Local SEO is necessary for smaller businesses who operate locally rather than nationally. Local SEO prioritises showing up on SERPs in a particular locality, while national SEO places more of an emphasis on ranking in nationwide searches. This strategy relies on promoting your business’ identity, products, and services to nearby prospects and customers.
WHAT IS LOCAL SEO?
The technique of optimising your website’s content for local search traffic is known as local SEO. This procedure entails making your company’s website, social media accounts, and other online listings as effective as possible. Any marketing plan for a small firm must include it.
You may take control of your Google My Business listing and begin producing optimised content for your website to launch your local SEO campaign. On every page of your website, include your company’s name, address, phone number (NAP), and operating hours. And ensure that your website is responsive so that it displays properly on all devices. To increase your local SEO, you must develop local citations and include your business in directories.
WHY LOCAL SEARCH IS IMPORTANT
Local searches are getting more and more significant every day. It makes sense that individuals will seek out local businesses as the internet gets increasingly internationalised.
Consider this: the first result of a Google search is typically a list of nearby companies. Additionally, if you conduct your search on a mobile device, it will even provide you with driving instructions!
1. CLAIM AND OPTIMISE GMB PROFILE
If you haven’t already, one of your top goals should be claiming and optimising your Google My Business (GMB) page. Businesses may manage their web presence across Google Search and Maps using the free platform Google My Business.
By claiming and validating your company on Google My Business, you’re letting Google know that your company is real and enabling it to show up in local search results. You may increase your consumer base and expand your business by creating a Google My Business profile. Google business profile claims are a surefire approach to boost local SEO for your company.
2. OPTIMIZE ONLINE DIRECTORIES AND CITATIONS
Make sure all of your internet directory listings are complete and that you have claimed them. Popular websites like Yelp, Yellowpages, Superpages, Foursquare, and Amazon Alexa are among the listing sites, as are less well-known but nonetheless significant websites like local.com, Citysearch, and LocalPages.
Having correct and consistent NAP (or Name, Address, and Phone number) information throughout all directory entries is one of the most crucial elements of local SEO. Make sure that your NAP information is consistent across all listings because consistency is important.
3. PERFORM A LOCAL SEO AUDIT
Your website and Google My Business listing need to undergo a local SEO audit at least once per year if you are a small business. By doing this, you can be confident that both your website and listing are prepared for local search.
In order to begin:
Google My Business Audit: How is your Google My Business presented in the SERPs?
- Audit your Google My Business listing first.
- Is the data true and correct? Make sure your company’s name, address, and phone number are accurate and current.
- Update your business description and add new images.
- Request customer reviews and claim any unused listings for your company.
According to Google Search Console audit, is your website crawlable? Does it include any errors that would prohibit indexing?
On-Page SEO Audit: Are all the on-page SEO checkboxes that affect ranking being checked?
Audit of Citations: Are all of your citations current in the leading business directories?
Analysing Your Local Competitors – See what your regional rivals are doing to optimise their websites for local search. How do they and your websites compare? Why do they do things that you don’t?
Website Audit: How effective is your website?
Your small business will be seen in local search results if you conduct a yearly local SEO audit. You may increase your bottom line and draw in new clients with the aid of effective local SEO.
4. IMPROVE YOUR INTERNAL LINKING STRUCTURE
The technique of connecting one page on your website to another is known as internal linking. You can create internal links by utilising either an image or anchor text, which is the clickable text that makes up a hyperlink. Internal connection is crucial for the following two reasons:
- It enhances the information architecture of your website.
- creates a more user-friendly website
- It might enhance your local SEO.
5. ON-PAGE SEO
You will rank better in search engine results and draw more traffic to your website with effective on-page SEO. For increased traffic from organic search, optimise your website’s URL, title tags, headers, meta descriptions, and content. Pay attention to the on-page SEO of your website if you want to increase your local SEO.
Depending on how well you optimise your website for ranking variables, your website’s performance in search engine results pages (SERPs) will vary. Your site will rank higher in search engine results (SERPs) the better your on-page SEO is optimised.
Here are our top 2 on-page SEO plugins that you may use to boost your local SEO if your website is powered by WordPress.
- Yoast SEO:
WordPress users who want to boost their local SEO must have Yoast SEO. Your personal guide will walk you through each step of optimising your pages and articles for search engines and local search thanks to this user-friendly plugin. You can easily improve your local SEO thanks to its simple UI and strong features. Yoast SEO includes all the tools you want to make your content stand out in local search results, including tools for keyword optimisation, readability analysis, and social media integration. - Rank Math:
You may enhance your local SEO with the help of the flexible and user-friendly WordPress plugin known as Rank Math. Rank Math makes optimising your website for search engines and local search easier than ever thanks to its cutting-edge features and user-friendly UI. Rank Math offers all the tools you need to improve your local SEO, from keyword optimisation and XML sitemaps to real-time content analysis and schema markup.
By using the strategies listed above, your local SEO will be significantly improved.
6. A great way to enhance your local SEO is by including location pages on your website.
One of the best things you can do is add location pages to your website if you want to boost your local SEO and draw in new customers. Location pages are created exclusively for a certain area. They include details such as a company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP). Location pages frequently include descriptions of the goods and services that a company provides along with pictures and videos.
7.OPTIMISE YOUR SITE FOR MOBILE TO IMPROVE YOUR LOCAL SEO
You must make sure your website is mobile-friendly if you want to raise your local SEO and draw in more customers. Making sure your site is adaptable and accessible on a mobile phone or tablet is crucial because more and more people are utilising their mobile devices to search for businesses.
Using a responsive design, which means that your website will automatically adapt to the size of your potential customers’ device, is one approach to do this. For most organisations, responsive design—as opposed to a separate mobile site—is the recommended approach. Any visitor that visits your website will have a great experience thanks to a mobile-responsive design.
8. JOIN YOUR COMMUNITY OF LOCAL BUSINESSES
Giving back to and supporting the community that helps your business is crucial. There are numerous ways to participate.
Local small enterprises frequently struggle to establish themselves in the larger marketplace. Many business entrepreneurs reside next to their clients. Even so, they don’t think much of staying local or helping their neighbourhood. The solution is easy:
- Participate in the neighbourhood with your company.
- Get involved in your neighbourhood.
- Find methods to participate actively in your community. Support other neighbourhood businesses and organisations that strive to improve your community by giving back.
- Join a city committee or non-profit board.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, increasing your local SEO is essential for expanding your small business and bringing in more clients. Making sure your website appears when people search for what you offer is more crucial than ever, given how many people use their phones and voice assistants to look up local businesses.
Why then wait? Put these suggestions into practice right away and watch your local SEO skyrocket. Cider House Media is available to assist you if you need it along the route. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and let us help you improve your local SEO today. We specialise in helping small businesses like yours improve their digital marketing and website design, including local SEO.
