You’ll need a local SEO strategy whether you’re a big company or a small startup. It is incredibly effective to boost your brand’s visibility online by creating and optimizing website pages for a local audience. In addition to increasing organic traffic and ranking on more SERPs (search engine result pages), it can also generate leads and increase domain authority. It can be confusing to get started with local SEO. To put our brands in front of more people, there are practical strategies we can implement.
You can improve your company’s local SEO by following these four steps:
Get started with Google My Business
Your business can be found on Google Maps and Search by using Google My Business (or GMB). You can provide information about your organization’s location, hours of operation, and contact information to local customers. The platform’s review feature also gives your business more exposure. Additionally, you can gather data about how local customers are searching for you. In some Google SERPs, your brand can appear in the coveted sidebar if it’s optimized properly. Unlike PPC ads or organic search results, the sidebar isn’t created through the placement of an advertisement. Only effective GMB optimization can lead to a sidebar placement.
GMB isn’t suitable for businesses that run 100% online. There must be a physical location where you can sell your products or services.
Make your website local by adding local pages and content
Creating a locations page on your website is a good idea if you have more than one physical location. Having your website localized will help it become more user-friendly. There should be an internal link on the page for each location that leads to its own unique URL. Whenever possible, use location-specific URLs that include the region, state, country, and city. Webmasters can easily duplicate content across locations, so each one needs its own subject matter.
It’s essential for webmasters to create content that’s relevant and useful for local audiences as SEO and UX (user experience) overlap more and more. It is a good idea to write articles that answer questions specific to a particular location and highlight events in the community whenever possible.
Get listed on Citation Pages
Citations are anywhere you can find your business’ name, address, phone number, and location. There are several different types of citation pages which can be found online, including local online directories, business listings, press releases, local news features, and even social media pages. Your business can even be listed as a resource for its citizens by the local government if applicable.
If your business has many locations, getting on all of the right citation pages can be a challenge. You can streamline your citation page efforts by using tools such as Moz local.
You can, however, expect immediate results from listing your business on Yelp, Angie’s List, Trip Advisor, and even Apple Maps if you have just one or two locations.
Tags and descriptions should be localized
When potential customers view your site on SERPs, their first impression will be your title tag. Having your product or service available in a specific geographical location is imperative for both search engines and people. In order to optimize your local SEO title tags, you should use the following strategy: [product/service/business category] [city name] [province abbreviation]. Your potential customers will know that you are available to help them immediately if you follow that format or a similar one. The meta description should also provide further information about the product or service that you are selling in your local area in support of the title tags.
The process of ranking highly on local SEO pages does not happen overnight. Making your business known as a resource and creating a user experience that appeals to local audiences isn’t easy. The long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term costs.
That being said, we get it! Digital marketing is hard – If you are interested in digital marketing please reach out to Wet Coast Marketing.
