Local Search Engine Optimization: What Relevance Means

Writing by Brick Marketing on Tuesday, 6 of November , 2007 at 10:09 am

Traditionally, relevance as it relates to search engine optimization has meant matching keywords or marrying similar keywords from related niches. A little word association can illustrate what I mean:

automobile —> car and truck
real estate —-> property
medical expert ——> doctor
private detectvie ——> investigation
publishing ——-> printing

As you can see, the keywords don’t have to be exact. They just have to be related. That’s the traditional view of relevance and it’s typically in reference to linking. So if you had a used car website then you might get a link from a magazine by the name of Car & Truck Enthusiast (my apologies if there really is one). A real estate agent might link to a property database. A website that publishes expert medical advice might link to doctors who sell e-books. A private detective may link to a website with investigative articles. Perhaps a publishing company will link to a print company website.

These are examples of relevant relationships that could result in powerful and profitable links for the websites involved. But in local geographical areas, many times the number of websites that would provide a relevant link to yours will be very limited. And if there are any at all, it could mean that you are linking to your direct competition. Are you sure you want to do that?

If your business is local and it serves a wholly local clientele, there is another way you can achieve relevant link status without linking to your competition and without obscuring your link strategy. If your website is optimized around your local geographical place names, zip codes, neighborhoods, etc. then you can exchange links or provide link bait for other businesses in your area that are not necessarily related to yours in subject matter or expertise.

For instance, let’s say you run a massage parlor in your hometown. On your website you could have a page that lists things you can do while your customers wait for their massage appointment. “Got time to kill?” could be your headline. If you have some good ideas on that page then you could draw some links from other businesses - say a doctor who didn’t want to create his own list so just links to your for his customers’ benefit, or an auto mechanic, or a florist.

This is just one idea. There are countless other creative way that you could encourage your local business neighbors to link to you. It helps, when it comes to link relevance for local businesses, to think outside the box.

                      Category: Local Search Engine Optimization                      

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