You can expect to hear a lot more about local search over the next year or so. More businesses than ever are trying to get business from Google and other search engines, and it’s important not to forget this critical component to any search campaign. While it’s tough to beat the vast multinationals when it comes to the top level keywords on a global or national level, you can achieve considerable success by using local SEO. Here are a few tactics that will help you beat the competition in your area.
Claim your Google name
A surprising amount of businesses still haven’t claimed their Google My Business listing, which is a big surprise at it can lead to an instant boost to your traffic volume. In fact, it’s fair to say that if you want to rank for any key term on a local basis, Your GMB listing is an essential, not just a ‘nice to have.’ However, don’t just set it and forget it – just as many of your local competitors will be doing. Instead, use it as a branch of your website, and make updates from time to time. You can use Google Posts to get in touch with customers or let them know about a special event, for example. The more people you have interacting with your posts, the higher your listing will be – it’s that simple.
Utilize Your URLs
Ask any SEO consultant and they will tell you about the importance of your URLs, both for telling search engines and people what your website is about and to be a good guide to the structure of your site. You should create custom URLs that adhere to SEO best practices, which will improve the look for visitors, as well as enable you to add local and relevant keywords. By using those location-specific keywords in your URLs, you should find yourself crawling up the rankings in your locale. You can see a blog from this local garage door repair company from Naperville, IL
Localize Your Content
Just as you need to write about keyword-relevant topics for your overall SEO and content marketing plan, so you should create localized content. There are a few distinct starting points, such as creating blog posts with maps and directions on them, as well as using suburb names if relevant and possible. But there are other things you can try, too. For example, maybe you partake in some local community events – you can blog about them, including information about the venue and location. You might even start a community calendar, and blog about other industry relevant events that happen in your town. And once you have content specific to a particular place, you can start adding location-specific landing pages, too. An example of location-specific landing page from a deck building company in Chicago
Encourage reviews
Online reviews can be a little dangerous, but any good company with an honest reputation shouldn’t have much to fear. And given that local people often rely on other local people for recommendations, it makes sense to get happy customers from the area to leave positive reviews.
Have you enjoyed success in local SEO? Why not share your tips in the comments section below?
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