• Home
  • Why a Website?
  • What Is SEO?
    • Social Media
      • Social Audit
  • What is PPC?
  • Tools
    • Referrals
  • Blog
  • Contact
    • About AVB
    • Podcasts & Guest Spots
    • Schedule w/ Me
    • Testimonials
      • Leave a Testimonial

A Visual Business

You are here: Home / blog / Can you pass me the Yellow Pages please?

Can you pass me the Yellow Pages please?

in blog, search engine optimization on 04/30/14

Get your website optimized or you'll be like a business lost in the yellow pagesAs IF you will ever hear that!  Sure, there may be those few that still keep their Yellow Pages or the ‘phone book’ that isn’t on the internet, but do they ever use it and if they do, not sure what for.  Ever heard that when you drive a car off the lot that it immediately depreciates?  Well, the same for a lot of print things like primary care physician books, tax code (Go ahead and print that bad boy out! Ha), Yellow Pages or the like.  However, as for me, my phone book or yellow pages goes straight from the front door to the recycling bin! What about you?

So what’s my point?

Imagine you have the Yellow Pages, which as you know is organized by categories – pizza restaurants, bakeries, auto mechanics, motorcycle dealerships, fitness centers and the like.  Now, imagine that same Yellow Pages without those categories! What? How will you find anything you ask? EXACTLY my point! Now, imagine you have a website that isn’t optimized for search engines (more on that in a second), you are in the same boat of the Yellow Pages that is without categories.  Essentially, you are lost in a sea of other websites versus being lost with other businesses in the Yellow Pages.

How do YOU plan to be found?

Search engine optimization is the key to being found by searchers (those are the consumers you want to find you). If you think of it this way, it will make more sense… when you optimize your website with meta tags and keywords, you are telling Google, or any search engine, what your page is about and what is important about that page. Google, can then put you in the right category so when a user types in a search query, Google quickly searches its index and provides the user with relevant websites for that query.

Don't get lost in the sea of businesses, be sure you optimize your website. #seo Click To Tweet

Similarly, think about this – if you don’t have meta data for your website, search engines create it from your content for you. This is shown to searchers in the search engine results page – viewed as a ‘snippet‘. Who do you think would be better at determining what your page or website is about – you or the search engines? Would it be beneficial to show up under the fitness category if you are a baker? HA! Absolutely not, so don’t let search engines determine what your page or website is about, select that for yourself! Take the power of your website and business.

So, the bottom line is to optimize your website with keywords that are important to that page – each and every page with unique meta tags and titles.  Should you need help with your search engine optimization with regards to your keywords, your website optimization and your meta data, please contact me, reach out on social media and ask your questions as I would love to help. Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristen

24 Comments

About Kristen Day

Kristen is a small business owner and thus dedicated to other small business owners by helping them improve their online presence with having a professional and mobile responsive website, then implementing search engine optimization and pay per click advertising all of which are necessary 'evils' in the digital marketing sphere but enables small business owners the opportunity to compete with larger companies. When not in the digital arena, you can find her hanging with her girlfriends, husband, drinking a margarita or shooting competition (not in that order).

Subscribe for Your Free Report!

10 INSANELY Easy SEO Tips YOU Can Do Right Now

« Are YOU a genius? I AM!
Keywords – what all the fuss? »

Comments

  1. Michelle Farris says

    04/30/2014 at 10:49 AM

    Great tips for SEO. Question, do you recommend using your city in a tag or just keywords?

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:31 PM

      I would suggest using cities and states in the keywords when I am tracking them on a report. You would typically use keywords as well as cities and states (hopefully) in your content on your webpage. PPC is a little different.

      Reply
  2. Patricia Ogilvie says

    04/30/2014 at 10:52 AM

    How true! only my mother still uses the yellow pages… everyone under the age of 60 is pretty much on a smart phone or googles stuff!! hahah – great post! p

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:32 PM

      Thanks Patricia… some folks are old tried and true. I know most things are out of date when printed, maybe not the phone book, but there sure isn’t a lot of information there, just a partial name and phone number or address maybe?

      Reply
  3. Michael Kawula says

    04/30/2014 at 11:01 AM

    I forgot all about yellow pages. when you have a smart phone or computer who needs it?

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:33 PM

      I agree!

      Reply
  4. Jackie Harder says

    04/30/2014 at 12:47 PM

    I’ll be the odd person out here — I do use the phone book for local information. Not all the phone books that end up on my doorstep, because I get them from three companies and two go in the recycle bin. It’s easier and faster for me sometimes to pick up the book and get the number than to go online. But I agree with your main point — you need to have your website optimized to be found outside your local area.

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:34 PM

      Thanks Jackie for being honest… nothing wrong with still using them, I just find that I can get a LOT more information from the internet – reviews, driving directions, full names, address, city for the GPS, prices, menus, and etc…

      Reply
  5. Heather says

    04/30/2014 at 4:19 PM

    That is a really good analogy. I know that is where mine goes is right in the recycling bin. My hubby can’t figure out why and my question to him was, “When was the last time you used one?” Answer: He hadn’t. So… but I get that it only makes sense, if we are not categorized, we can’t be found!

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:34 PM

      I’d probably say that they could be used for a craft project or packing material? lol

      Reply
  6. Beth Niebuhr says

    04/30/2014 at 5:48 PM

    That was a good way of stressing the importance of SEO. Great analogy.

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:34 PM

      Thanks Beth

      Reply
  7. Yakini Pierce says

    04/30/2014 at 6:13 PM

    Wow, I can’t remember when was the last time I used a phonebook!!! Thanks for the SEO information!

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:35 PM

      You are quite welcome!

      Reply
  8. Lacie Johnson says

    04/30/2014 at 8:23 PM

    I never thought about the concept of having keywords picked for me. I probably need to study this further. Thanks for bringing this to my attention

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:36 PM

      Really? But yea, Google can not only pick your keywords but your title and description for the search engine results. Plus you get to optimize your website at the same time.. win win! Let me know if you need help Lacie, that is my business. 😉

      Reply
  9. christine steendam says

    05/01/2014 at 6:56 AM

    Yellow Pages? What’s that? Lol This is a great simplification of why we need good SEO on our sites. Mine is REALLY lacking in that department and I know it–guess I should go in and fix that lol

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:37 PM

      Yea, I know… that’s what I thought. Haven’t used a yellow pages in years… maybe even a decade? lol Let me know if you need any help Christine!

      Reply
  10. Edmund says

    05/01/2014 at 4:24 PM

    Yep, in the same boat. The yellow pages often go straight from the door to the recycling bin. I think it’s one of those things where I think to myself, hmm, I can find it online can’t I? 🙂

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:38 PM

      I agree Edmund… I can find just about anything I need online. BTW.. welcome back.. haven’t seen you around lately!

      Reply
  11. Patricia Phillips says

    05/01/2014 at 7:19 PM

    My neighbor recently mentioned putting ads in the yellow pages. We start our wood stove with pages from the phone books left for us.

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:39 PM

      Really… put an ad there… hopefully the price has gone down due to nobody looking at them and plus they have an online version or compliment, but still… there are other print marketing that is much better.

      Reply
  12. Holly Jean says

    05/03/2014 at 5:53 AM

    Great SEO tips!

    Reply
    • Kristen Wilson says

      05/03/2014 at 7:39 PM

      Thanks!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search My Site

AVB Blog Categories

4 FREE SEO TIPS YOU CAN DO

Get 4 Easy Peasy SEO Tips you can do right now!

Managed Hosting for your WordPress Website

Siteground Hosting

Back Up your Business Data

Back Blaze backups

Join My Mailing List!

Get updates on SEO, PPC, website readability and small business in our monthly email! (double opt in so look for the email)

Don't forget to look for the confirmation email to double opt in for my email list.

Buy SEO Title & Meta Description eBook

Learn how to optimize your SEO Title & Meta Description

Known for SEO

Top Seo Agency in League City

Known for PPC Advertising

Top Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Agency in League City

Follow AVB!

A Visual Business on FacebookFollow Kristen on TwitterFollow AVB on Pinterest
Connect with Kristen on Linked In Follow AVB on Instagram

Learn About My Other Business

WTF Kristen

Managed Hosting for your WordPress Website

Create Images Quickly & Easily w/ Get Stencil

Get Stencil

Stock Photo Subscription Service

Depositphotos

Learn About My Other Business

Copyright © 2023 · A Visual Business