Optimizing your local SEO means more website traffic, leads, and conversions, as your local customer base is more relevant. Here are 10 highly effective tips to help you win in local search.
In comparison to a national level, local SEO is relevant for smaller enterprises operating at a regional level.
Although the focus of national SEOs is on rankings across the country, priority should also be given to local SEOs in a given location on SERP. The approach is focused on the brand ads, merchandise, and services to local administrators and clients.
Optimizing your local SEO means more website traffic, leads, and conversions, as your local customer base is more relevant.
This focused strategy will help you perform more successfully against bigger domestic companies with unrestricted capital.
With your focus on specific local SEO to-dos, you can neutralize the benefits of bigger firms that routinely optimize for broader keywords and rely on brand recognition to bring traffic rather than value proposals.
Below are the 10 easiest ways to successfully complete your local online SEO.
1. Sign up on Google My Business
The most effective way to rank higher on Google Maps and to achieve visibility in Google search local results may well be to optimize your Google listing which includes your business profile.
Nevertheless, you need to have a Google My Business Account linked with your business to navigate your business profile and enable such improvements.
Once all the information you require is provided in your Google My Business Dashboard, all of that information is then included in the Google Maps business profile, Google Search Knowledge Panel, and Google Search Local Results.
Make sure you customize your Google business profile:
- Creating a Google My Business account and validate company ownership
- Specify the name, the product or service, appropriate ways to pay, and plenty of pictures
- Invite your clients to write a review of your company
- Address customer comments honestly
- Include accurate and relevant details
2. Get reviews from your clients
This not only optimizes your Google My Business profile for your clients to write magnificent reviews on your business but also allows more nearby consumers to buy from you.
Some tips for motivating clients to leave a review are given below:
- Demand a detailed summary after the transaction has been completed
- Send an e-mail or text requesting customers to write their reviews (but only after you checked these via an internal survey to make sure that customers are not unhappy)
- Qualified reaction to current ratings, grateful examiners and grievances in less positive reviews
3. Voice search optimization
Voice search is and will increase exponentially in the coming years as well. Therefore, it is important to automate in local SEOs, how people make their requests, and how people ask questions when using smartphones.
In contrast with textual searches, the consumers use more long keywords in voice search. As a consequence, you’ll even have to change your content’s SEO to match someone’s conversational language.
When optimizing the voice, it is often important that user intent is remembered, since such searches are typically conducted when the user wants a particular piece of information. They are waiting for fast and useful responses if they are cooking and want Alexa to tell them a specific recipe. If a potential customer uses voice searches to inquire about the hours of your business, this information should be available easily.
4. Build content based on events or local news
There is nothing better than producing material that communicates a particular issue in order to draw the interest of the local customers. However, you will need to see it from a logical standpoint whether doing so fits your business model.
Certain strategies include:
- Write blog posts about incidents, local news stories, or activities
- Making content to promoting local causes through the organization
- Build location-specific pages with premium local information on your website if you are targeting the different regions of the area
Let’s just suppose you’re a small property company. You can create various pages, one for each place, where hyper-local content can be included in news or changes in the local real estate market. This strategy can also help you to position yourself at any particular location.
5. Mobile responsive website
Statista shared that as of 2020, there are around 3.5 billion smartphone users and this trend is further expected to grow up to 3.8 billion users in 2021.
It shows that transformation from the web to mobile is faster than anticipated. It also confirms that you should boost your website to become a local SEO player and indeed, for a successful SEO period with smartphones and smart devices.
Here are a few tips for this:
- Ensure quick loading of the website. It should take no longer than three seconds.
- Using readable fonts
- Use pictures carefully with only the details you need
- Provide a bug-free interface
6. Use local keywords
For local users, the keywords should be relevant. It’s just worth it, isn’t it?
The Keyword Planner from Google helps you to filter location-based searches of keywords to get an insight into the common search terms in a given field. This lets you list the keywords you like locally. They should appear on URLs, copy, and meta content of your site if you have them.
Additionally, have in the post references of national landmarks and hotspots. For instance, you may include references to “best auto service in the outskirts.”
7. Create a specific page for the targeted location
Location pages are necessary if you have more than one spot in a region for your company. The following pages must be provided:
- Hours of store
- Name, contact, and address
- Custom descriptions
- Promotions
- Testimonials
- Google Maps added to every tab
- Access to parking
Take caution because you may have many locations and would need to have unique content.
If you have only one location, it is essential to create an “About Us” page focusing on local information. For instance, if you have a food shop, your “About Us” page is the perfect place to mention the association of your shop in the supply of food in events in your city.
8. Use online business directories
Websites including Craigslist, YellowPages, MapQuest, and Foursquare are web market directories to name a few. There are many more on the internet.
In turn, it will also improve exposure in your local SEO, and add your company name, address, and telephone number to these directories.
The following basics should be included in listing:
- Business name, contact, and address across all directories
- A link back to your site
- A detailed business summary
9. Create high-quality backlinks
According to the local search ranking factors report by Moz in 2017, the first and second-most relevant considerations for local products are link signals. Link signals connecting to your site are backlinks. Links are necessary to improve the efficiency of your local SEO.
Follow these tips to create quality links:
- Use a trusted backlink maker tool
- Guest blog on authoritative high-level blogs
- Build links of the highest quality on your platform so that others choose to connect to your website
- Try to link-local influencers to your social networks or email
10. Separate web pages for each product
While all your goods or services can be enticing to cram into one wide list, but don’t do it. Specify one page for every single product or service that you offer.
If search engines do not seem to regard your brand as an expert in a specific region, your local SEO juice is not so strong. This lowers the scores.
You should use location-based copy on your website if you’re a company that has not multiple goods or services but has different locations. For example, ‘Petro Plastics’ would become ‘Petro plastic in Miami’ or ‘Household Petro plastic’.
All in all
SEO is quickly evolving. You cannot know when Google will adapt the SERPs to new features for local searches, but these updates should be dealt with. This is why staying at the top of local SEO is essential.
Through applying these techniques, your company will not only benefit from profitable local searches but also offer a strong basis for the implementation of new SEO features.
