Utah Small Business SEO Consultant
I began practicing SEO in 2008 while studying at the University of Utah. I studied Marketing and Information Systems at the University of Utah, where I took on several disciplines of modern marketing including web development, pay per click advertising (when Google Ads was relatively new), social media (in the early days of Facebook) and of course, search engine optimization (SEO).
My career in SEO and digital marketing has landed me roles with e-commerce companies, an agency in Denver, as a freelance consultant for small businesses and as the founder of Octiv Digital, my digital marketing agency.
I live and breathe search engine optimization and would be happy to help you with your website’s visibility in Google and Bing.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s content and structure to improve its visibility in local search results, often called the Google Maps pack. The goal of local SEO is to help businesses rank higher in local search queries, such as “restaurants near me” or “plumbers in Salt Lake City.”
Local SEO is especially important for businesses operating on a local level, such as brick-and-mortar shops, restaurants, and service providers. Optimizing for local search engines enables customers in a specific geographic area to find them easily.
How it Works
Local SEO works by optimizing a website’s content and structure with relevant keywords and location-based information. This includes adding location-specific landing pages, including NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information on all pages, and utilizing Google My Business to manage company information across Google Maps, Google Search, and other Google platforms.
Other important factors in local SEO include gaining customer reviews and ratings, building local citations (mentions of the business on other websites), and making sure the website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly.
Benefits
Optimizing for local SEO offers several benefits for businesses. It helps increase visibility to local customers who are searching for the products or services the business provides, resulting in more targeted traffic to the website. Local SEO also helps build trust and credibility with customers, as businesses that appear in local search results are often perceived as more authentic and trustworthy.
In addition, local SEO can result in higher conversion rates, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. When customers find a business in local search results, they are more likely to visit the physical location, resulting in increased foot traffic and sales.
Local SEO
Ranking locally focused websites in Google Maps and organic listings.
Enterprise SEO
Data analysis and large-scale SEO changes for e-commerce brands.
Content Development
Writing SEO-focused content that search engines love.
Local SEO for Multiple Industries
Local SEO is a must for small businesses of all types, including real estate agents, attorneys, service-based businesses, restaurants, coffee shops and more. If you serve a local audience, you need to show up in Google.
In the example below, I was able to take a real estate agent’s website and grow traffic by nearly 5x.
My technical expertise and content development strategies have been able to help real estate firms, attorneys, medical practices and more. There’s no single strategy when it comes to SEO. Every website is different, every business targets different keywords and faces different competitors in their market.
The right SEO strategy takes time to develop, understand the obstacles and set realistic goals. I’ve enjoyed a successful track record with the businesses who have hired me and I’ve delivered the results they needed. If you’re a business owner, the most important thing to remember is that SEO is an advanced skillset – if you’re an attorney, real estate agent or medical professional by day, you’re not an SEO expert too.
SEO Milestones
I was the sole SEO manager of a retail site that competed with Wayfair and Home Depot. In my 7 years with the company, I was able to grow organic traffic, organic conversions and revenue.
Aside from regularly breaking traffic records, I also implemented Salesforce Commerce Cloud on three different domains all tuned in with sound technical SEO and content strategy.
I also had the opportunity to speak on behalf of the retailer at various conferences including eTail East.