If your business has physical locations, local SEO should be part of its online marketing strategy. By optimizing your website and building a solid presence online, local SEO can help rank higher in local search results and bring in new local customers. In this article we’ll outline key strategies to get you started with local SEO.
Keyword Research
One of the first steps of local seo is performing keyword research. Your goal should be to determine which terms your target audience uses when searching for products and services similar to yours, using tools like Google Keyword Planner or Semrush (for paid options). Once you have an initial list of possible keywords, start narrowing it down by choosing only those most pertinent and competitive words from it.
Another key element of local SEO is making sure all information about your business is consistent across platforms and websites, such as your GMB page, other online directories and social media. Any discrepancies could lead to customer confusion and result in loss of business – so be mindful of spelling or phone number discrepancies as well as duplicate listings across platforms.
Add photos to your GMB page as another way of increasing its ranking in local search results, and include key details about your business such as opening hours and payment methods – providing searchers with relevant, easily digestible information that improves their experience of using Google Maps for Business (GMB).
Citations is another key aspect of local SEO, used by search engines to validate and update their own indexes. Make sure to compile a list of local online directories where your business information can be submitted; popular directories include Yelp, YellowPages and Bing Places.
Reviews are another integral component of local SEO, showing customers they had a positive experience with your business and increasing trust with potential new clients. It is crucial that reviews be genuine; search engines have complex systems in place to detect activity that indicates any attempt at manipulating ratings and rankings by businesses.
Finally, Schema markup can help improve local SEO. There are various types of schema, with LocalBusiness being especially important when it comes to local search. Search engines will display your business name, phone number and address as a rich snippet when someone searches Google for you – giving your business an advantage over rivals without this information marked up.
