Especially these days when smartphones pretty much never leave our sides and smart speakers are found in more and more domiciles, it is likely that we have requested instructions or directions from our digital helpers at one time or another while on the go.
Perhaps the questions were “Hey Siri, where’s the nearest donut shop?” or “Alexa, what’s the closest petrol station?” Alternatively, a person may have used their smartphone, tablet or desktop computer to look up “nearby Mexican eateries”.
In every one of these scenarios, a consumer was probably directed to a close-by business due to local search – and it’s likely it ended up as a sale. Many of the companies that appear in the search engine results did so through utilizing local search engine optimization.
Strategic steps toward local success
Today’s highly competitive online environment makes local SEO an opportunity for businesses to increase the chance of being seen through online searches that have a location factor.
It’s been found that roughly half of all queries on Google involve searching for local info, and almost 4 out of 5 locals who search from their mobile device end up buying something in-store. Local SEO can be a great advantage to small to medium sized businesses, helping them get noticed by customers who may not know they exist.
What steps can you take to make sure your business appears in the search results when a potential customer is searching for the products or services you offer? Consider these eight local SEO-focused steps to putting your business in a better position to be found via local searches:
1. Set up and optimize your Google My Business (GMB) listing
To start boosting your local SEO, Google suggests that the most powerful thing a business could do is claiming and fully filling out their Google My Business (GMB) profile. This is one of the initial steps that is recommended to improve your local search rankings.
Plus, it’s free and easy. To begin, just go to the Google Business Profile Manager and type in your business name. Then, enter all the information required to complete your business profile, like your business’s full name, address, location on the map, type of business and contact details.
When everything is finished, you can improve your listing with pictures, operational hours, further communication info, items that are stocked in the store plus more.
2. Round out your social profiles
It makes smart sense to build accounts for your business on social media, even if you are not using them actively. Having an online presence on platforms like these is an effective way to draw attention to your company and interact with current clients and potential customers.
You can take the appropriate measures on any digital platform where your potential customers could be participating. Making it simpler for customers to locate your company, as well as supplying search engines with more details about your business, will prove advantageous.
Social profiles can be used to create citations, which are references to your business, such as your location or contact details, that can be found online. Search engines take these into account when figuring out your business’s local search ranking.
3. Include a contact page on your website
The first move when attempting to improve your website’s local SEO visibility is to include a contact page that clearly lists your business name, location and telephone number.
It can be beneficial to allow individuals using mobile devices to quickly locate or contact you simply by clicking the business address and telephone number, without needing to switch between applications.
4. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly
More and more, modern consumers are going mobile. It is proven that more than 60 percent of Google’s investigation stemming from the US on the web comes from cell phones, signifying how crucial an accessible site for portable gadgets is for companies.
It is very evident that optimizing one’s website for mobile usage is super important when it comes to local SEO, especially considering the fact that a large share of searches made on mobile devices include a location element.
Many entrepreneurs still keep unique sites for computers and cell phones. Many also view the desktop variant as their primary enterprise website.
You should reconsider your approach if this is what you are considering. Research shows that consumers view your mobile website as being the main and most important website for your business.
Google acknowledges that companies that are more accommodating to mobile search queries will be favored. Here are a few tips to improve user experience on your mobile site:
- Only use responsive themes. WordPress, Simbla, and Colorlib have a wide array of responsive themes to accommodate mobile search. You can also use Gator Website Builder for ready-to-use templates and an intuitive website builder.
- Make button sizes convenient for small screens. Poorly sized buttons can be infuriating for your website visitors. Do yourself and your customers a favor by testing your on-site buttons on several mobile devices.
- Display important information prominently. People often just scan a site in search of important information such as operating hours, reviews, address, and list of services. Make it easy for potential customers to find these things when they visit your page on their phones. Having easy access to your FAQs would also help them do a quick research about your brand.
- Make it easy to switch to desktop view. Some visitors prefer to view the desktop version of a website. This is especially true if there are text in your content that they want translated or if you have a mobile version of your site instead of a responsive one.
5. Include a map to your business
Making it easier for consumers to find your business is the main prevue of your local SEO strategy, so incorporating a map on your website to pinpoint your position would be the best way to reach this aim.
If your organization has various sites, a map demonstrating each of your outlets could be quite useful for individuals who are looking for them.
6. Localize your website
Having a big quantity of links to your company’s website from other respected sites that are local will greatly assist you in gaining a higher position in local searches.
An option to reach this goal is to go after groups like licensing offices, commercial organizations and commerce chambers in the surrounding area with the intention of being included on their websites.
Generate first-rate content concerning regional events, attractions, developments, industry functions, and so on – particularly content that can assist in making your business a significant figure in your arena – and post it on your website, often as a blog.
Eventually, if the material you create is deemed to be of great significance to local people, it is probable that you will gain a considerable amount of backlinks from different companies, organizations, and agencies from the same area.
The manner in which Google presents search results has evolved over time. In the past, marketers would attempt to deceive search engines by filling their material with keywords instead of concentrating on creating high-quality content.
These days, engaging in this behavior guarantees that your website’s ranking will decrease and will drive away visitors. As people increasingly went online to discover places to purchase items and receive services, Google began to prefer sites providing up-to-date and pertinent data.
In general, SEO recommends consistently posting content that explains how your goods and services operate. To make your content rank higher in local search, make sure to do the following as well:
- Help people find you. How can people find you if they do not know their way around? If people have never heard of your business, how can they learn about it when they research online?
To facilitate people locating you, associate your address with your exact position on Google Maps and put together and confirm a Google My Business page. You can employ landmarks close to you as focused keywords or state how far away you are (in either distance or duration of journey) from important sites such as airports, shopping centers, or bus stops.
Once Google has authorized your business, it may allocate a section in the side panel to permit people to identify it without difficulty. By having a Google My Business page, it is simple to show off customer feedback.
- Do not forget about title tags and meta descriptions. Title tags and meta descriptions give people a gist of what they can find when they click on your page. In the few seconds that people scan SERPs (search engine results pages), it is the title tags and meta descriptions that grab their attention.
- Keep the information updated. More and more people now rely on information they find on their internet. When they find your business contact information and find out that they cannot get in touch with you, they will go to the competitor. Keep information current all the time especially phone numbers, emails, and business hours.
Keep titles and meta descriptions short, informative, and compelling. Investigating key words is critical when constructing material for title sections and meta descriptions.
- Publish posts with more specific subjects or themes. There is nothing wrong with writing a wide variety of posts to attract more readers. However, this will not help you establish your credibility in any field.
In order to become an expert in your field, create content that is tailored to a particular audience. Be sure to have an accurate and distinct mental image of who your intended customer is. What age or gender are they? What are their likes and dislikes? Having knowledge of the responses to these questions will aid in the enhancement of your communication.
Advice: Composing content that is filled with data can be tricky without it coming off as too mechanical. Coming up with an effective writeup of your brand can be difficult without it sounding overly promotional.
If you are unable to craft the ideal content alone, consider employing a virtual assistant to act as your content writer. VAs skilled in brand promotion and content marketing understanding can help adjust your blog posts for higher rating and less rejection rate.
7. Build up your customer reviews
Having great customer reviews can have a tremendous effect on pushing people to choose your business over others in the area. Not only can it cause your business to rank better in local searches, but reviews can be an invaluable resource in influencing customers to come to you.
In order to increase both your online presence and customer base, it is imperative that you get customers – especially contented ones – to provide online testimonials of your business and its goods.
8. Include some customer testimonials on your site
Client affirmations offer an incredible chance for your organization to pick up the trust of potential clients – and furthermore work as a trust flag with Google, helping improve your business’ nearby internet searcher positioning.
It is sensible for companies to acquire positive feedback from their customers and feature it prominently on their website.
9. Leverage local reviews to win customers
Outlandish advertisements could draw in onlookers, but feedback from genuine clients secure the sale. Don’t limit yourself to just registering your business with Google My Business. Get the most out of your customer reviews by optimizing them.
Google Customer Reviews is a utility that assists business owners in obtaining genuine ratings and feedback from actual purchasers. Customers can quickly evaluate your brand or goods directly on Google. You can add a specialized evaluation link to your website to persuade more people to leave remarks or opinions.
You can improve the situation even further by accessing the evaluation connection from Google My Business and utilizing a component for your website. Other popular customer review sites include:
- Amazon Customer Reviews
- Trustpilot
- Consumer Reports
- Consumer Affairs
- Yelp
- TripAdvisor
- Yahoo! Local Listings
- Glassdoor
- Better Business Bureau
- Influenster
- Angie’s List
- Choice
Apart from creating feedback funnels, these practices will also boost your reviews:
- Ask customers directly and promptly. An email, pop-up message, or a simple note at the end of your invoice will go a long way. It is also important to ask for reviews shortly after customers receive your product or service. When the experience is still fresh in their minds, customers are more likely to leave detailed reviews.
- Engage with the people who leave feedback. Thank people for sharing their positive experience with your brand. Recognize those who leave less than stellar comments as well. Acknowledging negative feedback can diffuse tricky situations and help foster trust in your brand
Conclusion
Using local search engine optimization techniques can rapidly strengthen your website’s level in Google and make your brand known by many. Use these tips for local SEO success.
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