The Ultimate Guide to Kelowna SEO – pt 1

We decided to create a comprehensive guide to Kelowna SEO for Kelowna business owners, and business owners in the Okanagan. That said, whether you have a Kelowna business, a business in Vernon, Penticton or Kamloops, doesn’t matter. These principles apply no matter where your business is located.

Owning your own business has its challenges. It means wearing a LOT of different hats. At the beginning, you do everything. You’re the developer, salesman, support team, strategist, marketer, web designer – You name it, you’re it. But with everything else you have on your plate, learning web design and SEO can just get overwhelming. Clearly its important. Clearly the world is online and people use google more than they use a phone book these days, but where do you start?!

This guide to Kelowna SEO (Or Okanagan SEO or ANYWHERE SEO) is going to try to tackle that. What are the key areas of focus that will get your Kelowna business or Okanagan business the greatest results, with only a limited amount of time and energy to invest?

We’re going to look at 5 components of Local Seo over the next couple of weeks. There is a world of information when it comes to understanding SEO, but these 5 SEO components will give you an edge and a platform to build on.

This is one of those subjects that a lot of people continue to overlook. Even if you have a local or an international audience, local SEO is still something you should look into and look out for. Google is constantly updating their search algorithms for who shows up when your customers search online. In their most recent updates, if you search for a local business or service, google shows local results. So now the chances are if you search for something that has local intent behind it in Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops or Penticton, you won’t see websites from Vancouver or Merritt, you’ll see websites from Kelowna, Vernon, Kamloops or Penticton. This gives local businesses and businesses with good Local SEO a real edge

So regardless of the sort of audience you’re after, Local SEO is a key part of your Kelowna SEO strategy. Lets dive in to Kelowna SEO and getting your Kelowna website to show up on google!

Local Kelowna SEO Week #1 – ON PAGE SEO

On page SEO means the visible text on your website. The text on your website matters. It matters a LOT. In fact, its one of the ONLY things that google can use to determine what your website is about, where its based, and how it should be ranked. Lets say you have a local business in Kelowna, and you’re trying to get your business to show up when a customer types “Kelowna bakery.” Well the first place to start is your website text.

Does your homepage mention the words “Kelowna Bakery”? Does it have a Kelowna address at the bottom? How about a Kelowna based phone number?

Lets create a pretend Kelowna business. We’ll call it “Bob’s Biscuits”

Here is a BAD example of Bob’s website design:

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Bob’s Biscuits – Making delicious biscuits since 1993

Come enjoy fresh, local biscuits sourced from the finest artisan flours in all of the world. Bobs biscuits is located on 3404 Ethel Street. To place an order online contact bob@biscuits.com

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What’s wrong with this picture? Well, pretend you’re google, and you’re trying to figure out what this business is all about so you can decide whether to include it in your Kelowna web results.

What does the text tell us? Bob makes biscuits. He’s been doing it since 1993. He makes the biscuits locally using great ingredients, and he’s located on mainstreet. He can also be reached for online orders.

Lots of info, but what is MISSING? Well, we have no idea where Bob’s biscuits is! People in Kelowna might know where ethel street is, but google has no idea which ethel street Bob’s Biscuits is located on. Is it in Kelowna, or Vancouver, or La, or Timbucktwo?

Now lets look at a great example of local on page seo, again for our friend Bob:

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Bob’s Biscuits Kelowna – Delicious Okanagan Biscuits since 1993

Come enjoy fresh, local biscuits made fresh in Kelowna. We import artisan flours to Kelowna from all over the world. Our biscuits will take you places!

Hungry? Bob’s biscuits is located on 3404 Ethel Street, Kelowna BC, V1V2X4. Call and place your order for pickup now – 250-555-5555 or order online @ kelownabiscuits@biscuits.com

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Can you see the difference here? We haven’t changed the message or the content Bob is putting out there – Its still readable, informative and entertaining – But the difference for Kelowna SEO is HUGE.

If we look at our new site, what can we now tell? Well, Bob’s biscuits is in Kelowna – We see that in our first line. We also added the Okanagan as the sub-region, which will help if anyone types “Okanagan biscuits” into google instead of “Kelowna Biscuits”

In our first paragraph we managed to place Kelowna naturally in the text twice without taking away from the message. Its very clear our business is all about Kelowna biscuits.

In our order info, we’ve placed a full Kelowna address, local phone number, AND an email with our keyword in it (Kelowna biscuits) – This is a goldmine of info for google to see.

The key to all SEO is intention. A flashy cool website means nothing if it isn’t supported by clear vision, strategy and desired outcome. When creating a Kelowna website or doing Kelowna SEO this is the main thing to keep in mind. Your website might be the greatest Kelowna Website Design out there, but if its not actually being seen by anybody, its not worth a penny. We work closely with a lot of brands to figure out exactly what they’re looking for in their marketing – website design, seo, branding and video, to create results driven strategies. That’s the key for us – Lets not just create a great website, ad campaign or brand experience (Although we’ll do all of those things) Lets figure out what you really want out of your marketing dollars. We’ll find your end goal, and work backwards from there.

Hopefully this first article on Kelowna SEO and rankings for Okanagan businesses was helpful to you. We’ll be diving in further over the next couple of weeks as we continue our ultimate Kelowna SEO guide. Honestly, the highest return on investment when it comes to SEO for your Okanagan business is your on page text. Take some time and sit down to look through every line on your website. If you were google, would you know where your business is, and what its about? How clear would it be?
If you’d like to chat Kelowna SEO, Okanagan Marketing or Kelowna Video Branding, get in touch! Your business might just need a few simple tweaks for massive returns – Its worth checking!

That’s all for now – check back for part 2 in our Ultimate Kelowna SEO Guide soon!