SEO, Website Design
10 local SEO tips
We’re all aware that having a website is a business must these days, especially a responsive one that can tailor it’s look to the type of device you’re navigating from. But what about actually getting that site in front of your customers? Well, this question is perhaps one of the most common questions we receive particularly from financial intermediaries looking to target new business;
In fact, it’s a great question. To answer, there is a lot of work and smaller particular tasks that go into the craft that is local search engine optimization. To dive into further detail and help you understand exactly what your business needs to have completed from an SEO standpoint, we’ve outlined 10 Local SEO tips!
Follow each step carefully and you can potentially earn yourself higher rankings in Google and reap the benefits of increased inbound leads.
So, lets’ get started.
#1 CREATE A GREAT GOOGLE+ LOCAL PAGE
Have you ever searched for a service in Google and Google maps has revealed dozens of business locations for you? You may wonder where that information comes from.
Well, Google takes that information, not from individual websites, as might have expected, but from Google+ Local Pages. This means that each business on Google Maps has to register its own information to be seen by searchers. Setting up a Google+ Local page is really straightforward, it doesn’t take a whole lot of time and the return on your investment is well worth it.
For those that are unaware of what Google+ is (or even look like), the above is a great viewpoint, although slightly biased I know…
Things to consider when creating a Google+ Local Page are choosing an appropriate profile photo, filling in all the relevant information and ensuring the pin is properly located. It’s important to have the name, address, and phone number you provide in the same format across all your social profiles, whether on Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or whatever other platform you may use.
Tip: Make sure you only create a single page per location. Whilst it may be tempting to create duplicate local pages in order to boost your ability to be found, this can be very detrimental to your SEO and is actually against the Google Terms of Service.
#2 OPTIMIZE YOUR PAGE TITLES
Make sure that your service and location are included in all relevant page title tags. This is the best way for the Googlebot to find your site and link it to local search terms and is especially critical for your homepage.
A report by search marketing specialists Moz, revealed that SEO marketers found that having your city and county in your landing page title was the number one factor in localised organic search – this was considered to be more of a ranking factor than the quality of inbound links and the domain authority of a particular website. So get your title tags optimized first and foremost!
#3 LIST YOUR CONTACT INFO ON YOUR WEBSITE PLUS LINK TO YOUR GOOGLE+ PAGE
Having updated information on your pages and profiles is a given. Make sure you have Name, Address and Phone, all sorted. If you have more than one service or location, add multiple web pages for each of these, this will be good for SEO and clearer for your customer.
But most importantly make sure your Name, Address and Phone Number is listed on the homepage of your website and then link from your website over to your Google+ page. This really helps Google connect the dots and when Google feels confident that your Google+ page belongs to your website; you get a ranking boost!
#4 USE SCHEMA
Schema mark-up is a code that you can place on your website to assist search engines to provide more detailed results for readers. It can be regarded as a type of artificial intelligence that explains to the search engines what your data means in human terms. Schema is another great way to boost your SEO.
Fortunately for you, there are many who have yet to realise the potential of this tool and it is therefore an advantage you can have over your competitors.
#5 MAKE SURE YOUR SITE IS MOBILE FRIENDLY
As the influence of mobile phones and tablets becomes even more prominent, a mobile friendly site is increasingly important for both global and local SEO. Google’s next major search engine update is again placing more emphasis on the importance of mobile friendly designs and therefore you should be doing all you can for such a change.
A Google statement said “Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results.”
Are you ready for the mobile apocalypse? Test to see if your site is Google mobile compliant here: Google Website Test
#6 ENGAGE IN QUALITY LINK BUILDING
This is a pretty standard organic ranking practice but remains significant nonetheless. The need for high-quality links is only becoming more important with changes in the Google algorithms.
Always be on the lookout for new link building opportunities. For starters ask any partner organisations, retailers, suppliers, or otherwise friends; to link to your website.
Additionally make sure you claim a link and profile from all the top social networking and media sites. If you have an established brand consider building a Wikipedia page and link back to your website.
For further exposure and inbound links, offer to write a guest blog post for a related industry blogging site. When it comes to link building, there are a hundred different strategies and places to go.
#7 UTILISE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EFFECTIVELY
Social media marketing is important for various reasons. Not only does it provide a seamless platform to promote your services and share your content, but it can also act effectively as another search engine. Likewise, social media links are extremely valuable in the eyes of Google. Make sure when you post on social networks that you occasionally self-promote and link back to your website!
Tip: Because social media is constantly changing and evolving, it provides an opportunity for you to stay ahead of the curve and creatively engage with your clients or customers.
#8 CREATE UNFORGETTABLE CONTENT
The mantra ‘content is king’ is constantly thrown around in internet marketing circles. This is nowhere more apparent than for local businesses. Again, competing with larger organisations can be difficult, but providing better quality or location specific content is where you have the unique advantage in the search engine results pages.
It also allows you to be perceived as an authority in your area, which goes a long way when it comes to closing offline sales.
#9 GET CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Customer reviews are another vital aspect of local SEO. In addition to your inbound link profile, on page content, and social media presence; online reviews are also evaluated by Google in relation to their authority and quantity. We advise all our clients to set up a process that makes it very straightforward for your customers to leave reviews.
This could be a testimonial page within your site, or a current popular one is ‘vouchedfor’. These can easily be added to your website and link through to a dedicated and independent review site.
This data can and should be published in your Google+ Local page, as this will aid increasing your local SEO efforts and protecting your brand reputation.
#10 BUILD LOCAL CITATIONS
One of the biggest ranking factors Google uses for inclusion in Google maps is the number of accurate and consistent citations your local business has. By definition a citation is a listing in a local business directory such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, or Yahoo!
There are in fact around 90 UK based local directories where your business should be listed. The more listings your business has with a consistent name, address and phone number, the more confident Google can feel about giving your business presence on the 1st page of their search engine.
#SUMMARY
After reading this post I hope it helps you to understand local SEO is not as difficult as you may have expected. It can however be very time consuming, but very rewarding!
Now that you have our top 10 list as a roadmap, you’re all set to optimise your business for local search.
Good luck!
