The competition in the online domain is massive and every business has to struggle to stay ahead. And this is not just true for global giants but small local businesses as well. The truth is that as a local business, you need to be big even if you are small. The idea is to be visible and on the top so that the potential customers prioritize you over the others. Essentially, you need to make sure that your business shows up on the local listings and also figures on top of the local search rankings because you have to reach the potential buyers in just every possible way.
Proven Tips To Achieve Success With Local SEO Strategy
You may think that things may be easier because your local business probably has a smaller number of rivals to beat for staying on the top. But the truth is very different when you scratch the surface and things are not as simple as they sound. This is because Google has an ever-evolving list of ranking factors and it may be hard to keep pace or even be aware of them. However, you can still place the game if you follow the right strategy. Here are some proven tips that can help you achieve success with local SEO.
Pay Attention to Business Listings
Business listings are perhaps the most critical element of local SEO, which is the reason why they need extra attention. As your business may accumulate duplicate listings over a period of time, it is best to claim all of them under your business name. Additionally, you need to make sure that all the listings you have give accurate and updated information. Keeping track of the multiple listings is easier said than done but there are some useful tools that can help you in this context.
Get Reviews for Your Business
While business listings are the mainstay of local SEO, you cannot ignore the significance of reviews. They are a vital ranking factor because they can make your business show up higher. Moreover, they serve as a powerful trust signal for potential customers as they are more likely to trust the word-of-mouth of real customers. So you must absolutely make all the efforts to convince happy customers to leave positive Google reviews for your business. At the same time, you must be careful about preventing negative reviews because they can damage your reputation.
Improve NAP consistency
Consistency of the parameters such as the name, address and phone number (NAP) of your business is another key success factor for local SEO. It ensures that the search engines serve your business as a search result for the users. Make sure that the details are correct and consistent across the listings and everywhere else your business is mentioned online. Pay attention to the smallest of details of the address such as suite numbers, street, avenue, and road. Also, ensure that the address is a perfect match to the one mentioned on your website.
Add location Pages to the website
If you want to get measurable results with your local SEO strategy, you cannot rely on business listings alone. You also need to do some extra effort with your website as well. Creating a specific landing page for each of the business locations is a great idea because these can connect you with the right audience who are actually looking for the products or services you offer in their locations. It lets search engines locate the listing and deliver the accurate location to the users based on where they are. Obviously, this is a targeted approach that improves the chances of the local customers seeing your business and reaching out to you.
Go Organic by Taking Help of SEO for Your Website
Though organic SEO and local SEO are two different disciplines of online marketing, you need to use them together to achieve the best results. Adam White from SEOJet.net says that local businesses will have more success with their Google local rankings if they spend time focusing on organic SEO. For this reason, you must go the extra mile to ensure that you have keyword-optimized content on the website. Selecting relevant keywords that have the potential to drive traffic is important and so is placing them contextually within the content. At the same time, you must optimize the on-page factors too.
Invest in Local Link Building
Another tactic that you cannot afford to ignore if you want to have a successful local SEO strategy is local link building. Choose the top local websites that have high domain authority and are regarded as the local influencers in your industry. Work on earning links from them using genuine practices such as guest blogging. You can even try getting links using your relationships with partners and sponsors. The idea is to establish a robust local backlink profile that is capable of propelling your local search positioning. Approach the who’s who of your area and convince them to link with your website.
Leverage Social Media Platforms
You may invest all your effort in Google listings and online reviews but still may not be able to get the desired results for your local search rankings. A smart way to fuel the rankings is by leveraging the social media platforms for a wider reach and greater popularity. Just one viral post can do the trick for you and get you the attention you crave. Moreover, Google is likely to crawl and even pull search results from social platforms such as your social accounts and social reviews. This gives you the opportunity to get a huge exposure while spending practically nothing because social platforms are free to use.
Now that you understand what really goes into building a successful local SEO strategy, you will be in a position to build one that delivers fast and effective results. After all, local SEO is one marketing element that you cannot ignore at all. The first and most important thing for a business is to grow locally and gradually extend their reach. And this is exactly what a solid local SEO strategy can do for your business!