5 local SEO case studies, with take-aways

[James Watt]

BrightLocal did a write-up last week that I don't remember seeing on here that I liked, and wanted to share. They took 5 case studies out there already, put them all in one place, and wrote what they thought about each. I always like seeing some data since it takes a while to gather from your own from clients, so it's always worth it to pay attention when you see something from other campaigns.

BrightLocal's writeup on 5 Local SEO case studies
Case studies have the advantage of helping us to learn from real world examples, not just expert advice. Within these examples above, there are some valuable lessons:

• Do extensive research FIRST & and then optimize your listings
• Citation Building is not a one-off task. Be ready to clean-up listings, update images and monitor reviews in each directory.
• You can tighten deadlines for small local businesses. Most most won’t take years to improve, but if your website is taking too long to rank, you might want to change your SEO strategy
• Always begin with onsite optimization first
• It is very important to monitor and respond to reviews
• Have a responsive, mobile-friendly website

Check out the rest of the article to see the case studies and details.

The first case study linked to especially is great, and well worth the time spent to read that all on it's own as well. That case study deals with (among other things) deals with going after some of the second-tier keywords, splitting out service pages, and cleaning up basic site structure.

Anyone else have any favorite take-aways? Or any personal experiences with getting some wins for a client by changing the main keyword targets?