Which customers are most likely to shop at your store? The ones around your area, right? This is where local SEO can be a real game changer. A local search is a powerful tool, especially for small businesses. A huge chunk of Google search is related to the search of local information. It means, if your business is not optimized for local search, you are missing out on something great. If you own a physical store and have not optimized the local search for your business, you are missing consumers who are looking to shop for products in your area.
If you are fairly new to local SEO, you will have a lot of questions running in your mind, and you may not know where to start. In this article, we explain some essential local SEO solutions so that you understand the landscape better.
After all, “Successful SEO is not about tricking Google, it’s about partnering with Google to provide the best search results for Google Users”.
Local search is beneficial for businesses that have a brick and mortar store and want to target prospects of a specific location. For instance, if they search for “ATMs near me”, they are looking for an ATM in their surrounding area.
Local search is specific to a particular location and is different from the general Google Searches. Local SEO is significant for your business since it helps businesses in several ways.
Looking to establish a powerful Local SEO for your website? We share the top 10 ways that will help you make your local SEO game successful.
Create a Free Google My Business Account:
Establishing Google business listings is no doubt, one of the best ways to gain maximum visibility, and rank higher on the search engine. Associate a Google business account with your business profile and make necessary optimizations. After making necessary adjustments, your business profile will then appear in the local search results and Google maps as well.
You can also make timely announcements in your business profile related to the launch of a product or service. You can make public posts at regular intervals as well.
Optimize for Voice Search:
Voice search is growing steadily and is expected to grow more in the future. Hence, when it comes to local SEO, it is crucial to optimize your listing according to how people speak into their devices when they search for your business. It means when speaking they use more long-tail keywords, as opposed to when they are writing.
Adjust your SEO in such a way so that you add a more conversational tone of people speaking, in your content. Voice searches are performed more and hence, you should optimize accordingly.
Get Reviews from Happy Customers:
Obtaining shiny reviews from your happy customers only optimizes your Google My Business presence but also encourages prospects to buy from your business. A survey reveals that 85% of customers believe online reviews as much as they believe in personal recommendations.
Optimize your Website for Mobile Devices:
The shift to the use of mobile phones is occurring more rapidly than was expected. Mobile visits to websites grew from 2016 to 2017, and desktop visits shrunk over the same period. That said, if you want to be a good player in local SEO, you need to optimize your website for mobile devices.
A few optimization techniques include, ensuring fast page load (no more than three seconds), intuitive UI to provide great UX, using bigger fonts for readability, etc.
Preparing content that relates or speaks directly about a local issue to attract consumer attention. A few strategies to optimize your content for local events, include, creating videos on local charities or the causes that your business is supporting, establishing location specific webpage on your website, etc.
Your content should have keywords that are relevant to the local consumers. It makes sense, since search terms of local consumers will be different from the general consumers. Use Google Keyword Planner, to look for keywords that are specific to local search. The tool lets you filter keywords based on specific location that you want to target.
After shortlisting them, you can insert them in your webpages.
Obtain Benefits of Business Directories Available Online:
Websites like YellowPages, Yelp, MapQuest, FourSquare, etc., are online business directories. Getting your business registered with a phone number, name and address will not only help in enhancing visibility but also boosts local SEO. Include the necessary details to obtain maximum benefits.
Use Location-Specific Pages:
Location-specific pages are essential if you are situated in more than one location. At the least, you are required to provide the following details to establish a separate location page.
You should be careful when you have multiple locations since you will need unique content for each location. When you are located in just one area, creating a single “about us” page with all relevant information will be enough. For instance, if you own a flower shop, the “About Us” page on your website will be the perfect spot to mention all involvements related to your shop.
Focus on Getting High-Quality Backlinks:
As per the study conducted by Moz, related to the Local Search Ranking factors study, pink signals or backlinks are the most important factors that help the Local pack to rank. Such signals point to your website owing to the credibility of your website. Links are crucial to boosting the local SEO of your website, and their quality matters too.
A few tips to get high-quality backlinks are listed below:
Establish a Dedicated WebPage for Each Service/Product you Offer:
It can be tempting to lump all your products and services in just one page, we recommend you refrain from doing so. Create a page dedicated to a single product or service. This will not confuse your visitors, and they can easily find what they are looking for. Local SEO will not be as powerful as expected if you lump everything in one page.
This way, search engines will also not be able to see the authority of your business in one particular area. It will further impact your SEO ranking as well. Moreover, if you don’t have several products or services, but are found in different locations, you can simply use the content that you have used for different locations on each page
SEO is ever-changing. You cannot secure the first position for once and forget it there. You will have to continuously optimize your content to stay on the top. You never know when Google can introduce new features in its SERPs for the search results. However, if you stay updated, you can count on such changes easily. Hence, it is always crucial to stay on top of local search.
No matter where you are at, in your marketing journey, potential consumers will always search for what your business is offering. Don’t miss this chance of being found by a first-time buyer. Though improving SEO will take time, it is worth it in the end. You will have to be patient to allow things to work. Optimizing for Local SEO has become important more than ever, and it is a hot topic for Google.
People look for stores that are physically located near them. Local SEO is a great investment if done right. If your business is operating directly in the community, leverage local SEO to make the most of it. Establishing a Google My Business page is free, and you can obtain maximum benefits with this single effort. Best practices and techniques of Local SEO center around on-page optimization for location-specific queries. Setting up a GMB page is equally important.
While building your local SEO strategy, you should not keep any stones unturned. We have provided some proven solutions that are sure to help you establish a robust local SEO game. Local SEO is about marketing your products and services to local leads. It helps enhance brand awareness.
When it comes to SEO, it is crucial to understand that things go beyond Google as well. Don’t forget that consumers not only use Google as a search engine, and they use several different platforms as well to look for businesses.
Local SEO enables the creation of a positive noise around a company and also prompts consumers to leave their experience with your business, which helps other consumers make a buying decision.
Some visitors don’t bother to look at the second page; hence, local SEO is critical. As said, “The best place to hide a dead body is the second page of Google Search“.
Author’s Bio:
Kristen Reed Edens is a successful digital marketer with expertise in search engine optimization, creative writing and content marketing. She has helped a lot of small and medium-sized businesses craft digital marketing strategies that are cost-effective and deliver outstanding results. Currently she is doing freelance writing for SEO Experts India, a leading SEO Company in India.
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