Local SEO can be a daunting task for small businesses. It requires a lot of effort and time to get everything right, and it’s easy to make mistakes along the way. But what if you could get some help with your local SEO efforts? Here are seven tips to get started with local SEO.
Prefer Google Maps
Google Maps is the most popular local search engine, and it’s also the most popular mapping service. In fact, it’s so popular that other mapping services use Google Maps data for their own products. Because of this, having your business listed on Google Maps can be valuable for SEO.
If you don’t have a strong local presence on any of these sites or if you do not know how to leverage them to attract more customers then we should talk about how we can help grow your business online together.
Get listed in local directories
Getting your business listed in local directories is a great way to get your website noticed by people who are already in the neighborhood.
- Free: Many small businesses can be listed for free. You just need to find the right directory and fill out the form with some basic information about your company formation. It’s pretty easy to do, but it’s important to make sure that you’re putting yourself on sites that are relevant to your business. Otherwise, all this will do is clutter up a site with unwanted information or annoy potential customers who are looking for something else entirely!
- Paid: Some directories will charge you a fee (usually around $30) for getting added into their database of businesses. This isn’t really worth paying unless it’s absolutely necessary for whatever reason; But there are other ways of getting listed without having to pay anything at all—and these methods can also help bring more traffic from search engines like Google into your website
Create location-specific landing pages
Another way to target your audience is by creating location-specific landing pages. Google loves to show local businesses in its search results, and one way it can do this is when a user searches a phrase that’s specific to their city or state. Location-specific landing pages are the key to getting this done.
To create a location-specific landing page for your business:
- Make sure you have an address on file for each of your locations, including the city and state (if applicable) where they’re located.
- Pick one of these locations as the main point of contact for customers who live near that area—that’s where you’ll be promoting this page from now on!
- Use tools like Google My Business or Bing Places for Businesses to add information about yourself into their database, including photos and directions if possible so people know how easily accessible you are before even clicking through! Now all we need are some ways we can promote our awesome new page…
Offer coupons and discounts
You can entice customers to visit your business by offering coupons and discounts. Make sure to create a discount code that is easy to remember and keep track of. You can use a coupon in several ways:
- Promote them on social media, email marketing campaigns and advertisements
- Use it as part of local search engine optimization (SEO) efforts so that they are easily accessible in the SERPs
- Create discount codes for specific days or times of day when people tend to shop online
Encourage customer reviews
Customer reviews are an important part of trust signals. They show potential customers that others have used your products or services and been happy with them.
In order to encourage more customer reviews, you can:
Ask for reviews in person or over the phone. If a customer has a good experience with your business, ask if they would be willing to share it on Facebook and Google. If they say yes, follow up via email later on and send them a link where they can leave their review (if needed). If someone doesn’t have time right at that moment, request that they leave it in the next week or so—just don’t be too pushy!
Secure local links
To get the most out of local SEO, you need to make sure your website is secure.
What does that mean?
Well, first of all, it’s important that you have strong internal links on your website. These are links from one page to another within the same site (i.e., not external links). Not only do they help direct users around your site but also improve its search rankings through Google’s “link equity.”
In addition to having great internal links, you should also try and build as many relevant inbound links as possible. These can come from sites like Yelp or Trustpilot where users can leave reviews and ratings for local businesses—you want these reviews so customers will be able to see how others rate your business before they buy anything! This is often referred to as review management because it allows people who’ve had positive experiences at places like ours before coming back again without worrying whether there were any problems with their purchases last time around.
For small businesses, local SEO is very important, but it requires extensive strategy and research. Most entrepreneurs do not have time to deal with it, so they look for proven SEO services in North Sydney. It’s really important to get the most out of SEO optimization, and it’s best done by experts.
Optimize your website for mobile devices
If you want to make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices, there are a few things you can do. First, use a responsive design to create a website that looks great on all the different types of devices people might be using. Second, use a mobile-friendly website builder and CMS so that your company’s content is easy to access and read on smaller screens. Thirdly, choose a web host that offers fast speeds across all mobile devices so customers can enjoy smooth browsing experiences even if their connections aren’t top-notch.
A checklist to get started with local SEO
Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash
Local SEO is a big topic, and there are many ways to do it. Before we get into how to actually implement local SEO as a small business owner, it’s important to understand the basics of what local SEO is and why it matters.
Local search: A search for something where a specific location or geographic area is relevant to the results that Google displays.
Local Business Listings (Google My Business): The way you can claim your Google listing so that your business appears in local search results.
Local Citations: The citations that show up on Google My Business listings, which include things like contact information, address details, and other information associated with your business (like hours of operation). Local Citations can be verified by third parties like NAPPS or ReachLocal; they’re updated automatically when an update occurs on one of these sites (so if you change something about your company’s name or address online—anything at all—that information will be updated). They’re also manually updated if someone needs to make an addition/change after verification has been completed; this includes door tags on physical locations!
With these steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating a profitable local SEO strategy for your small business.
