While global SEO is everything for some companies, most of us can’t afford to ignore local SEO either. In essence, if you want people to come and visit your physical store, you need to have an excellent local SEO score. According to Google, more than half of their users who conduct a local search on their phones visit the store on that day. So, your business must pop up among the top results in your area if you don’t want to lose to your competitors. To help you out on your way to the top of the local SERPs, we’ll teach you about the ways to boost your local SEO marketing.
Now, keep in mind that improving SEO takes time. Nothing here happens overnight, and you’ll have to be patient. However, you can do quite a bit to make the process quicker. Hence, if you see working on your local SEO as the best marketing strategy for your business, here’s what you need to do.
Use Keywords In Your Listings
Being featured on local listings and citations is vital for local SEO. There’s no surprise here, but what if we tell you that you can take it even further?
Determine the local keywords related to your business and use them when writing your listings. It’s a simple trick, but people interested in what you do will often see your business name when searching the web. They’ll think of you as an authority, and when they need some help, you’ll be the one they call.
On top of that, make sure the photos you use for these listings are current and encourage your customers to leave reviews. It’ll give you more credibility in both Google’s and locals’ eyes.
Get On Local News
To this day, the news is still the number one way to promote a business. And the best part about it is that it works in any form. If you can get on the radio or TV — great, but if you can’t, there’s nothing to worry about. Major local online publications will be indexed high on Google, and if some of them mention you, some of their authority will rub off on you.
Get in touch with local journalists who want to report on your business. If you can get just one report each month, you’ll see more and more people coming through your doors. And don’t think that getting local coverage is that hard. Sometimes you just need to ask.
Work On Your Links
Local SEO is complex, and you’ll need all the help you can get to get it to work. Luckily, it’s not too tricky to get there if you use the appropriate tools. Still, SEO software like GrowthBar and Yext can only get you so far. To go over the big step and get the edge over your competitors, you’ll need to get backlinks.
It’s best if you can get them organically. Find a way to provide the community and lead people onto writing about you. The more your company is mentioned on the web, the more relevance it’ll have, and the more you’ll boost your local SEO marketing. Of course, buying backlinks is also a valid option if you get them from a reputable source.
Finally, be sure to work on your internal links as well. By connecting the pages on your site with each other, you’ll create a map for Google’s bots to crawl. As a result, they’ll make more sense of your business and website, and they’ll show your shop on Google Maps more.
Claim and Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
We can’t talk about improving your local SEO and not mention Google My Business. It’s Google’s business listing service, and the chances are that it’ll be the first thing people see when they come across your company on the local searches.
You need an account if you want to show up on Google Maps, so it’s pretty essential. If you don’t have a profile, it’s time to make one or claim the listing if it was created automatically (which sometimes happens). To do it, you’ll need to have a physical location and an actual address. Just a P.O. box won’t cut it, so don’t even try to fool Google.
Once you have your profile, go over it, fill out all the forms, and optimize it as well as you can. Add the correct contact info, business hours, and up-to-date pictures. The more time you spend on your profile, the more users will see you in local searches.
Connect Your Business With an Area You Work In
When working on your local SEO, you want to cover all the places where people may see your business. So you have to pay attention to:
- Google Maps
- Your website
- Citations
- Local listings.
Make it clear for search engines in which area you want to work and what kind of customers you’re after. It’s a lot of work, but it’ll pay off in the end.
Remember that you want to add a few citations each month so that you stay relevant. If it all seems a bit much, you can outsource it. Pick one of the SEO packages and let the experts do it for you.
Don’t Ignore the Details
It’s vital that you update the content on your site and show that you’re up and running. However, you mustn’t overlook the seemingly small details like meta descriptions, alternative tags, and titles. Google cares a lot about these HTML elements, and if your website doesn’t have them, it won’t favor it, no matter how good your content is.
Of course, keep in mind that you’re doing this for the local audience. Include some local keywords, mention the local places, and reference the local news in your articles and updates, even in meta tags. This way, you’ll show Google where you want to work, and it’ll reward you by offering your business to local users.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are plenty of things you can do to improve your SEO, both local and global. Unfortunately, this also means that you’ll have to put in a lot of resources to make it work. If you don’t want to outsource it, at least get some help from the apps that save small business owners time, money, and energy.
Use the tips we gave you to boost your local SEO marketing and find your way to the top of the local SERPs. Don’t skip any steps, and you’ll get there for sure.
Meta description: Are you looking for ways to boost your local SEO marketing? Here are all the latest tips and tricks you’ll need to reach the top of SERPs.
Author’s bio:
Kelvin Crawford is a freelance writer and an SEO expert with ten years of experience. He loves reading and learning new things almost as much as he hates rain
