8-Step Off-Page SEO Plan, Step 2: Validate
John Kriney’s first book, the 8-Step Off-Page SEO Plan, provides an uncomplicated system that’s remained unchanged since it’s released in May of 2014. Just as relevant today with off-page SEO planning as it was back then, it’s still helping outsmart, outplay, and outrank the competition in search results.
Step 2 of the 8-Step Off-Page SEO Plan is to validate your business’s information. Validating your website, phone number, business name, and physical address is critical – it’s the foundation of any solid SEO effort. You can validate this data by simply verifying a phone call, SMS message. or mailed PIN to the listed business contact info.
Phone verification requires an area code that’s local to the business’s geographic location. Companies trying to validate with an 800 number may need to buy a local phone line.
Validating is a precautionary measure to ensure a real business exists by either requiring a physical location or local number so only real businesses show up on map searches. In the mid-2000s there were more fake online map listings than real ones and – as you can guess – this was being exploited to rank high on map searches by creating bogus listings.
In response, search engines developed validating, a more rigorous process for vetting new business map listings. Businesses with locations have an advantage over online-only competitors by providing access to more directories through maps after they complete the process.
The process can seem tedious – but it is worth it.
Have you validated your business and made sure it’s on the map?
