Having a strong local SEO presence is essential for businesses looking to reach potential customers in their area. From online directories to content optimization, there are several strategies that can help you get more visibility and drive more attention to your business. Learn about seven effective local SEO tactics that can help you stand out from the competition.
Claim Your Business Listings
Online directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and Bing Places for Business are essential for helping your business get found in local searches.
It’s important to make sure you have claimed your listings and kept them up-to-date with accurate information about your business such as name, address, phone number and website. This will help ensure that potential customers can easily find your business when searching online.
When claiming your business listings, you should also take advantage of opportunities to include additional information.
Try to include as much detailed information about your business as possible such as services offered, hours of operation, extended business description and photos. Including this information will help potential customers learn more about what makes your business unique and worth considering over competitors with similar offerings.
Additionally, be sure to use consistent data across all platforms—inconsistent data can actually have a negative impact on local search rankings.
Manage Online Reviews
Online reviews are essential for local SEO success. Firstly, online reviews signal to search engines that your business is legitimate and active in the local community. Secondly, favorable reviews can be a key factor in helping customers decide whether or not to do business with you.
And finally, potential customers are likely to check out what others have said about you before they choose a company they want to do business with. To get more positive reviews, ask customers who’ve had a good experience at your business if they would be willing to leave an online review.
You should also stay alert and respond to any reviews, both good and bad. If a customer leaves a negative review, thank them for bringing the issue to your attention, attempt to rectify the problem, and invite them back as a show of good faith.
You don’t want potential customers to think you are ignoring customer complaints. Monitoring online reviews is an important part of building your local SEO strategy.
Optimise for Voice Search
As people’s reliance on voice search increases, optimising for these queries is becoming more important. Voice searchers usually ask more conversational questions with a local angle so make sure that you include relevant local information on every page of your website.
For example, if you run a restaurant in New York City, don’t just list “restaurant” but also list your city and state. Additionally, use the phrases people are likely to use when searching with their voice such as “Where can I find the best pizza in NYC?”
To maximise the chances of showing up for these searches, include multiple geographic locations if you serve more than one area.
This will help search engines understand that your business is located in those areas and should appear in relevant, localised searches.
Also make sure that you’re consistent when mentioning locations across all of your webpages and other online profiles such as Facebook, Yelp and Google My Business. That way, people are more likely to see the correct location when they search for your business through their chosen search engine or voice assistant.
Upgrade Your Citations
Having accurate citations is essential for any business hoping to increase their local SEO presence. Citations are online references to your business name, address and phone number that you can create and edit on major online directories like Google My Business, Yelp, Foursquare etc. Make sure all the information listed on these pages is consistent across all platforms so customers will know exactly where to find you.
Don’t forget to fill out each directory’s profile completely – upload photos of your business or products, add links and write a detailed description of what you do. Doing so will help build trust with customers and make it easier for them to find you when they need you.
Once your citations are up to date, start thinking about how to increase the number of them. Register your business with local and regional directories, social media platforms and even industry-specific websites.
The more places you have a presence on, the more customers will be able to find you – whether from an organic search or from a paid advertising campaign. Plus, more citations mean increased credibility for your business – customers might be more likely to take you seriously if they see that a number of reliable sources all list your business.
Take the time to research directories most relevant to your industry so customers can easily find what you have to offer.
Invest in Local Link Building
Local link building is an effective way to get more visibility for your business and website. Reach out to local newspapers, bloggers and other businesses and offer them content ideas or suggestions with the intention of being featured in a blog post or article.
As part of the process, make sure to ask for links back to your website as it will help improve your search engine rankings. Additionally, you can also look into creating partnerships with other local businesses where you can offer discounts or packages that both sides can benefit from.
Building relationships with other related businesses in the area will set you up for success in the long run.
Having links from other trusted websites and blogs in your local area can help send search engine signals about your location, further improving your ranking for locally-focused terms.
You should look to get unique links from unique domains to ensure that you are not wasting your efforts. Also be sure to use the Google My Business page directory regularly as it can provide another avenue for potential clients or customers to find out about what services or products you have to offer.
Use this page to showcase your content, highlight special offers, and increase customer loyalty. All of these forms of local SEO link building activities when used together will put you in prime position for achieving high search engine rankings.
