Local SEO is an absolutely vital factor for any small business looking to enjoy significant success online. What’s more, it remains a goldmine ready for more people to take advantage of it. In fact, according to recent data, more than 46% of all searches on Google were queries for local information.
People want to find out more about businesses around their local vicinity and it would be an absolute shame if you, as a small business owner, don’t make use of this in your favor.
To make things even better, local SEO, the search engine optimizations you must carry out for your business to enjoy these benefits, does not have to be difficult and expensive. With the right strategies, you can get this done quite easily and get your business on the right track in no time.
Google My Business
One of the most crucial steps in running a successful local search engine optimization for your business is establishing a presence on Google. Google is the largest search engine, and you want to do everything you can for your business to show up on the front pages especially for keywords relating to your products or services.
And what better way is there to show up on Google than using their own tool built to help businesses do just that? The tool we’re talking about, of course, is none other than “Google My Business”.
Google My Business is the ultimate local search tool that not only shows customers your business, but literally guides them to you through your address on a map.
To set up Google My Business, you’ll have to create and verify a page on the platform. Afterwards you’ll have to encourage your customers to share reviews online. This puts you in an even better place to help more people find you.
Social Media Presence
Social media is another crucial tool for your local business. First of all, social media gives you a level of personal accessibility which is vital for most businesses, especially as a small local business.
Secondly, and most importantly in this case, most social media platforms are already optimized for high search engine rankings. This means that all you have to do is get a page on one of the most popular social platforms, continue to maintain and engage with users on your page, and before you know it your business is already on a path to dominate the search engines for a long time.
Online Business Directories
Online business directories offer a very easy and straightforward path to search engine domination for local businesses. Again, instead of having to do the work for yourself and spending thousands of dollars to show up on the first pages of search engines, you can easily piggyback on the optimizations already established by local directories such as ours.
And since we require all the major details about your business already, users are able to find you and patronize you just as they would if they had found you through your own website.
Consistency
When it comes to local SEO, consistency is key. By consistency, we mean uniformity of key details about your business across all platforms. You can’t go around listing different phone numbers and addresses on different platforms.
Apart from the fact that it deters search engine algorithms from categorizing your business properly, it may also lead to doubt and mistrust in your potential customers, which is the exact opposite of what your business needs to thrive online.
Website Optimization
Having maximized the use of other platforms like social media websites, directories, and Google My Business, it is time to focus on your own website. And what’s more, you don’t have to break the bank to optimize this for your local business too.
Local SEO on your website can be done by maintaining consistency, improving your linking structure, and optimizing your tags, URL, title, meta description, and content.
You should also endeavor to add location pages to your website as much as possible. For businesses with just one location, a single page containing your address, phone number, work hours, and unique descriptions should do.
For businesses with multiple locations, you may want to consider having different location pages as you please.
Constant Auditing
After getting all your foundational pages in place, the next step is to maintain constant progress by carrying out consistent auditing to see where you stand. This way, you can also learn what is working for you (and double down on it) along with what’s not working (so that you can improve).
A regular local SEO audit should include a thorough Google My Business audit, Google search console audit, on page SEO audit, and citation audit on directories.
It also pays to carry out intensive analysis of your competitors to learn what they’re doing better than you and where. You can also analyze their linking strategies to see what you can imitate or do better.
Mobile Friendliness
Everyone has gone mobile, including potential customers for your local business. This is why mobile friendliness is an absolutely crucial part of local SEO as it is for regular one. In fact, 61 percent of all Google searches are done on mobile.
If you make it easier for people to navigate your pages on mobile, then you make it easier for search engines to recommend you to mobile users.
Summary
Local SEO is the art of optimizing your online presence so that you and your business can dominate the first results on search engine pages, particularly for keywords relating to your business. In fact, numerous local businesses have found rejuvenated success thanks to their local SEO practices, and above we have outlined key ways you can do the same.
Leveraging online directories, using Google My Business, increasing mobile friendliness, making use of social media platforms, and constantly analyzing your competitors are some of the ways you can achieve this with ease.
You may also endeavor to run your own business website and blog and carry out appropriate on page optimizations along with the use of proper tags, URL, heading and internal linking to achieve the same goal.