Local SEO is a great way for businesses to get discovered online by customers near their locations. Searchers often use Google to find products and services in their area, and if your business appears in the results they’ll be more likely to visit you.
Optimizing your website for local search is essential if you want to grow your business. It’s not just a matter of having a website; you need to understand how Google works and what ranking factors are important.
You can start by researching keywords to target. A good place to start is Google Keyword Planner. This tool is free and will help you find the right keywords for your local business. It will also give you search volume data for different areas and provide you with an idea of how much competition is out there.
Creating relevant content is another key to successful local SEO. You can write blog posts, articles, or even videos that are specifically about what’s happening in your city. For example, a clothing store might create a blog post about what outfits to wear to a concert in your town.
Then, you can link to these posts from the relevant page on your site. This helps to boost your local SEO and shows Google that you’re actively engaging with your audience.
Make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is consistent throughout the web, especially on your own website and on business directories like Yelp and BBB. Having your information on different websites can confuse search engines and cause you to drop in rankings.
Another strategy to improve your local SEO is by building citations, which are mentions of your name, address, and phone number on websites that are trusted by Google and other search engines. Citations are a vital part of local SEO, with Moz estimating that they account for 11 percent of local pack-ranking factors.
When creating citations, be sure to include your NAP, and if possible, add links to your business’s Google Business Profile. Getting these citations is crucial for improving your local SEO and should be an ongoing process.
One of the best ways to boost your local SEO is by submitting your business to regional directories. These directories are edited by humans and tend to be less prone to spam.
Adding your business to these directories can be as simple as signing up for free accounts and filling out the form. It takes a little time, but the effort is well worth it.
Once you’ve added your business to these directories, be sure to check that all of the information is correct and consistent across all of these sites. For example, if you have several different locations across the country, make sure all of the locations have the same name, address, and phone number.
Finally, be sure to include your business’s Google Business Profile on your website. This will help to make your site more visible to local searchers and also help to ensure that all of the citations you’ve built are accurate.