SEO is a crucial factor when it comes to online visibility, but what about when it comes to being seen by consumers in your local area? That’s where Local SEO steps in. Local SEOÂ is an incredibly important part of marketing, especially for smaller businesses; unlike national companies, small businesses usually rely on leads and customers within their local area. With Local SEO, we aim to get seen by people searching for services or products in our city as opposed to services and products in general.
Key Strategies for Dominating Local SEO
Create a Google My Business Listing (GMB)
Having a Google My Business listing is essential as it is the first thing people see when they find a company during a search. GMB allows a business to store information about itself, including location, opening hours, website and phone number. All of this helps customers along their way to making a purchase. It also allows customers to leave reviews after using your services. To make the most of your GMB listing, you should make sure you do the following:
- Fill out your information and keep it accurate and up to date– it is very important to fill out as much information as you can and regularly update it so that your customers always know when and where they can access your services.
- Craft your business description carefully– try and incorporate keywords into your description whilst still accurately describing your business
- Verify your business location with Google– this is usually done by uploading pictures of your storefront/signage to Google; once this is done, you will start showing up in searches in the town/city you are situated in. You can also start appearing on Google Maps results.
- Add photos of your business to help users find it more easily– sometimes an address is not all that is needed to find a business, it is a good idea to add a picture of your store and even pictures of the inside to show customers what they can be expecting
- Add in-store products– GMB gives you the ability to showcase some of your products on search and maps to show customers what is available in your store
- Respond to reviews– It is always great to get reviews on GMB, but as a business, you need to respond to those reviews to show your customers that you care about their feedback; this can encourage others to shop with you.
Local Keyword Optimization
Start by researching the best local keywords for the area in relation to your business. While general SEO may focus on keywords such as “Marketing Services,” you may want to start including longer keywords/phrases such as “Marketing Services in Windsor.” Once you have researched these and narrowed down the best for your business, you can start to incorporate them into your content.
Submit Your Business to Local Directories
There are many different business directories available on the internet to which you can submit your information. Services such as Yelp, Yellow Pages and Bing Places for Business. The more relevant directories you are registered with, the better. This helps you gain more online visibility and builds backlinks. Once you are registered with the general business directories, then see if there are any industry-specific ones for your business.
Make sure that all of your business information remains the same across all of these platforms to ensure consistency and increase your rankings. Remember to keep a list of all the directories you are signed up to so that the next time something changes within your business, such as opening hours or location, you can keep these all up to date.
Encourage Customer Reviews
Positive Reviews are like gold dust in this day and age; with so many people turning to reviews as their main source of guidance before they purchase from a company, they have become incredibly important. After a customer has made a purchase from you, try encouraging them to leave a review with a well-timed email with an incentive such as an entry to a competition. Reviews can be left on places such as GMB, Facebook, and Trust Pilot, amongst others. As mentioned previously, you should always respond to your reviews; if they are positive, thank them, and if they are negative, ask them if there is anything that you can do to help their experience, either currently or for a future purchase. You will be surprised how well people respond to a little bit of effort on behalf of a company.
Optimize For Mobile
With so many people accessing the internet on their mobile devices, we really must ensure that the experience they have with our company is optimal for the device they are using. Ensure you are using adaptive or responsive design on your websites to tailor to the various devices and implement mobile-friendly shopping experiences and additions such as click-to-call buttons. A high percentage of local searches are performed on mobile devices when users are out and about and want to find the nearest shop or restaurant. So make sure you are making the experience as smooth as possible for those users.
Get Involved with Your Local Community.
A great way to get the word out about your company is by taking part in/ voicing support for local events or initiatives. You can also write blog posts highlighting local news, events and charities. Both of these ideas help to attract people in the local area and let people know that you know and care about the local community. If you are willing to sponsor an event/charity, it can help gain backlinks from locally relevant and authoritative sites. You can also help your local position by creating content such as guides or local resource pages that others in the community will value.
Collaborating with local businesses or influencers is another way to boost your local visibility and gain backlinks. Try donating books to a local library or toys to a local children’s charity, and you are sure to be mentioned for your efforts.
Use Local Schema Markup.
We have approached the topic of schema markup a few times on our blog while talking about SEO; schema markup gives search engines even more information about your site to help them categorize and understand you better. Try giving this a local edge by including detailed information about your business and the areas it serves, along with a business description, address and contact information. The more the search engines know, the better.
Incorporate Local SEO into Your Social Media
Including local information, such as your town/city name, in your social media profiles, groups, and posts can boost your visibility in the local area. You can also try targeting local audiences by taking part in local groups or sharing posts about local news and events.
Added Benefits of Local SEO
Increased Online Visibility
With a well-thought-out action plan for local SEO, you can become more visible to people in your local area. Local SEO especially helps when users have search queries such as “restaurants near me” or “shoe shop near me.” As long as you have a GMB Listing and are listed with various business directories, you should start showing up on those “near me” searches. Remember, google ranks by the following three methods for local SEO; Relevance, Distance and Prominence. So follow our guide to increase your search rankings today.
Cost-effective Marketing
Local SEO is relatively cheap in comparison with targeting a national area. Most strategies involve a little effort rather than dollars. There is also more likely to be a higher return on investment because you are spending so little, and you are targeting customers in your local area that are more likely to be using your services.
Key Takeaways
- Local SEO is a sub-section of SEO designed to increase your visibility with consumers in your local area.
- Local SEO is cost-effective and usually provides a high return on investment.
- Creating a GMB listing that is verified and up-to-date is the first step to climbing the local search engine results pages.
- Adding yourself to general and industry-specific business listing sites such as Yelp and Yellow Pages helps increase visibility and ensure the consistency of your information.
- Optimize for local keywords, add schema markup and make sure your site is optimized for mobile to achieve better local rankings.
- Getting involved with your local community and incorporating local SEO into your social media activities can boost your rankings and help build backlinks.