Search Engine Optimization in Ventura County - 5 Tips

These five tried-and-true fundamentals of search engine optimization in Ventura County can help your local business website rank higher, and ultimately increase traffic and sales.

1. Add or Claim Your Local Listing

First, you will want to add or claim your local business listing in the major search engines: Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, and Bing Local.

Many other sites will automatically find and list information about your business. Usually, this means that your website is left unclaimed, hanging out there in directory limbo.

Don't let this happen to your business. You will miss-out on free exposure, extra traffic, and good incoming links that could only help with your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

As well, these local business listings, or profiles, can help to build trust with the major search engines. If your local business is legitimate, Google and the other major search engines want to rank your site well. They really just need reason to trust that it is relevant and useful to their users, and this could be one of the most important ways to earn that trust.

Finally, this prevents someone else from claiming your listing, and allows you to correct any errors or add missing information.

NOTE: Always be sure to add your business in the right categories.

2. Submit Your Business Information to the Major Data Providers

These companies include, ExpressUpdateUSA, Acxiom and Localeze, and they collect the data that is the foundation of local search engine results. Make sure your business information is listed, accurate and consistent over these data providers.

NOTE: Always be sure to add your business in the right categories.

3. Use Geographic-Specific Keywords in Your Pages and Title Tags

Make certain your website is found when local searchers add a city, town, county, or zip code, to your important keywords and phrases. If you are a plumber, for example, use phrases like "plumber ventura county" or "ventura county plumber", or "search engine optimization ventura county" so that you will rank higher for these types of searches.

4. Make Sure Your Local Business Information is Accurate and Consistent

Again, this is about trust. Make sure that your business information is both accurate and consistent wherever it is made available on the Internet. Use the exact same business name, address, phone numbers, website and email addresses, etc., whenever possible.

5. Don't Reinvent the Wheel

It is likely that your high-ranking competitors have paid their SEO dues and are ranking well for good reason. Study closely what they are doing to achieve their position, both on their site, and off (inbound links).

Yahoo! Site Explorer offers and easy method of comparing the number and kind of your competitors' inbound links. Are there popular sites, with content similar to yours, that are linking to your competitor? If so, do your best to get a link from those sites, or ones that are at least as popular and relevant.

NOTE: Do not copy content directly from another site. Create lots of original, and engaging content for the pages that you want to rank high. As well, never post the same content twice on your site. If you believe it is necessary to do so, consult with an SEO expert before posting the duplicate content as this could negatively affect your rankings.

Search engine optimization in Ventura County is both an art and a science. Creating content that appeals to and motivates your visitors is top priority. Morphing this great content into a website that aligns itself with what the major search engines deem a trustworthy and important source of information or commerce is golden.

Best of luck to you!

Etsel Skelton is a Search Engine Marketing Consultant, and President of Skelton Internet Marketing Company, a Consultancy and Training Provider serving individuals and organizations in Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, Thousand Oaks and throughout Ventura County, California.

If you have questions about Search Engine Optimization in Ventura County, please feel free to contact us for a no obligation consultation at: 1-800 SKELTON (753-5866)