Did you know that 90% of purchases take place in physical stores and 80% of disposable income is spent within 20 miles of home? Having a solid local SEO strategy is the first step to put you on the map. Read more to find out what Local SEO Companies are doing to get their clients listed online!
First: What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO (Local Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your business’s web presence so that you show up when nearby customers perform a search related to your business. This is important, when local customers are looking for a business “near me” that have a product or service they are searching.
Someone in Oviedo Florida looking for a dog groomer does not want to find that business in Jacksonville. Local SEO Companies help businesses connect with these customers by utilizing tools like Google My Business & optimizing their listings.
Did You Know That 76% Of People Who Conduct A Local Mobile Search Visit A Business Within 24 Hours?
To fully understand local SEO, it helps to know how local search results appear on search engine results pages (SERPs).
1. Organic search results: Results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. Local SEO Companies can help you appear higher in search rankings when a Local Search is performed in your area.
2. Paid search engine results: Ads paid for by businesses in order to rise above the organic results in the fastest way possible. Marketers invest money into SEM (search engine marketing) in order to boost their website to (ideally) the first page when someone types an inquiry using specific keywords. Without using Paid Ads, Local SEO Companies can help you appear on the first page by focusing on your reviews, citation listings, and content.
3. Google My Business results: It helps you maintain local results, which appear in several ways on Maps and Search. These results are tailored to geographic areas and help users find nearby businesses. Local SEO Companies can help you create, claim, and optimize your Google My Business Profile.
Need Help Getting Notice Online? Read Our Article On How To Get Noticed Online To Learn More FREE Tips!
Local SEO Tips: How to Optimize Your Site
Make sure your site is mobile-friendly
Whether a website is impossible to navigate on a smaller device, won’t load all of its content for mobile users, or simply looks bad on smartphones, having a website that doesn’t cater to mobile consumers is bad for business.
For the 86% of small businesses that don’t have mobile-friendly websites, it reflects badly on their brand, frustrates their customers and can negatively impact their search ranking. Plus, businesses that fail to incorporate mobile SEO and smartphone-friendly web design risk losing out on traffic from mobile devices, which accounts for 62% of all time spent on digital media.
This is typically why Local SEO Companies will optimize your page and listings for both desktop and mobile users!
Tips for Providing the Best User Experience:
1. Accessible and functional in every web browser.
2. Easy to read and navigate on all devices.
3. Quick to load content, images, and video.
4. Responsive so it adapts to fit the user’s screen or is specifically designed for mobile users.
Need Help Making Your Website Responsive? Visit Our Web & Graphic Design Page And Request Your FREE Quote!
Add your business address to your website To help Google understand where your business is located, feature your physical address on your site.
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- If you have one location, add your address to your site footer and contact page.
- If you have multiple locations, create a locations page that lists the addresses of each location, and create a unique page for each location.
- On your contact and location pages, embed a Google map showing the business location.
- Add location-based structured data to your website.
This information helps search engines associate your business with a specific region or area.
Because Google highly prioritizes consistency in Name, Address, and Phone Number – this is typically what Local SEO Companies focus on. NAP Consistency can help drive considerably more Local Search traffic!
Create a Google My Business page
Google My Business is a free listing that businesses can create for each of their locations. Earlier in this post, we looked at how Google My Business (GMB) pages appear as rich results on SERPs. They may appear as a list of businesses and/or a map.
GMB rich results may also show information about a business location (such as their address, hours, phone number, etc.) as well as call-to-action buttons (to visit the website, get directions, contact, etc.).
For your business to appear in these rich listings, create a GMB page for each of your locations.
Typically, most Local SEO Companies will start by inspecting the accuracy of a Google My Business profile as a preliminary step to any Local SEO strategy.
Build business citations
Google My Business is the most important business citation for local SEO. But it’s not the only one that matters. There are others like Bing, Facebook, and Yahoo that your customers are searching for you on. Its important that they can easily find you. Creating profiles for your business on all well-known national citation sites as well as regional or local business directories.
Consider using a Local SEO Company to help you put your business listing on the map. Consistency across the web routes local customers directly to your business.
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Target and optimize your site for local keywords
In addition to optimizing your primary pages for category and location, also optimize other pages across your site for popular, locally-focused keywords.
Locally focused keywords include long-tail keywords and phrases with geographic areas such as dry cleaner in Tampa, best Tampa dry cleaner, or dry cleaner near me. Perform keyword research to find popular, low-competition local search terms most likely to drive traffic to your site. Local SEO Companies can provide you with Keyword Research to help boost your on-page SEO.
Want To Get FREE Keyword Research? Contact Cobia Marketing And Request A No-Cost Web Audit!
Get Reviews For Your Business
There is another element that Google considers when trying to determine how trustworthy your site is: customer reviews. Google looks at how many reviews and what type of reviews there are for your business when determining search rankings.
Studies Show That 92% Of Customers Consult Reviews Before Making Any Purchase Decision. This is the most important reason it is important to spend time getting more online reviews. The single best summation of why getting customer reviews matters – is that they are read and trusted by other consumers. Of the 92% of customers who consult reviews before making any purchasing decision, 85% of those consumers trusted the reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation from a family member or friend.
A part of your local SEO plan must include generating reviews from customers. Most Local SEO Companies use an automated review generation platform that will allow clients to effortlessly collect and share positive feedback all across the web! The most important place to collect reviews is on your Google My Business page. But it is also useful to collect them on other citation sites like Facebook, Yelp, Angie’s List, etc.
