Any business that has a physical location or serves a geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If you search Google for any important keywords related to your business and a map with 3 listings appears underneath it (also known as a map pack), then local SEO can help you grow your business.
Local SEO means optimizing your business’s website to make sure people who live in your business’s area are able to find your website online when searching for related terms. SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization.”
Local SEO can be used by local businesses like shops or offices where there’s lots of foot traffic. Local SEO helps people find your business in person. Local SEO is also used by small businesses that don’t have a walk-in shop or office but are selling to a local audience, such as a home cleaning business. In this case, local SEO helps these businesses appear higher in map listings.
Local SEO is very important if you’re looking to attract an audience in the same geographical region where your small business is located. You need to optimize your website so your potential customers know where you’re located and can find you there.
It’s easiest to be found in local searches if you already have a street address in the area of the city you want to optimize for.
If you don’t have a street address, you can add content about your target area though this may result in unnecessary pages with content that doesn’t relate well to your business
1. List your address correctly: You need to add certain tags to the code containing your address on your website. You can use a yoast website plugin to achieve this.
2. Add a Google My Business listing:
Add your Google My Business listing, upload photos, get verified. Make sure the name, address and phone number listed is the same one as on your website. While Google My Business is the most important business directory, it is not the only one. Yelp! is worth the time and attention of any business looking to improve its local SEO. It’s here you want to link back to your website, correct any existing errors, and incorporate an accurate citation, which we will talk about a little later.
3. Make sure your social media pages have your address: You can make it a page for a local business and clearly state directions to your business, business hours and easier way to get in touch (phone number and email); additional engage with your propects on your social media pages
4. Add your address to local directory websites: Add your Name, Address and Phone Number and contact details to your listing local business directories such as yelp, vancouver business directory, etcl. You’ll also want to make sure you clean up any old address information that exists on the web as this brings down your rankings.
5. Network: Ask other local businesses that relate to your own to swap links on your respective websites.
6. Monitor social mentions: Check if your business is being mentioned on social media and engage with any mentions. Search engines monitor whether your business feedback is positive or negative and rank you accordingly.
7. Write about your location: Mention your city or region in your website copy, not just your address footer. Write about why you’re located in this place, why you’re the best in your region etc.
8. Encourage Online Reviews: Reviews and testimonials build customer trust. They provide social proof, validate your expertise, and give potential buyers confidence in your business. Consumers regularly read reviews and consider them essential. Plus, Google recommends replying to
9. Do Local Keyword Research: Keyword research for local SEO is the process of finding keywords people use when searching for local products and services. Ranking for these keywords drives highly targeted local traffic to your site and sends more customers your way. To get started, you need a short list of keywords people can use to find your local business.
10. Go Mobile: It should be no surprise that 82% of mobile searches are local. That’s why, as far as local SEO is concerned, mobile accessibility is important above all else. If your mobile website loads too slowly or isn’t responsive, you’ll miss out on a large volume of potential mobile clients.
