NEPA Google Search (Wilkes-Barre, Stroudsburg: transplants, real estate, homes)

[fisheye]

I’m just a retired truck driver and I am not that computer savvy.

I love the Google Earth program. If I am going to travel and I want to see where to stay or where to eat - it is a great start. I can zoom in on my desired location and symbols for lodging, meals, churches, businesses and points of interest show up.

Is that free to have your business listed on the Earth program? Some places are rated and some have comments.

[coalcreative]

Originally Posted by fisheye

I’m just a retired truck driver and I am not that computer savvy.

I love the Google Earth program. If I am going to travel and I want to see where to stay or where to eat - it is a great start. I can zoom in on my desired location and symbols for lodging, meals, churches, businesses and points of interest show up.

Is that free to have your business listed on the Earth program? Some places are rated and some have comments.

When you submit your business to Google Places, you're automatically added.

[weluvpa]

Would the google search terms be based on domain name, content search, service provided?

You can google search all you want, unless the person that built the site your trying find took the time to manage content, domain, browser tabs and so forth it won't come up.

So even if your looking for a "website builder in Northeatern Pa", if the person did it right then they should be tagged in content "Northeastern Pa", "website builder" and the complete search title.

[coalcreative]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

Would the google search terms be based on domain name, content search, service provided?

You can google search all you want, unless the person that built the site your trying find took the time to manage content, domain, browser tabs and so forth it won't come up.

So even if your looking for a "website builder in Northeatern Pa", if the person did it right then they should be tagged in content "Northeastern Pa", "website builder" and the complete search title.

I'm looking at it from the perspective that the small business owner doesn't know who to reach out to, so they don't have a company name to start with. What would they search for?

I'm using these ideas you're all giving to help optimize my own website. I think it's heading in the right direction so far.

My feeling (again, this is just my feeling) is that someone would search for "website designer in nepa" or "wilkes-barre web design company" something to this effect. But I would like to dig deeper and get your real opinions of how you would look.

[weluvpa]

There is no deeper, if your assuming that the person doesn't know the company and they don't how to find it then just manage your content to to work on the limited search terms that somebody would use for their searches..

Manage your content properly to cover the bases of northeastern pa, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton area.

K.I.S.S Keep It Simple Stupid

If your building your own site then you should have a solid grasp on the fundamentals of SEO, SMM and so on.

What you using to build it? Joomla, DNN etc...

Can you manage your own browser tabs and the page titles for each page? Does it all mesh with your domain?

Your asking for complicated search terms when the reality is that at first the most basic terms is what is going to be used, then people will refine based upon the results.

You want to be in the top 10 of the basic terms and you can refine your results from pages from there.

Building the site and plugging modules is the easy part, managing a site to specifically target an audience is the hard part.

[frank754]

coalcreative: I did a Google search on "web design Wilkes-Barrre" and the first regular listing that comes up is webdesignfinders.net and your business is listed there.

[poconosmama]

I've done web design for many years out here, and much of it is word of mouth. You can optimize your site all you want, and add as many metatags as you can dream up, but people are looking for ability, price, and reliability.
I own a local business as well, and not only is my website address on business cards, but Facebook page address as well. It's free advertising and people love getting tips/coupons/sale info right in their feed. Many people are leaning towards Facebook instead of a traditional site these days. Free and user friendly, nothing better than that

[Magritte25]

While I agree with poconosmama, I do think coding the right metatags are super important so people can see that they are getting the best quality for your pricing.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

While I agree with poconosmama, I do think coding the right metatags are super important so people can see that they are getting the best quality for your pricing.

There's only two that are really important. The title and the description, SE's rely heavily on these for placement in the results. Each page on your site should have unique title and unique description. If you have pages with duplicate titles or descriptions they will incur penalties and will most likely never show up in search results or be way down the list even if the content is unique. There are exceptions to that but that is the general rule. If you have a dynamic site the description may be hard to generate but if it's not unique don't include one.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

There's only two that are really important. The title and the description, SE's rely heavily on these for placement in the results. Each page on your site should have unique title and unique description. If you have pages with duplicate titles or descriptions they will incur penalties and will most likely never show up in search results or be way down the list even if the content is unique. There are exceptions to that but that is the general rule. If you have a dynamic site the description may be hard to generate but if it's not unique don't include one.

I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. Are metatags important or not in your opinion?