One of the biggest challenges with local SEO is getting a business to show up in cities where it’s not truly located. Here’s an example/case study.
My good friend Jack has a business called Field Crafts that’s based in Honor, a small Michigan town that’s 25 miles west of Traverse City.
![field crafts custom t-shirts screen printing embroidery in honor-traverse city mi](https://tylertafelsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/field-crafts-custom-t-shirts-screen-printing-embroidery-honor-traverse-city-mi-1024x605.png)
Most of Field Crafts’ business comes from the Traverse City area, where Jack does custom t-shirts, screen printing, embroidery, and other apparel and promo products.
Naturally, Jack wants to rank higher for searches like “screen printing Traverse City.”
Unfortunately, the Google map (which is location-contingent,) occupies the top fold of the search results. So realistically, it’s not feasible for Field Crafts to show up here because of its distance from Traverse City.
![traverse city screen printing search](https://tylertafelsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/traverse-city-screen-printing-search-1024x548.png)
In accepting this harsh reality and setting honest expectations, Jack and I are working to increase Field Crafts’ organic search rankings, shown just below the map.
At the date of publishing this (Oct 26, 2023), Field Crafts sits in the #5 organic position for “screen printing Traverse City,” #3 for “embroidery Traverse City,” and #3 for “custom t-shirts Traverse City.”
Shown here are the top 4 organic rankings appearing just below the map for “screen printing Traverse City.” (Field Crafts in 5th, further below.)
![traverse city screen printing top 4](https://tylertafelsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/traverse-city-screen-printing-top-4-1024x790.png)
Jack and I have done some SEO work on the Field Crafts site in the past, so it’s already in good shape.
By focusing more on off-site signals and doing more PR/blogging around the Field Crafts brand, I think we’ll see a boost in search visibility in the not-too-distant future.
Visit FieldCrafts.com for more.