How Your Local Little League Can Boost Your SEO

Sounds crazy. But did you know that sponsoring local events and organizations, like your home town little league or sports team, can improve your website rankings?

Your Local SEO Signal

If your business provides a localized service, Google seeks out local signals to validate the geographical market you serve.

Everything you do to showcase your business inside your community adds points to your SEO authority in your city and nearby areas.

This includes links from local organizations pointing to your website, blog posts that mention your city or local landmarks by name, and local pictures (those roadside views on Google Maps aren't just for finding directions).

Here's How to Make It Work:

1. Many of us support our local communities. Pick an organization that resonates with you and get involved. It can be anything: sponsoring your kid's soccer league or an annual 10k race, participating in a food bank drive, being a theatre patron, hosting a paper shredding event at your church or Chamber of Commerce.
2. You'll want to get your name associated with the organization. You can usually do this through a sponsorship, which can be as little as a few hundred dollars. You might even be able to provide in-kind services or volunteering your time in lieu of a cash sponsorship.
3. Ask the organization to put a link from their website to yours. The link text can be your company's name or the service you provide (in other words, the main keyword you would love to be ranked for).
4. On your website, include a blog post about your association with the local organization or event.
5. In your post, include a link to the organization, their logo, and most of all pictures of you and your team participating in an event or being in a group photo in front of a local office. Google loves original pictures. They carry more weight than stock photos.
6. Add text in the HTML "IMG ALT" tag to name the photo, usually with a related keyword like "AceIT electronic shredding at DC Chamber of Commerce" or "managed IT service provider AceIT sponsors Manna Food drive". This is the text you would see upon hovering over the image, but it's also something that Google reads to understand what the image is about.

What Does All of This Do?

Google knows where the organization is located. When they see your company associated with them via a link, it adds to your local SEO signal.

Search engine optimization is a series of plays. And this play can add a boost to your rankings when local prospects search for companies like yours.

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