Relevant Local SEO Content

[JordanJCaron]

Hey all,

I wanted to share an idea I had for local content and generating relevant organic traffic. The idea has been in my mind for a few months but I've yet to do anything about it until I read this blog post from Marcus Sheridan's The Sales Lion blog.

This has yet to be implemented by our clients due to friction of talking about their competitors. But I think local SEO's, their clients and anyone can adopt this strategy, but by writing best of posts based on any related service or product. This is theory but I think it could have decent results based on the time and effort to create the content.

As an example we have a client who sells custom cabinets so we could create best of posts for:

-bathroom renovations contractors + City
-best home renovations contractors + City
-kitchen renovations contractors + City
-best countertop stores + City
-best kitchen sinks and faucets stores + City
-best interior designers + City

We also have a children's dentist which could create best of posts for:

-birthday party places + City
-children’s clothing stores + City
-children’s toy stores + City
-baby stroller store + City
-day cares + City
-pre schools + City

Our thought process is our clients could generate traffic from someone who will eventually require their service. Down the road we hope that the visitor remembers our client. The time and energy to create one of these pages is very little and the upside could be big.

This idea also fits in with Jay Baer's concept behind Youtility book.

 

[JustinB]

Definitely talk about competitors. I have found in my niches for my personal websites, no one talks about the competitors, so no one is ranking for them either.

I gave a former employer a good piece of advice who wanted me to do the SEO for his company, "target Cleveland Clinic. No one is ranking for them (back then), and you could come in at the second spot. And since a ton of people come out of town to Cleveland Clinic, they will see your place of business and will want to go to it"

Did he do this? No. He wasn't even a direct competitor, it was a hospital, he had a stand-up comedy club/restaurant!

Using a Review plugin, you can do a review of products or services, but be careful you aren't slandering them (if they happen to be a direct competitor).

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for sharing this Jordan.

Done right, I think it can be a good strategy. And starting off with a strong leading paragraph like the example Sales Lion gives is key.

We've had a couple other discussions about this with really good ideas.
More importantly some of our members have tried it. So you can get some tips here too.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-seo-ranking/19838-awesome-local-search-engine-optimization-ranking-tip-grab-1-spot.html">Awesome Local SEO Ranking Tip to Grab #1 Spot</a> John Crenshaw lays out how he does it.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-search/29403-how-leverage-your-competitors-local-search-engine-optimization-get-high-rankings.html">How to Leverage your Competitors for Local SEO to get High Rankings</a>

What do you guys think?
Have you ever tried this strategy?