An All-Inclusive Guide for A Local SEO Strategy

Local SEO, which is part of Search Engine Optimization, focuses on promoting local businesses that serve clients from a specific location. SEO, in general, can lead to an increase in the traffic to the website and ultimately boost the possibility of the user’s conversion from visitor to customer.

Benefits of Local SEO include:

• Increases online visibility.
• Mainly targets users who are ready to make a purchase.
• Is cost-effective when compared to other methods for boosting online presence.
• Google statistics show that half of those who do a local search on mobile and 34% of those who do it on a tablet or computer visit the actual store within the day.

Now then, let’s take a look at some tips for conducting local SEO.

1. Optimizing and Adding Posts to Google My Business
2. Ensure Your Directory’s Online Existence
3. Optimize Citations
4. Local SEO Audit
5. Internal Linking Structure Improvement
6. URL, title tags, headers, meta description, and content optimization
7. Adding Location Pages
8. Local Content Creation
9. Adding Relevant Inbound Links with Authority

Optimizing & Adding Posts to Google My Business

A Google My Business (GMB) account boosts a company’s online presence almost instantly by allowing it to appear in listings where it would not be displayed otherwise. After setting up a GMB account, you should use Google Posts in your account, encourage your clients to leave online reviews, respond appropriately to reviews, and specify the location and company name wherever applicable. 

Additionally, aside from helping with SEO, you may make it easier for potential clients to locate you by having reviews and keeping your contact information and operation hours as up-to-date as possible. 

Lastly, remember to include your main keywords and work area in your business description, check the most popular search queries that apply to your business, choose the best category for your listing, and verify your profile.

Ensure Your Directory’s Online Existence

After setting up your GMB page, you should submit the same information to other online directories, such as HubSpot, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. These directories are websites that list information about a business in a particular industry, place, or niche. Getting listed on such as website is beneficial because:

• Having positive reviews will often inspire trust and help with ranking.
• Increases brand awareness.
• Helps rank for local searches that your website may not have ranked before.

Optimize Citations

Citations refer to an online reference to a company that includes its NAP (name, address, phone number). In SEO, it is often regarding a group of individual business listings on different websites. 

The benefits of citations include:

• Improving local ranking
• Taking advantage of being on business directories that often rank higher on local searches, such as Yelp.
• Earning referral traffic

Make sure your citations across different data aggregators are consistent. Especially be mindful of mistakes in spelling, abbreviations, phone numbers, or addresses. Google needs to decide which information about a business is correct; otherwise, your business may not be displayed for all search results. Also, remember to remove duplicate listings if you find any.

Local SEO Audit

After completing the fundamental steps, you may want to take a break. But, for better or worse, SEO is an ongoing process. So, instead of stopping or making some changes without a plan, it is recommended to perform a comprehensive audit that will help you understand your website’s ranking and what parts you will need to improve. However, as it is not so beginner-friendly, professional SEO services will be of great help! 

Some of the things to include in a local SEO audit may be:

• Google My Business Audit – checking your information and listing on GMB
• On-Page SEO Audit – checking if the site accommodates all on-page SEO elements
• Google Search Console Audit – checking the site’s crawlability and indexability
• Citation Audit – confirming that your citations are correct
• Competitor Analysis – researching your competitors

Internal Linking Structure Improvement

While external links are important, improving your website’s internal linking structure can also help boost your SEO ranking. Internal linking supports website navigation, distributes page authority and ranking power across the website, and assists with website hierarchy and information architecture. 

Some methods for improving your linking structure from the inside are: 

• Creating a lot of linkable content with the help of white hat link building services
• Using proper anchor text
• Link deep (and avoid linking to the homepage and “Contact us” page)
• Add links that match the context of the content
• Have a reasonable amount of internal links that will be helpful to the user.

URL, Title Tags, Headers, Meta Description, & Content Optimization

The above elements play an important role in the optimization of a website’s content, including blog posts and landing pages. Each new blog on your website can be considered a new page that can give a new opportunity to be found in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

When producing content for your blogs, you should include high-volume keywords in the URL, header, title, meta description, and body to optimize it for search engines. Consider showcasing client success stories and case studies if it is difficult to come up with geo-targeted content.

Adding Location Pages

Location pages can be especially beneficial if you have multiple locations. Search engines crawl your website, looking for the closest matches to display on the SERPs. Having separate landing pages for each location can help search engines discover your listing easier and offer the proper location to the user.

Location pages often include the business’s name, address, phone number, work hours, description, promotions, parking/transit information, and some testimonials. But be mindful not to have duplicate content across different location pages. If you have just one location, include your local information on the About Us page and add a Google Map to your location.

Local Content Creation

Although writing about broad subjects can appeal to a broader audience, it is often more vital to narrow your focus and write about local or industry news to appeal to a more local crowd.

Promote local industry meetings, news, employees, and other informational content on your blog to establish yourself as the local authority for your industry. In other words, discuss top-of-funnel content that extends beyond what your company offers.

For example, if you are a company that wants to attract businesses that are new to your city or area, you can make a helpful resource that will introduce them to your city.

Adding Relevant Inbound Links with Authority

Inbound links are a fantastic way to improve your local SEO since each link shows Google that you are a reputable business, which may also help you raise your website’s domain authority. Some methods for getting inbound links include partnerships/sponsorships, scholarships, and guest blog postings.

To acquire such links, it is recommended to start with a personal network that might include manufacturers and affiliates such as:

• the Chamber of Commerce
• Business improvement districts
• Licensing bureaus
• Trade associations
• Resellers
• Vendors

Additionally, you can choose to sponsor a webinar or meet-up, host a community event, advocate a local cause, and even cultivate contacts with prominent individuals and influencers. Also, reaching out to partners to see if you can be featured in their partner directory can be beneficial as well. And lastly, you can also become a guest blogger.

Conclusion

To recap, Local SEO refers to the Search Engine Optimization performed with a focus on promoting a local business to a specific location. To do so, remember to be consistent in the information you provide on your website, online directories, and citation. Another tip is to get a professionally made local SEO audit to see what your website might be lacking and what are its strong points. Lastly, create content for the local community and add location pages, especially if you have more than one location.