Local SEO is a critical part of any company’s digital marketing strategy. It boosts search engine rankings, increases traffic, and improves sales prospects.
However, many businesses make mistakes that hurt their SEO efforts. We’re here to help you avoid those costly missteps and put your business on the right track to local success!
Keyword research
Keyword research is a key part of any successful local SEO strategy. It helps you identify the most popular keywords your target audience is using to find your business online.
Local SEO keyword research is different from national/international keyword research because it targets keywords that have a local intent. A search like “Dallas boutique” is more likely to bring a local business to mind than a search like “online women’s boutique.”
You should revisit your list of keywords every six months or so. This will help you uncover new keyword opportunities and keep your local SEO strategy fresh and effective.
To conduct your local SEO keyword research, you can use services like Ubersuggest or SEMrush. Both of these services are free to use and offer extensive data about the keywords you can rank for.
On-page optimization
Using on-page optimization to improve your local search rankings is a great way to attract more customers from organic searches. This includes optimizing your titles, meta descriptions, HTML tags, and headings.
In the past, many businesses viewed on-page optimization as keyword stuffing; however, today’s best practices include smart targeting that also provides a good user experience.
To improve your local search visibility, it’s important to have a consistent NAP across all of your online profiles. Having your NAP (name, address, phone number) on your website and all of your local listings is an excellent way to send strong signals to Google that you’re active and can be trusted to provide the services your users are looking for.
On-page optimization also includes adding relevant alt text to images so that they’re read out to visually impaired people who use screen readers. Headings are also a good on-page SEO signal, as they show the logic of a page to both readers and crawlers.
Local citations
Citations are a foundational part of local SEO, as they help you gain visibility online and boost search engine rankings. They’re also valuable for improving consumer discovery.
A local citation is a mention of your business’s name, address and phone number (NAP data) on a reputable website. Although this doesn’t always include a link to your site, it still has value because it gives you credit for the mention.
As you build citations, you’re helping to establish your brand as a trustworthy and reliable business. When Google sees that a number of trusted sites have your NAP details listed, it’ll begin to trust you more.
Ensure that your NAP citations are consistently correct across all directories, so you can maximize the SEO benefits of these citations. Even small discrepancies can negatively affect your ranking in local search results.
Google My Business
Getting your local business noticed on the internet is an important part of any successful digital marketing strategy. However, it’s a complicated process that requires a combination of tactics.
Optimizing your Google My Business (GMB) profile is one of the most effective ways to improve your visibility online. This tool gives you complete control over how your company shows up on Google’s platforms, from search results to maps.
It’s also a great way to generate leads and build trust with potential customers. GMB offers a number of features that can help your business stand out from the crowd, including customer reviews and a book an appointment feature.
Google’s search algorithm prioritizes local searches, so optimizing your GMB is key to getting your business in front of people who are nearby. To do this, be sure to provide all the information that customers need to know about you — from your opening hours to your contact details.
