Small businesses often struggle to compete online against bigger, well-established competitors. By employing local search engine optimization techniques, smaller firms can bypass competition and gain greater returns from their marketing budgets.
Optimizing your Google Business Profile will enable it to appear in search results when someone is looking for products or services related to what your company specializes in, potentially driving more traffic and sales for your company.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is an integral component of local SEO. By identifying which terms your target audience uses when searching for products and services similar to the ones you offer, you can optimize website content, meta descriptions, header tags, and other on-page elements around those words.
A sound local SEO strategy prioritizes three main factors: relevancy, prominence and citations. Relevancy refers to meeting searchers’ needs when they make inquiries – for example if someone searches Google for “plumber in my area,” it will return results that match up closely with that search query.
Prominence measures how well-known and respected a business is within their community, typically measured by how many and quality reviews it receives online, as well as its listing on third-party directories such as Yelp, Manta, Google+, Foursquare Merchant Circle etc.
On-Page Optimization
Local SEO can be an effective way to target users with high purchase intent. For instance, when someone searches “CPA near me,” they’re likely searching for help with taxes or financial matters – optimising Google Business Profile and online listings can bring in lots of traffic without spending too much.
When selecting a local search engine optimization service provider, ensure they offer a comprehensive suite of services, such as Google Business Profile optimization, on-page optimization, local citation building and online reputation management. Furthermore, seek a provider with experience serving businesses within your industry or location who can explain how their services differ from those of competitors and ensure you are receiving optimal value for your investment.
Local Link Building
Links are essential in local SEO as they help businesses rank higher in local search results and enter Google’s three-pack. Being displayed prominently within these results would mean having their name, star rating and address displayed prominently alongside search results.
Local link opportunities may be more limited than their national or global counterparts, but you can still take advantage of them by reaching out to local partners and businesses and exchanging links. This may involve reaching out to newspapers that regularly feature local restaurants or businesses; niche directories dedicated to your industry; or events pages.
An additional way of forging local links is through blogging on topics that pertain to your area and writing articles relevant to it. Blogging will establish you as an authoritative resource and boost brand recognition; consumers like buying from brands they trust; blogging can help build that confidence. In addition, blog articles shared across social media will generate backlinks and increase exposure.
Social Media Engagement
Local SEO (search engine optimization) involves adapting a business’s brand and website so they rank for searches conducted in particular geographical areas. As many companies serve customers from multiple areas, they must optimize each locale separately to drive search traffic to their business website. Some ways of accomplishing this are creating geo-targeted landing pages, sticking with one domain name, creating an effective sitemap and adding offsite citations.
Local SEO requires creating content of high-quality and relevancy; that means avoiding keyword stuffing in favor of writing for humans instead. Furthermore, longtail keywords are more likely to generate searches with real intent (for instance “plumber in seattle” vs. simply “plumber”).
Less scrupulous businesses may employ less-than-honest tactics to increase their local search rankings, such as using keywords in their business names or providing inaccurate locations or creating fake accounts. While fighting spam may be daunting, taking proactive steps against it can keep your business ahead of the competition.