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Type “remove Google review” into your Google search bar, and the search engine will return an astronomical 4.6 BILLION results! Clearly, bad customer reviews are on the minds of local business owners and operators.\nEvery business owner dreads receiving a negative online review from a customer. It’s a justifiable fear, since close to 9 in 10 consumers trust online reviews as highly as recommendations from friends and family, and one negative review can cost your business 30 customers. So, once a customer publishes a negative review on a site like Google, Facebook, or Yelp, what can you do to fix it?\nIt’s generally very difficult to remove bad reviews from a third-party site like Yelp or Google. You need to be able to:\nShow the site managers that the review violates the site’s terms of service by being “inappropriate” — a subjective area that relies on a judgment call.\nProve it has been written by a competitor or otherwise fabricated.\nConvince the person who wrote the review to take it down.\nPursuing any of these strategies can mean a long, difficult road with uncertain outcomes. Ultimately, you don’t have complete control over whether a posted review stays or goes.\nIf you can’t remove the negative review, what’s your recourse when negative feedback pops up and hurts your business? In this case, the best defense is a good offense. Here are some proactive steps you can take to protect yourself and mitigate the damage done by a negative review:\nClaim your business listings\n \non review sites like Yelp and Google\nBy claiming your business’s listings on review sites, you empower yourself as the owner to contact the site manager to request removal of the review, and to respond to reviews directly.\nClick for our easy how-to articles:\nHow to claim your Google My Business profile\nHow to claim your business listing on Yelp\nCreate and claim your Facebook business page\nClaim your TripAdvisor listing\nGet your business listed on OpenTable\nHow to claim your Foursquare business profile\nRefer to our \nfree business listings\n article for many more!\nRespond to negative reviews\nSince it’s rare for an online review site to agree to take down a negative review, the next best thing is to acknowledge the customer’s experience by posting a response. This is an important step, since studies show 56%-70% of complaining customers will use a business again if their concern is resolved. Keep your tone empathetic and avoid getting defensive — this can actually be an opportunity to generate more sales. By engaging with customers and resolving their concerns, you can generate repeat business, which can increase revenue by 47%.\nRead our complete article on \nhow to respond to bad reviews\n for more.\nGet more positive reviews from your best customers\nGetting more online reviews is one of the most important things you can do to attract customers and increase sales. First, it helps customers find your business online because review content on business rating sites accounts for 10.3% of your local search engine ranking. Second, research from Cornell University professors found that simply encouraging online reviews can improve a business’s online ratings—with one-star gains translating to 39% more revenue—and each additional review you receive increases revenue by .49%.\nRead our article on \nhow to get more reviews\n for more.


Can you remove negative reviews from sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp?

In this article:\nWhich Google reviews can be removed\nHow to flag Google reviews for removal\nHow to remove fake Google reviews\nHow to improve your online reputation and get more good Google reviews\nA bad Google review of your business can leave you feeling helpless, frustrated, and even angry. And who can blame you? You’ve worked hard to build your business’s reputation. And with 9 in 10 consumers saying they trust online reviews as highly as recommendations from friends and family, Google reviews make a real impact on revenue for local businesses.\nWhen a business owner ends up facing harsh feedback online, the first question many of them ask is: “How do I remove Google reviews?” or “Can I turn off Google reviews for my business?” After all, if someone spray painted “Don’t shop here” on the front of your business, you’d do whatever it took to scrub, sandblast, or paint over it as soon as possible.\nsarcastic young woman giving thumbs down for removing google review\n\nIt’s an understandable reaction, but unfortunately removing negative Google reviews isn’t quite as straightforward as rolling up your sleeves and grabbing a fresh bucket of paint to take care of some unsightly graffiti.\nLet’s start with the most simple question:\nIs it possible to remove Google reviews?\nIt’s complicated.\nOccasionally, it’s possible to remove Google reviews, but only in instances where you can definitively prove that the review in question violates \nGoogle’s review policies\n. We’ll go into detail about what that means in a moment, but first let’s be clear about the kind of reviews that \ndon’t\n violate Google’s terms of service.\nIt is not possible to remove Google reviews simply because they’re negative, unfair, or even if you feel the customer is totally misrepresenting their experience.\nbeautiful young women leaving an unkind online review for remove google reviews\n\nIf the review is from someone who actually patronized your business and is sharing their perspective, then chances are that review is there to stay. And if that’s your situation, then your best bet is to engage the customer in good faith and respond to the bad review.\nUsing a good reputation management solution is excellent way to manage all your reviews in one place, saving you time while helping you stay on top of your online reputation. Software makes it easy to respond to your reviews and encourage more reviews from your best customers.\nPlus, new research shows that negative reviews aren’t necessarily as harmful as you might think. Businesses with between 10 and 25% negative reviews make the most money!\nYou might also like: \nHow to respond to negative reviews\n\nWhat types of Google reviews can be removed?\nWhile you can’t remove Google reviews just because they’re negative in tone, Google will remove reviews they determine have violated their terms of service as outlined in \nGoogle’s review policies\n.\nLet’s take a look at the primary types of reviews that Google prohibits:\nFake Google reviews, false reviews, or manipulative reviews:\nSpam reviews (content posted multiple times from different accounts), conflicts of interest (reviewing your own business), impersonations (representing the views of someone other than yourself).\nblack gloved hand leaving fake review on laptop for remove google review\n\nMisleading Google reviews or inaccurate reviews:\nReviews or photos that clearly represent a different business or location.\nOff-topic reviews:\nContent not at all related to a customer’s experience patronizing the business in question.\nRestricted, illegal, derogatory, or explicit content:\nPhotos, content, or links to restricted, dangerous or illegal activities. This also includes threatening or discriminatory language.\nHow to flag and remove Google reviews that violate the terms of service\nIf you’re sure that a review of your business violates Google’s terms of service, your final step is to flag the report for Google’s review. You can do this a few different ways.\nFlag a Google review from your Google My Business account\nSign in to \nGoogle My Business\nIf you have more than one listing, select the location you’d like to manage\nSelect \nReviews\n from the menu
\n(Image)\n\nFind the review you’d like to flag and click the three dots in the corner\n(Image)\n\nClick \nFlag as inappropriate\n(Image)\n\nFlag a Google review in Google Maps:\nSearch for your business on Google Maps\nSelect your location and scroll to the \nReview summary\nClick the \nReviews\n link under your average rating
\n(Image)\n\nScroll to the review in question and click the 3 dots in the top corner
\n(Image)\n\nClick \nFlag as inappropriate\n(Image)\n\nComplete the form that appears and click \nSubmit\nIt can take several days for Google to evaluate the review, so you’ll need to be patient. But you should eventually receive a response from Google about the status of the flagged review and a decision about whether or not they’ll remove the Google review.\nTake reviews seriously, but don't freak out about a bad one\nIt’s helpful to know that Google does have safeguards in place to protect you from the most egregious type of online behavior. But it’s important to keep in mind that, with rare and unfortunate exceptions, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to remove Google reviews from your listing most of the time.\nNo matter how harsh a review might be, it’s important to think of it less as graffiti sprayed across the front of your store and more like digital word of mouth.\nangry young hispanic woman with megaphone making thumbs down gesture for remove google review\n\nIf you were to overhear someone in your neighborhood complaining about your business, even if you could paint over or delete that person’s unkind words, it wouldn’t really solve anything. It’s the same with trying to remove Google reviews.\nWe always recommend that you treat your Google reviews like you would an in-person complaint. Maintain the high ground, and follow our guidelines for \nhow to respond to negative reviews\n, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can turn the conversation around.\nThe most cost-effective way for small businesses to improve their online reputation is to encourage genuine reviews from customers. When you get a more accurate, positive picture of your business, you start attracting more new customers and improve your star rating.

How to remove Google reviews

In this article:\nWhy consumers comment on Instagram\nWhat to do about negative comments on Instagram\nHow to remove negative comments on Instagram\nDealing with comments on social media isn’t always fun, especially when those less than satisfied customers seem to make it their mission to ruin your online reputation.  \nWe’re here to make that task a little easier. Throughout this article, we’ll walk you through best practices for dealing with negative comments on your business’s Instagram posts and how (and when) you can delete those comments. \nFirst, let’s provide a quick overview of commenting on Instagram. \nWhy consumers comment on Instagram\nLike most social platforms, Instagram allows its users to comment on their own and others’ posts. Within the confines of Instagram’s use policies, people can say whatever they want in a comment on any posts that they follow, including your brand. \nThis is awesome when your customers are happy about their experience with your business and share all the feels on your Instagram posts, but that isn’t always the case. \nSometimes a customer has a bad day or someone on your team messed up. So they express these less-than-warm-fuzzy feelings the way everyone does in the 21st century: publicly on social media. \nAs much you may dread these occurrences, your customers just want to be heard. They want to feel that their opinion is valued and that someone paid attention to them, particularly when they’ve had a bad experience. \nAnd that brings us to the next point. How should you deal with negative comments on your Instagram posts?\nWhat should you do about negative comments on Instagram?\nDon’t worry, we will walk you through the proper approach to deleting your negative Instagram comments. But before you get to that point, you need to think about a couple of things first. \nDepending on the type of business you run, there are multiple ways you can deal with negative comments on Instagram. But you should always (and we mean ALWAYS) respond to negative comments that come across your feed. \nGoing back to the point that your customer just wants to be heard, you should always take the time to respond to their comment within a 24-hour period (and much sooner than that when possible). \nHow you respond to those comments and deal with them after that involves some nuances, depending on your business type. \nFor example, if you run a medical practice and have a disgruntled patient leaving bad comments on an Instagram post, you’re going to want to handle that a lot more delicately than you would if you run a retail shop or pressure-washing business. \nRespond professionally and reach out to resolve legitimate complaints\nThe main option: taking care to show your professionalism and let your customer know that you hear them and wish to resolve the issue fully. Craft an appropriate response and comment your reply.\nNOTE: Always take the high road, even if you feel hurt or unfairly accused in a review or comment. Remember, other current and potential customers are reading both the negative comments \nand\n your responses to them, and will make assumptions based on your approach.\nFind more helpful tips in this article: \nHow to respond to negative reviews\n\nAfter you post a “high road” response (along the lines of “We’re so sorry you had a bad experience! We work hard to make sure all of our customers are satisfied. Please contact us privately so we may resolve the issue”), you should take that one step further and actually follow up with your customer to make sure their issue was resolved, especially if there is any fault on your end. Own up to it and help your customer out. \nWhen the problem has been resolved, your customer may update their comment or remove it all together. If they don’t, but you have done your part to try and remedy the situation, at that point is when you can remove a negative review. \nInsert your personality into your comments\nAnother option for dealing with and responding to negative commenters is by meeting them on their level–all in good taste of course. \nOne example that many of us are familiar with is Wendy’s. They get saucy in their responses to commenters and their followers love it! \n(Image)\n\nObviously, you don’t want to upset your customers, but if your brand is one that allows you to insert some personality into your comments, then keep up with your image and do that. \nIf there is a big problem and it’s not just a spammy comment, then reach out to the customer and work to resolve the problem still. Just have a little fun in the comments section when the appropriate opportunity arises. \nHow to delete comments on your own Instagram posts\nOkay, let’s say you did work with your customer to resolve the problem and you’ve responded to the comment promptly. Now may be the appropriate time to remove an Instagram comment that could be potentially harmful to your brand. \nYou always want to make sure that you provide some public evidence first to show that you care about your customers’ experiences and want to fix any problems that arise. \nBut once that’s done, you may wish to delete the comment, particularly if you have resolved the concern but the customer elected not to modify or delete their negative post.\nThe beauty of Instagram is that you can delete any comments that show up on your own posts. (We’ll talk about what to do on posts you don’t own shortly.)\nTo delete a comment on Instagram, all you need to do is select the “more options” icon, symbolized by three dots. And then click “Delete.” This will automatically delete the comment.\n\n\n\nHow to deal with negative Instagram posts made by others\nIf someone does mention your brand or business in a negative comment on their own Instagram post, you won’t be able to delete their post (of course), but you can report it by clicking the same three-dot “more options” menu. However, it will only be removed if it goes against \nInstagram’s policies\n. \n\nThe next best option when someone mentions you in a negative way is to post a witty and/or helpful reply to their post, and then reach out to them personally with an offer to resolve their issue, and ask them to remove the content. \nImprove your online reputation with consistent fresh reviews\nYou can’t control what people post online. And sometimes that can have a large impact on your business. \nOne thing you can do is help those happy customers balance out the negative by working to earn consistent positive reviews. This helps you stay on top of your online reputation amidst all of the people that are just having a bad day.\nAnd remember, fresh reviews matter more than old, positive reviews. People who find you online want to see that you're still in business and are working to solve any problems that may arise.

How (and when) to remove Instagram comments on your business posts

In this article:\nTop local business resources for Houston area \nStarting your own business can be a challenge, but you don’t have to do it alone. There a plenty of local and national business resources that are available to help small business owners like you get started and find success. \nHouston, Texas has tons of local business resources to help you. Take advantage of the organizations near you that have the resources and capability to help take your business to the next level. \nThroughout this article, we’ll give you the top local business resources the Houston area has to offer. You’ll find them broken out into five different categories:\nComprehensive business resources\nBusiness courses and advisors\nFinancial resources\nChambers of commerce\nHiring and employment resources\nComprehensive business resources in Houston\nComprehensive business resources are one-stop organizations that can provide almost everything a small business owner might need.\nThey’ll help you with securing funds for your startup, finding great mentors, direct you to local workshops and trainings, and even provide resources for marketing and employee trainings. \nSmall Business Administration (SBA)\nThe SBA is a national organization that was set up to help entrepreneurs get access to the resources they need to start their business. The SBA will provide funding programs, local workshops, help you find advisors, and more. \nThey also have great information on their website, including a complete business guide with information about market research, how to write a business plan, choosing your business name, how to get the proper licensing, everything about managing your business, and more. \nReach out to your local Houston office for more information:\nHouston District Office
8701 S. Gessner Drive Suite 1200
Houston, TX\nPhone: (713) 773-6500
Website: \nwww.sba.gov\nOffice of Business Opportunity Solutions Center (OBOSC)\nThis center is a resource for new and established business owners looking for some additional assistance. They provide information on local, state, and federal regulations that may affect your business. \nThey also offer no-cost programs and services to help small businesses find success. Some of those services include:\nProfessional assistance with permits, licensing, and fee schedules\nOne-on-one business counseling\nInfo about MWSBE certification\nResources and business planning materials\nContact the OBOSC:\nOBO Solutions Center
611 Walker Street, 7th Floor
Houston, TX 77002\nPhone: (832) 393-0954
Email: obosc@houstontx.gov
Website: \nhoustontx.gov\nBusiness courses and advisors in the Houston, TX area\nYou can find specific classes and advisors to help you grow in the area of business that you’d like to develop your skillset in. Look to these resources to find out what courses and industry advisors are near you. \nSCORE\nSCORE is the nation’s largest network of free business advisors. The Houston office will guide you toward expert mentors that are within your industry and closeby so you don’t have to travel far. You can also low to no-cost workshops near you and gain access to SCORE’s templates and tools. \nSome of the templates and tools SCORE provides include:\nStartup checklist\nBusiness plan templates\nHow to select the right legal structure\nSBA loan program information\nImportant phone numbers\nContact your Houston office today:\nHouston SCORE
8701 S. Gessner Drive #1200
Houston, Tx, 77074\nPhone: (713) 487-6565
Email: scorehouston@gmail.com
Website: \nhouston.score.org\nFinancial resources for Houston area businesses\nSometimes you just don’t have the capital you need to get your dream business started. That’s where these financial resources can help. \nLiftFund\nLiftFund is a nonprofit that helps small businesses secure funding when they might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so. Their services include business and financial training, startup loans for up to $50,000, small business loans up to $1 million, and SBA 504 loan program. \nContact their Houston office:\nLiftFund in Houston
3300 Chimney Rock, Suite 104
Houston, TX 77056\nPhone: 1 (888) 215-2373
Email: houston@liftfund.com
Website: \nhouston.liftfund.com\n\nHouston Business Development, Inc (HBDi)\nHBDi is a nonprofit organization dedicated to financing the growth of small businesses in the Houston area. They seek to contribute to the economic growth of their community by helping entrepreneurs get their start. \nThis organization offers loan programs and borrower services and works closely with banks and commercial lenders to provide bridge financing. \nReach out:\nHouston Business Development, Inc
5330 Griggs Rd
Houston, TX 77021\nPhone: (713) 845-2400
Email: info@hbdinc.org
Website: \nwww.hbdi.org\nHouston chambers of commerce\nChambers of commerce are networks of business owners and professionals that have a common goal of further the economic development of their communities. Most chambers provide networking opportunities with other business owners, local events, marketing resources, publicity, and other resources for small businesses. \nLearn more: \nChamber of commerce basics: what they do and why you should join\nBecome a member of one (or more) of your local Houston chambers.\nHouston Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce\n5100 Westheimer Rd, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77056\nPhone: (713) 666-1521
Email: info@houstonmetrocc.org
Website: \nhttps://business.hwcoc.org/list/member/houston-metropolitan-chamber-of-commerce-houston-480\n\nHouston West Chamber of Commerce\n10375 Richmond Ave., Suite 265 
Houston, TX 77042\nPhone: (713) 785-4922
Email: info@hwcoc.org
Website: \nhttps://business.hwcoc.org/\nGreater Houston Partnership\n701 Avenida de las Americas, Suite 900
Houston, TX 77010\nPhone: (713) 844-3600
Email: ghp@houston.org
Website: \nhttps://www.houston.org/\nHiring and employment resources for businesses in Houston, TX\nIf you’re having a hard time finding the right people to hire for your business as it grows, then you might want to look to one of Houston’s many staffing agencies. They will interview and send you qualified candidates for your open positions. \nFrom most of these places, you’ll be able to hire employees permanently if you feel they are a good fit for your company. \nHere are the agencies we recommend starting with. \nMurray Resources\n800 Gessner Road, Suite 170
Houston, Texas 77024\nPhone: (713) 935-0009
Email: employers@murrayresources.com
Website: \nhttps://murrayresources.com/\nExecuTeam\n2401 Fountain View, Suite 800
Houston, Texas 77057\nPhone: (713) 952-6760
Email: info@executeam.com
Website: \nhttps://www.executeam.com/\n


10 helpful small business resources in Houston, TX

In this article:\nWhat’s swag and how can it help?\nBest swag ideas for salons\nTips for best use of salon swag\nMarketing has tons of different facets that can be utilized and bring success to your business. One of these facets that a lot of brands don’t take advantage of is swag. This branch of marketing can increase customer loyalty and brand awareness. Keep reading to learn how. \nWhat’s “swag” and how can it help your salon?\nSwag is basically promotional merchandise. You purchase things like pens, t-shirts, water bottles, and more, put your logo on them, and give it away or sell it. In the world of salons, the swag possibilities are endless. More on that to come. \nSo, how can swag help you market your salon?\nSwag has two large purposes, as mentioned previously: increase customer loyalty and increase brand awareness. \nFirst, let’s talk customer loyalty. When you give away free items to your customers, particularly items that they enjoy and find value in, they feel appreciated as a customer and more loyal to you as their stylist. Plus, who doesn’t love getting free stuff? \nSecond, brand awareness. As your customers are out and about in the community sporting your swag, whether that’s a t-shirt that they purchased from you or a free bumper sticker with your logo on it, that gets seen by other people. These can be great conversation starters if someone asks about the cool logo your customer is wearing and it gets your brand out there so people will recognize it when they are looking for a new stylist. \nMake the swing to get a few swag items going and let them work for you. \nBest swag ideas for hair and nail salons\nThere are tons of swag ideas that your hair or nail salon could start doing. Check these out to get an idea of what might work well for you. \nBeauty supplies\nThink about the supplies that a customer might use on a regular basis and turn it into swag. You can provide this fun free item to them that they’ll enjoy and your branded swag will be a reminder when they need to get that next haircut or nail fill. \nHere are some great examples of inexpensive beauty supply swag:\nNail files\nPersonal care kit (nail file, nail clippers, cuticle trimmers, etc.)\nCompact mirror\nComb\nHair ties\nYou can start your search for these items at 4imprint.com and AnyPromo.com. \nBeauty products\nOutside of beauty supplies, you can also provide products for your customers to use, like lotions and lip balm. Wrap them in your logo and, again, provide that regular reminder that you’re still around and ready when they need their next trim or nail style. \nGive some of these beauty products a try and see how your customers take to them:\nLip balm\nHand lotion\nSunblock\nHand sanitizer\nNail polish\nCheck out 4imprint.com and AnyPromo.com for your branded beauty products. \nApparel\nApparel is definitely one of the more common swag items, and with good reason. It gets seen more by other people and really help with the brand awareness side of swag. Depending on what you choose, apparel can start to get expensive, so these might be items that you choose to sell to your customers or at the very least use for a customer rewards program. Maybe after trying three different services, the customer gets a t-shirt. \nHere are some fun apparel items that you can try:\nT-shirts\nHoodies\nRobes\nHats/beanies\nAprons (especially for employees to use at the salon)\nFace masks\nAgain, get started at 4imprint.com or AnyPromo.com for some great bulk discounts on these items. \nBumper stickers\nBumper stickers are another item that has the potential to get seen by a lot of people. If you have customers that are loyal to your salon (and let’s be honest, salon customers are some of the most loyal customers you can find), then you can bet they’ll sport your bumper sticker, especially if you have an attractive logo/sticker for them to show off. \nAt \n4imprint.com\n you can get bumper stickers starting at $0.15 each. \nPens\nEveryone loses pens. Thus, everyone needs pens. As your customer is checking out or signing their receipt, give them a pen to keep in their purse. It’s a small gesture that will remind the customer of your business every time they see that pen. \nPlus, you can find awesome pens like these \nnail polish pens\n from AnyPromo.com to make it more fun. \nPop socket or other phone accessories\nThink about your ideal customer. Are they on their phone for hours each day? Maybe they’d benefit from some cute phone accessories like these:\nPop sockets\nRing holder\nAdhesive wallet\nPhone stand\nEarbuds\nChargers\nCheck out the plethora of phone accessory swag at \nAnyPromo.com\n. \nTips to make the most of your hair or nail salon swag\nYou need to be thoughtful about how you purchase and use swag for your salon. It is a marketing strategy after all. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you get started. \nKeep your brand top of mind\nGet swag that really helps represent your brand. Unless you’re that quirky, touristy salon that got Instagram famous, then you probably want to keep your swag items in the salon realm, like the items mentioned above. \nSwag items like shot glasses or coasters that work great for a restaurant may not do as well coming from a salon. \nStick to a couple of options\nLimit your options to a couple of items (or even just one) to start. You don’t want to dive all in with a ton of different swag items only to be left with the hundreds of freebies that no one wanted. Start small and see how your customers react to them. Then, if the response is positive, consider adding a new item now and then and test that out. \nHave a purpose for each item\nMake sure each item you give away or sell has a purpose, whether that’s bringing in additional revenue (if you are selling it), increasing customer loyalty, or increasing brand awareness. Don’t purchase swag just to have it. \nUse a customer rewards program\nMake the most of your swag with a customer rewards program. You could reward customer referrals with a t-shirt or give a customer goodie bag of beauty supplies and products with their third visit to your salon. These types of reward programs encourage repeat business and word of mouth referrals. \nIncrease customer loyalty with email marketing\nAs you work on ways to up your marketing game, keep email marketing in your plans. Email marketing can help get the word out about new products, services, or swag that you have and it helps build and maintain customer relationships as they stay informed about your salon. 

Best swag ideas for hair and nail salons (including helpful tips!)

In this article:\nMost important SEO metrics\nFree SEO auditing tools and how they work\nSEO (search engine optimization) is an important part of any business’s online marketing strategy. It’s how you show up on Google, and other search engines. And that’s one of the first places people are looking for your offerings! \nSo, how can you determine if your SEO looks good and what you need to do to improve it?\nFirst, is business good? Are you getting organic leads on a regular basis? If not, then an SEO audit might be in order.\nWhat are the most important metrics to track when it comes to SEO?\nYou can track several metrics to determine if your business is properly optimized for the search engines. It all starts with having a good website (and a Google My Business listing if you have a local business). This is the foundation for helping your business get found online. \nSo, what determines good website health?\nMobile-friendliness\nThis means your website is easy to use across different devices. You can find your way around and have a good experience on your website whether you are on a large monitor or a cell phone. \nPage speed\nPage speed is how quickly your pages load. Most people will leave a website if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load. Ideally, it should take less than 2 seconds. \nPage crawls\nIt’s important that Google and other search engines are able to crawl the pages on your website. This is what helps them get indexed so they can show up in search results. \nOrganic traffic\nOrganic traffic is website visits that come from the search engines. If you don’t have any organic traffic, it’s probably because it’s not showing up in the search engines. \nDomain authority\nThis is a metric that Google uses to determine the strength and trustworthiness of a website. This is a 0-100 scale, with most local businesses falling anywhere between 5 and 35 depending on how much SEO work they’ve done.  \nBacklinks\nBacklinks are links from other websites that go to your website. These are a huge factor in your overall domain authority. The more trustworthy backlinks that you have, the better your domain authority will be, the more opportunities you’ll have to rank in the search engines. \nCitations\nCitations are listings for your business in online directories. Think Yelp, Yellowpages, Google My Business, even Facebook. It is important that each of your citations has the exact same NAP (name, address, and phone number) in order for Google to verify your information with these other directories. \nKeyword rankings\nYour keyword rankings tell you how well your website shows up in the search engines for a particular search query. The higher up you are in the search engines, the more traffic you’ll get to your website. This generally results in more business too. \nTop 10 free SEO auditing tools that can help you track important metrics\nLet’s dive into the free tools that can help you check these metrics and your overall SEO health. \nWebsite auditing tools\nThere are tons of solutions out there that will do a free audit of your website. Most of them will require your email address so they can send you more information about their services or free courses that they offer.\nThese website graders give a general look at your mobile-friendliness, page speed/performance, and SEO potential.\nHubspot Website Grader\nHubspot’s Website Grader will score your website on performance, SEO, mobile, and security. It will break each of those items down in the report to show you how you can improve in each area. \nGo to \nwebsite.grader.com\n to enter your website URL, email address, and get your score. Hubspot will also provide links to free resources that they offer to help you learn more about SEO and managing a website. \n(Image)\n\nNibbler\nNilbbler grades your website on accessibility and mobile usability, experience, marketing, and technology. It then breaks down each of these items to show you any potential issues with your website and how you can make improvements. \nGot to \nnibbler.insites.com\n to test your website. \n(Image)\n\nTools for traffic analytics\nTraffic analytics tools will show you how many people are visiting your website each day, week, or month and where that traffic is coming from. \nGoogle Analytics\nGoogle Analytics has tons of metrics that you can pull, from traffic analytics to user behaviors and demographics. \nFor the traffic analytics side of things, this tool will allow you to filter specific timeframes to see how much traffic you had and where that traffic came from. It will breakdown your traffic by these sources:\nOrganic (from the search engines)\nDirect (people who bookmarked your website or type it in directly)\nSocial (traffic from social media to your website)\nReferrals (from links on other websites)\nPaid (from any paid Google ads that you might be running)\nCheck with your web developer to see if Google Analytics is set up on your website. And if it’s not, make sure it gets done. \nGo to \nanalytics.google.com\n to check your Google Analytics web traffic. \nSemRush\nSemRush will do an overall look at your traffic, backlinks, keyword rankings, and more, but most of these features come with a paid subscription. You can enter your website in for free to get a snapshot of what your monthly organic search traffic looks like though. \nJust go to \nsemrush.com\n, enter your website, and create an account. \n(Image)\n\nDomain & link tracking tools\nThese tools will help you determine what your domain authority is and what your backlink profile looks like. \nMoz Free Domain SEO Analysis Tool\nMoz is a big leader in the SEO world and has developed several tools that professional marketers use every day to monitor SEO and website health. But they also have a few free tools that you can use. One of those is their Domain SEO Analysis Tool. \nThis tool will give you your domain authority, the number of other domains that are linking to your website, how many keywords you are ranking for at a national level, and a spam score for your website. \nJust go to \nmoz.com/domain-analysis\n and enter in your website’s domain name. \nTry comparing your domain to competitors that are showing up well in the search engines to give yourself an idea of how much work you have to do to keep up. \n(Image)\n\nAhrefs Backlink Checker\nAhrefs is another SEO resource that provides several different tools to track a lot of these metrics that we’ve mentioned. Again, a lot of their services are paid features, but they do offer a free backlink checker, allowing you to see how many links you have to your website. They’ll also provide a domain rating. \nThe numbers here will be different from Moz’s Domain Analysis tool because they use different bots to crawl the web, so they might not have all of the same information. \nGo to \nahrefs.com/backlink-checker\n and enter in your website’s domain name to check it out. \n(Image)\n\nLocal SEO & citation checking tools\nThese tools might be the most important for any business that provides local products or services. These will show how well your business is showing up in important online directories and if your information is correct. As we mentioned earlier, it’s very important that your NAP is consistent across all of these directories. \nMoz Online Presence Checker\nMoz again for the win! Moz also has a free tool that allows you to check your citation health and whether or not your business is listed on important citation websites. \nMoz will list the top directories and tell you which percentage of those are correct, incorrect, or missing. And it will provide the information that is listed for your website in each of those directories. \nGo to \nmoz.com/checkout/local/check\n to check your online presence score. \n(Image)\n\nYext\nYext is another tool that provides a similar service as Moz’s Online Presence Checker. They’ll provide a free scan of your citations so that you can see where your business is listed and if your information is correct. \nGo to \nyext.com\n and scroll down to “Are there wrong answers about you in other places?” Then enter in your business information and get your free scan. \n(Image)\n\nKeyword ranking tools\nKeyword rankings tools will help you to know how well your website is showing up in the search engines. If you’re not in the top 10 results for a given phrase, you’re probably not getting a ton of traffic from it. \nMoz Keyword Explorer\nMoz will run a keyword check on your website with their Keyword Explorer. All you do is enter in your website URL, and Moz will generate a list of all of the keywords that you are ranking for on a national level. (Unfortunately, they don’t break this down by cities or states, so you can’t take a deeper dive to see how well you show up locally – but a Google search in an incognito window will show you local results.)\nGo to \nmoz.com/explorer\n to get started. \n(Image)\n\nGoogle Search Console\nSearch Console is another free resource from Google that is amazing. It will breakdown all of your organic traffic from Google so you can see exactly which phrases people are searching that bring your website up in the search results. It will also tell you which phrases result in clicks and traffic to your website. \nAnd, if you export the list of queries that search console gives you, you can see what your position in the search engines is (again on a national level) for each phrase. \nThis is another one where you might need a web developer’s help to get it set up, but once you’re in, this is one you’ll check on a regular basis. \nJust go to \nsearch.google.com/search-console\n to get started. \nAdditional resources to help your business with SEO\nIf you are excited about SEO and want to learn all you can to help your website show up better on Google, then check out these other free SEO tips:\n\nLocal SEO: 15 free tips for better search rankings\n\n\nHow to get more reviews\n \n

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