One of our favorite SEO (search engine optimization) tactics go relatively unused by most small businesses and that is to write a comment on a blog post that someone else has written that is relevant to their own content.

There are four key reasons why this is important for a small business from an SEO standpoint:

1. It will get your name or company name associated with other experts in your field, perhaps one that is more well-known than you or your company
2. It will often generate a link back to your site from their site so it is a win/win – they get an outbound link - you get an inbound link.  Search engines love both.
3. If the page rank on their site is higher than yours, this is a plus as this is desirable for increasing your off-page SEO.
4. That link will often stay indexed on the search engines for a year or more.

For example, I made a comment on a post that appeared on management.fortune.cnn.com in April 2008, and that comment is still there.  It featured a client of mine, so both of us are getting traction on that one simple comment that is being still being indexed by the search engines nearly three years later.  It is not as prominent now (i.e. it doesn’t rank as high in the organic search as it did originally) but it is still active.

Because the search engines may index your comments for years, it is very important to take a few moments to learn how to make appropriate comments that will benefit you in the organic searches.  Here are a few of our Rules of the Road when it comes to commenting on other people’s posts:

1. Only comment on a post by a reputable blogger or website.  Your name and/or company brand will be associated with theirs so, as they say, be careful who your friends are.  For example, it would be appropriate for me to post a comment to a blog that appeared on Mashable or TechCrunch.  Or to comment on an article on mobile marketing that appeared on the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times.  So please think through your best industry sources because if you’re going to spend the time and effort to write a comment, be sure the source article is highly credible and well-read.
2. Write a quality comment.  What you write doesn’t have to be long — could be a sentence or two — but be sure it specifically references a point in the article and add your own opinion.  You don’t have to agree with the point – perhaps you’re offering a different point of view — but please be sure you write something that the post author and subsequent readers feel you took the time to read and digest their original post.  Don’t just post something to make a comment without adding any real value to the discussion.
3. You can ask a question.  If it is appropriate, you can comment and/or also ask a clarifying question about what the author meant or what his or her intention was.  Questions continue dialogue and conversation from both the author and readers.
4. Don’t stuff your comment with keywords.  Keyword stuffing or being overly deliberate that you’re trying to promote yourself and/or your company, especially for the direct purpose of generating links back to your site,  is not appropriate whatsoever.  If someone does that to me, I often do not approve the comment as I consider it a form of spam.  However, I may be commenting on a post regarding digital marketing case studies and if my website is about digital marketing for business, then it would be appropriate to ensure that the appropriate keywords are in my comment – but only in a very natural, conversational way and not repeated unnecessarily as it would just come off as being redundant.
5. Do use your name and/or your company name.  Some comment services like Disqus will let you create an account and then it makes it easier to comment each time as Disqus will remember your name, title/bio, email address and company name.  That helps to garner better and more consistent mentions with the multiple search engines.

Once you get in a habit of leaving comments on other blog posts, it becomes easier and takes less time each time.  Most of us are already reading blog posts or we subscribe to the email or RSS feed in which we can just simply click through to the original article and add a comment. 

For those of you who are working hard to develop your online brand whether that be your personal brand or establishing your expert status on a specific topic or range of topics relevant to your business, writing comments on other people’s blogs can be a very effective part of your ongoing SEO strategy that doesn’t have any additional cost other than your time.  If you’re reading the article anyway to stay on top of your industry news, then it only adds a minute or two per comment to post your expert opinion.

Try it for a month or two and see how easy it is.  Then be sure it gets to your weekly or monthly “to do” list so that you don’t forget about it.  This SEO tactic is really one of the easiest ones for any small business owner or freelancer to implement.

I’ve been on a rampage lately about businesses being listed on the online local business directories.  It’s such an overlooked piece of the SEO puzzle — and often the first piece that should be in place before any other — that I find myself trying to figure out why that is the case. 

• Do business owners underestimate the importance of having their business found on Google, Yahoo and Bing?
• Is there a lack of both awareness and understanding about how powerful and critical a detailed business listing is to a business’s overall success? 
• Are businesses not cognizant of how consumers or other businesses find them through the search engines?
• Do businesses work with and adjust their keyword list as their business grows?  Better yet, do they even have a keyword list?
• Do business owners know which listings are important and how to find them?
• Do business owners know that if they can’t own certain competitive keywords with their local directory listing, they can more heavily focus on them by other means, such as their blog, and may still get on the first search page for those terms?

And then I have to ask myself, did I know about all this a year ago?  Even just six months ago??  Well, the answer is emphatically “no.”  I was aware of the search engine local directories but I certainly didn’t know exactly how they worked or what it meant to get in the 3-pack or 10-pack — or that Google may be changing their 10-pack to a 7-pack or anything like that.  In fact, the questions asked above are derived out of my experience of working with several business listings over the period of many months, including now my own business, in order to even begin to ask questions like those.  So I have to give business owners a break here.

I just recently worked with a company who has been in business for 8 years that had never claimed its Google Local Business Center directory listing.  While the successful business had a general listing, it didn’t appear at all if one was searching for any of the relevant keywords or phrases.  Only their competitors showed up as well as a few other businesses that did not provide the same service.  The only time their business listing appeared was if one searched on their full business name.  And, frankly, that’s the only time their website appeared in the organic searches as well, so their website was not optimized either.  After claiming the listing and massaging it in order to get it to appear more often on the prominent keyword searches, the business comes up on the “board” in all the main keywords except for one highly competitive one, and they often appear in the top 3 business listings.  In a couple of cases, they are #1 and/or the ONLY business listed.   I was thrilled beyond belief with my before and after results, even taking screen shots to remind myself of the major difference, by making changes that were relatively simple if you have a bit of experience with gaining SEO value.

Admittedly and openly, the business owner didn’t share my enthusiasm.  ”I’m not sure I fully can appreciate what you just did for us,” the client said.   The business owner didn’t know how to put a value on what was just accomplished.  The business is primarily B2B, and not consumer-driven like some other businesses who would rely heavily on internet searches.  Still, the business would only need to gain one new client from an internet search for it to be more than beneficial.  Last time I checked, there are very few businesses in this economy that are doing so well that it would be okay for them to remain invisible on the internet.  I mean, if it were okay to be invisible on the internet, then why have a website at all?  Why have a social media presence? Why invest the time and cost?  If the only people who are finding the business are the people who already are familiar enough with your service or product to search your business by name, then what’s the point of using the internet for generating new business leads?  Am I wrong in my thinking here?

Frankly, I don’t know how to value what seems like such a simple change either:

• From a TIME standpoint, even with my experience, it took some hours to write a comprehensive listing, add logos, verify and then test/edit the listings on Google, Bing and Yahoo.  It would take some further time if I were adding photos and video as Google allows.  The client had a Google account, but the other accounts I had to create.  It took additional hours to figure out the best keywords and key phrases (he didn’t have a keyword list for his business), as well as to perform the before and after searches on the multiple search engines and save the screenshots and report the results in writing with a phone discussion.  I would guesstimate 15 hours total.  Sure, a business owner could pay someone with less experience to verify the listings but the effect would not be as pronounced, that’s for sure.  They wouldn’t understand the strategy and tactics to get the same desired results.
• From a VALUE standpoint, I guess it would depend on what kind of business it was.  A bricks-and-morter retailer would benefit greatly as would any kind of local professional service business.  And larger businesses can benefit as well because of the sheer volume of people searching, as would most franchise owners.  Perhaps a true B2B business like my client’s, not so much.  Although I feel like I could argue that point greatly in that maybe they’re the ones that get the MOST value from an internet lead because the sale would be large in terms of dollars coming in over the length of the project and/or relationship, versus a retailer or service business that might get a one-time, small-dollar purchase from a lead.  Internet sales based on local search and/or organic searches can range from the hundreds to thousands to perhaps even hundreds of thousands for some businesses — and some businesses would kill for that 3-pack listing, or even to be on the board somewhere in the 7-pack listing.

I’d love to know your thoughts about optimization for Local Search Listings and this post.  This will be a subject that will be explored further in the near future.