Local SEO services optimize a small company’s website to show up in local search results. A good example is when you search for “places to eat near me” on Google and discover several eateries nearby.
Establishing a solid local SEO strategy can do wonders for your business. After all, the times when people had to physically visit establishments to decide whether they wanted their service are long gone. Today, it’s all about optimizing your online presence to attract customers, which you’ll eventually refer to as regulars.
And financial gain is just one of the awards you’ll reap. In this guide, we’ll review several pointers and strategies to get the most out of a local SEO campaign.
The Basics of a Successful Local SEO Campaign
Before we conclude how search engines detect local businesses and show them to the target clientele, let’s explore some tips on how to maximize local SEO:
Aim to Appear in Map Pack and SERPs
This pointer is a must if you’re looking to attract people living nearby. Create several business listings (such as Google Business Profile and Bing Places for Business) to improve your local SEO. You’ll be able to present your business, its purpose, and your products and services.
Once done, you’ll have complete control of how your business shows up in Google Maps and SERPs and be able to modify its:
- Location
- Working hours
- Contact information
- Ambiance
- Safety measures
- Business website
Tweak your listing as much as necessary. It’s where you can uniquely brand your business and connect with your ideal prospects.
Grind for Those Five-Star Reviews
Reviews, especially four and five-star ones, can drastically impact your local SEO campaign’s success. As potential customers can easily access them via your Google My Business listing, you want them to find what they seek, a.k.a. a thriving business with stellar service.
Provide prompt answers to unsatisfied customers and try including local keywords in your responses, just don’t be too obvious about it. This can help strengthen your local SEO strategy.
Optimize Your Website
An online business without a working website is as useless as a computer without a motherboard.
In today’s era, where people rely solely on the internet to learn more about a company, you want to have everything in one place. Organize your website neatly (you may want to hire an SEO specialist for this one, which we’ll discuss more below).
Website optimization involves updating your content regularly. Consider creating a blog where you can discuss topics closely related to your industry. Include local and niche keywords in your blog posts to target global clients. Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!
Pay Attention to Keyword Placement
You’ll want to use a keyword tool such as Google Ads’ Keyword Planner to discover which words and phrases rank the highest. From there, narrow down the most important ones and establish the highest ranking search term as your primary keyword.
Include primary keyword (plus your business’s location if it doesn’t contain it) in the following:
- Title tags and meta descriptions
- H1
- H2s
- H3s
- Throughout the body text
Don’t go overboard and keep track of the number of times you’ve used the keyword versus how long the article is. Yes, such a thing as over-optimization exists, and you don’t want to raise any red flags with search engines.
Work on Link Building and Link Attraction
Link building is the set of actions you perform to get other websites to link to you. Link attraction involves generating locally-relevant content so that sites and readers will naturally link to it on their own. Both strategies are vital for local SEO.
You want to put your business at the forefront and get people to engage with it, leading to more backlinks.
You can do this by:
- Publishing topically-relevant articles
- Obtaining competitors’ links
- Recovering lost links
- Strengthening new and existing partnerships (so that they’ll link to you)
- Performing internal linking
You can also create profiles across various social media channels and link to your site from there. Although keep in mind that these links will never be as valuable as ones from reputable, standalone websites.
Search Engines’ Role in Local SEO
We’ve covered the best local SEO services you can use. Now let’s discuss how search engines consider these strategies when crawling and ranking webpages.
Search engines perform regular algorithm updates, changing the terms that dictate which sites rank high and why. Merely sprinkling keywords in your copy won’t take you far – search engines demand high-quality, valuable, and engaging content.
In addition, adding helpful information about your business is a must. That way, search engines can rank your website according to its purpose, physical location, user reviews, and other relevant factors. As a result, you’ll notice a significant increase in traffic and conversion in a short time.
Work with Local SEO Specialists You Can Rely On
Our Local SEO services require a certain level of skill and knowledge to deliver successful results. It’s best to have someone more qualified to do all the heavy lifting, so you can focus on running your business.
Luckily, Digital Heart Media’s got your back. We are a premium SEO marketing agency devoted to helping small businesses grow without the high costs. Thanks to our competent local SEO team, you can rest assured your company website is in good hands. Contact us to learn more.
