5 Local SEO Tips You Need to Be Aware of
- Written by Diana Smith
If you’ve invested in local SEO, you’re on the right track. There’s hardly a better thing a small business can do than try to reach customers based on location. In fact, it’s the only way small businesses can compete with corporations that invest millions in marketing. But how exactly do you master local SEO and win over local customers? Listed below are five local tips from an SEO company that you simply need to be aware of.
Feed Google
What’s the first thing consumers turn to when looking for a product or service? Google! That’s right, Google is where potential customers will be able to find out more about your business. However, they can’t do this unless there’s enough information about it on Google. Not only this but this search engine will also recognize the amount of information there is about your business online and rank it better. But how do you feed Google with information about your company? Start by uploading information about your location, products, services and attributes. Another good idea is to also post other types of content such as images and videos.
Online reviews are slowly replacing word of mouth. Most people do some form of research before buying a product. Most of the time, they look up the feedback the business got from other customers. In other words, they’re searching for social proof before spending their hard-earned money. However, online reviews do more than just that. These things can also give your local SEO efforts a boost and help you attract more customers. Just think about it, the customers will probably use the same keywords in their reviews as the ones you optimize for, thus helping you boost your ranking. Not to mention that the reviews you get count as micro-format which is exactly what Google and other search engines are looking for.
Work with pros
There’s no need to say how essential SEO is at the moment. There’s hardly a business out there that doesn’t try to improve its rankings and attract more customers. As a result, there are also companies that specialize in SEO and helping other companies rank well. Connecting with a business like this would allow you to focus on your core operations while having experts handle SEO for you. Connecting with a good SEO company is a must, especially if you don’t know much about SEO. Highly-skilled professionals with plenty of experience will know exactly what to do to get more local customers to your website.
Choose the right keywords
In case you’ve decided to invest in SEO, you probably already know what keywords are. New entrepreneurs often opt for keywords that are too generic, which doesn’t help their SEO efforts. If you want to succeed on a local level, you need to focus on the right keywords. The most important keyword for local businesses is the type of your business + near me. For example, if you’re running a plumbing service, optimizing for “plumber near me” makes a lot of sense. Similarly, focus on keywords that have the location name associated with the type of business you’re running. For example, “plumber in Los Angeles” is guaranteed to do the trick for LA-based businesses.
Showcase your expertise
Google’s job is to connect consumers with the best local businesses out there. Let’s say you’re running a small car rental business. You need Google to see you as the top local expert in your field and recommend your business to its users. If you’re wondering how to do this, the answer is – content. The more content you create about your field of business, the better Google will see you. Luckily, creating content isn’t as tough as some imagine. All you need is a blog section on your website and some free time. Remember that the content you create is aimed at both customers and Google. This is why you need your content to include your keywords and be useful to the reader.
With 46 percent of all Google searches looking for local information, investing in local SEO is something you just can’t go wrong with. Follow the five tips covered in this post and there will be nothing stopping you from getting better local SEO results.
