What is local SEO? And why is local SEO important?
You may be wondering why local SEO is important. Optimising your website for local SEO is a must for small businesses keen to improve their rankings in local searches. Local SEO is an effective way for companies to reach prospective local customers.
Unity SEO provides businesses with local SEO solutions to help rank in local SEO listings.
Below we take you through everything if you are wondering how to do local SEO. Giving you insights and local SEO tips may be useful when developing a local SEO checklist or formulating your own local SEO strategies.
Google Business Profile is one of the best local SEO tools.
Google Business Profile is essential for enhancing your website’s local SEO and crucial when you may be wondering how to do local SEO. It allows you to take ownership of your business’s presence on Google and refine it as needed. This free tool lets you manage your business’s appearance in local searches.
It is critical to have accurate and up-to-date information about your business online. Make sure all your details are correct. In particular, your contact details, your business name, email address and phone number. Having consistent information for how to contact your business across all your online presence is critical. This information will help Google better understand your business and help consolidate you as a legitimate business.
Use local SEO keywords in your website content and meta tags.
Incorporate local SEO keywords into your content and meta tags to help you rank. Keyword research for local SEO will identify those that customers are using to find your business.
SEO keywords are phrases your customers use to search for businesses like yours. There are two types of keywords:
- Shorttail keywords with up to three words with generic meanings.
- Longtail keywords are phrases with four more words that are specific in meaning. These can be questions asked by potential customers relating to your business services.
An easy way to find your SEO keyword examples is to use Google’s search page. It is one of the best local SEO tools. Type in a keyword related to the services your business provides. Below the keyword you typed in will appear a list of ten keywords that Google ranks as relating to your keyword. Make a note of the ones that relate to your business.
If your business is in Norwich, ensuring your website content reflects that is important. Using “Best Bakery in Norwich” can ensure local customers find you is one of the key benefits of local SEO.
Keyword optimisation is essential for successful local SEO. But it is vital to strike a balance, make sure your content is readable and valuable to your audience.
One problem with keyword optimisation is that it can seem like a numbers game. Keyword stuffing, packing lots of keywords into your content, is not good practice. It will make your website look spammy.
Include your business address and phone number on every page.
Ensuring your business’s contact details are correct is crucial to local SEO. This is true for your website and your company’s wider online presence. From your website to your Google Business Profile across all the social media platforms you use as a business.
Consistency across your online presence helps establish you as a credible business. It allows search engines to locate and connect your business with local customers.
Also, having your contact details on every page of your website helps. It is crucial to make it as easy as possible for your customers to view or contact you. Helping you develop a strong local presence is crucial to any business’s success.
Professional SEO Agencies, like Unity SEO, will help you develop your presence as a trusted local business. Local SEO helps Drive traffic to your website and captures leads for your business.
Create profiles on review sites and local directories.
Local directories and review sites are essential to any local SEO strategy. Allowing prospective customers to view ratings for your business from happy customers. They are a great way to get your business discovered by potential customers in your area. And provide an opportunity for you to build trust and credibility. Yelp, Clutch, TripAdvisor and Google business profile are great places to start.
Reviews help prospective customers make informed decisions. You are signalling to search engines that your business is trustworthy. Make sure to claim your business listing on these websites and keep your information up to date too.
Create social media profiles for your business.
Social media is great for reaching out to your target audience. Helping to establish trust and improve your credibility. Most of your prospective customers will turn to social media in the first place. Whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn. So, it is a good idea to have a presence there.
Promote yourself too! Not just your business. Customers are more likely to trust you if they know all about you and your services.
Also, share articles that relate to your business, spreading awareness with potential customers and educating them on how best to use your product or service.
4 local SEO tips for getting positive reviews from your happy customers.
Getting positive customer reviews is a crucial part of any successful business. Reviews can improve your visibility in local searches. The following tips will make sure you’re getting those five-star reviews:
- Get satisfied customers to leave positive feedback about your company.
- Request the review whilst still providing your service or immediately after whilst it is fresh in your customer’s mind.
- Advise on using specific keywords in the review they leave.
- Make it as easy as possible for your customers to leave a review. If you meet them face-to-face, then have a QR code ready for them to scan to link to your review website.
Positive reviews help build trust with potential customers. Leading to increased sales and brand loyalty.
Schema markup: Telling search engines about your business is one of the key Local SEO ranking factors.
Schema markup is a powerful tool for local SEO optimisation. It is an important part of making your website visible to search engines. It helps them understand the context of your business.
Schema markup is machine-readable embedded within your website’s code. It is not visible to users viewing the website.
It allows businesses to identify critical pieces of information about their business directly to search engines. Information like their location, contact details and opening times. As well as the type of business and what services they provide.
By providing this machine-readable information, you can draw attention to your website. Schema markup helps search engines easily interpret the content of your website. Helping your website to compete against local competition in searches.
You can find a directory of the types of information that may relate to your business at schema.org. Unity SEO can help you develop and confirm this fundamental data set for every page on your website.
Posting content should be top of your local SEO checklist.
Content is king is a phrase used by SEOs. And it’s as important to local SEO as it is to SEO in general. Google is clear in its own guidance on the importance of helpful, people-first content. That’s to say that the content you publish on your website must be helpful to the people who visit it.
Suppose you’re a plant nursery in Norwich. Then provide content that offers plant care advice to your customers through blog posts, landing pages or social media posts. This is an excellent way of developing a meaningful relationship with your customers.
They purchased from you, and by advising them how to get the best from the products and services, you enhance the service you give your customers—adding value to that relationship.
But Google points out that your content needs to be high quality and follow its EEAT guidelines. E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. Ticking these boxes when creating your content will give you the edge.
The last thing to remember when thinking about the content on your website is to keep it fresh for visitors. New content, as SEOs like to refer to it. These can be relevant pieces of relevant information beyond their publication date. Content like lists or tips can relay universal truths about your subject and will always be uhelpfulto your website visitors.
Conclusion
Local SEO is critical to developing the online presence of businesses that serve the local community. It does not matter what your business does. Without local SEO, your website will not be visible in local searches.
Unity SEO can help the visibility of your business by optimising your website for local SEO. Helping your business to connect with new local customers. Letting them know about the fantastic services you provide.