue posting fresh and informative content on a weekly basis on your website. Contact us today to learn more about how local SEO marketing can help you.

How Can I Boost My Local SEO Strategy?

Understanding the concept of local SEO is one thing, but understanding how to boost your own local SEO strategy in order to improve your local search rankings is much different. It is a very involved process that requires continued, consistent efforts, energy, and time. Listed below are some of the main areas to focus on when looking to boost your local SEO:

The first thing you will want to do is establish your business with Google. This is done by claiming or creating your Google My Business account. Once your GMB account has been created you will need to optimize this profile and it plays one of the most important roles in your local SEO strategy. This tool brought to you from Google gives you the ability to create a free business listing for your company. When it comes to landing one of the top placements on Google Map listings, your GMB profile will play a heavy hand in determining where you stack against your competitors.

When you work with our team we will optimize your GMB listing for you. This will include providing your full and correct business name, your physical store/office address, your exact location on a map, your business category, your phone number, and website url. Once your GMB listing goes live, you’ll be asked to verify it usually through a phone call or via postcard.

After this has been completed we will begin the process of optimizing your account for maximum SEO value. You will want to upload photos of your business- this can be the inside, outside, or area around your company. If possible getting a Google 360 photo or tour can also help to boost your placement.

You will need to provide up-to-date and accurate business information such as your hours of operation, additional categories your business may fall under, and any other information that may be relevant or important to share with prospective customers. You can also answer generic questions by Google to help provide further insight into your business.

Another important aspect when it comes to boosting your local SEO is having a website that is properly formatted and mobile responsive. What this means is that, online users should be able to access and interact with all of the features on your website regardless of what device they are using to visit your page. If you have a website that only is interactive on computers or with certain browsers you will be missing out on a massive audience.

Additionally, Google knows how many people are using mobile devices to access websites and information online. If they see that you have a website that is not mobile responsive this will count against your overall placement. Our team can help you get a website that is responsive on all computers and smart devices, regardless of the browser being used. This can dramatically help boost your local SEO.

While there are many other important aspects of local SEO, such as getting positive reviews and responding to them. The two most important factors will be your GMB listing and the optimization of your website. These two factors will help you gain a top placement online for your industry.

How Does Local SEO Affect My Google Map Ranking?

Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence. A combination of these factors helps Google find the best matches for online users search. For example, Google’s algorithms might decide that a business that’s farther away from your location is more likely to have what you’re looking for than a business that’s closer, and therefore rank it higher in local results.

Relevance Relevance refers to how well a local Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Add complete and detailed business information to help Google better understand your business and match your profile to relevant searches.

This is a huge reason why it is important to fully optimize your Google Business Listing. The more information you can provide about your business, the services you offer, the hours you operate, and more, the easier it will be for Google to pair online users who can benefit from your services to your website. If you are not representing your business adequately you may get paired with users who have no interest in your business, or may not get much traffic at all.

Distance Distance considers how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search. If a user doesn’t specify a location in their search, we’ll calculate distance based on what we do know about their location.

When you work with Houston Small Business Marketing we can help you to target specific areas you wish to serve. This can especially help for service industry jobs that travel to clients for work, instead of having clients come into their location. Distance will always be a factor, however, if you specifically target certain areas on the map that you are trying to show up on, distance can be overcome and can help you to outank businesses that are closer in proximity to the user doing the search.

Prominence Prominence refers to how well known a business is. Some places are more prominent in the offline world, and search results try to reflect this in local ranking. For example, famous museums, landmark hotels, or well-known store brands are also likely to be prominent in local search results.

Prominence is also based on information that Google has about a business, from across the web, like links, articles, and directories. Google review count and review score factor into local search ranking. More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’ local ranking. Your position in web results is also a factor, so search engine optimization (SEO) best practices apply.

There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. Google does its best to keep the search algorithm details confidential, to make the ranking system as fair as possible for everyone.

With this said, using strong SEO tactics and fully optimizing your Google Business Listing can go a long way to helping you get discovered by the correct people on Google Maps. Contact our team to learn more about how we can improve your local SEO in Houston.

What Matters For Local SEO?

While the local Google 3-pack is displayed within the standard Google organic search listings, separate algorithms work to provide the main Google search results for local rankings and the local map pack results. As a local business, you have the ability to appear under both the main organic search results and the local map pack at the same time. This is the ideal situation to gain the most exposure and drive the most attention to your brand and website.

With the world of online marketing being so vast with many different channels and factors to take into consideration, it can be difficult to determine where to focus your efforts for the most effective results. At Houston Small Business Marketing we take on a comprehensive approach to your marketing. We understand in order to get the highest rankings for your business we need to focus on much more than just your Google Maps marketing. The more we optimize your business online, the better your results will be across the board, including on local map listings.

Content based on specific local areas and local link popularity are factors for Google Map Listing placement, just as it is in Google’s traditional search algorithm. This is why it is so important to build dedicated pages within your website that target the specific areas you are trying to show up under. Our team will help you to select 5-10 specific service areas in your area that you wish to attract business in.

If you’re a multiple location business, you should include not only your business name but also its details like address and phone as well as optimize titles tags, meta descriptions, and follow SEO best practice. This should be taken into consideration as well in your content marketing and link building strategy. It is more tricky for businesses with multiple locations but if done properly your different listings can work together to strengthen one another.

Additionally, location-based factors like having a business listing in Google My Business, local citations, and positive reviews from your local customers, are also taken into consideration in your local SEO rankings. This is why it is important to encourage every customer you work with to leave you a review on Google. It not only will help prospective customers see the quality of your business, it will also enhance your placement overall.

The design and format of your website will play a huge role in Google’s willingness to rank your business in a top spot. Google wants to ensure anyone who gains one of these top spots is providing the traffic they direct to you with informative content that helps them to get the results they are looking for.

Our team can help you do it all. From managing and optimizing your Google Business Listing to building out an SEO-rich website to gain one of the top spots on organic search results and Google Map Listings. Contact us today to set up a no-cost evaluation for your business and to find out more about how Local SEO can help your company thrive.