Here is a simple reiteration of how to optimize local SEO in the modern culture of Digital Marketing. Local SEO is mainly the process of optimizing your content for one location, or area, only. The long-tail keywords, such as “best dental practice in Atlanta” is the most basic form of local SEO.
But local SEO goes far beyond the pure form of trying to rank for a dental practice in Atlanta. Local SEO will also include putting your location on Google Maps. This is so that Google will consider you more when helping people look for dentists in Atlanta.
If you look at keyword difficulty and ratings, they are different in every region. Keyword difficulty and ratings can also vary a great deal from region to region. The process of choosing keywords that rank higher in your local areas is another form of local search engine optimization.
Another simple example of local SEO is to determine whether people are using Google in English or a local language. So, for example, “Theresaworthy.com” should have the SEO keyword campaign for “motivational speakers in Atlanta” for local search engine optimization.
These are some commonly known and basic local SEO facts that we wanted to warm you up with. But, here is the real deal.
We have listed a few essential tips and tricks about local SEO that will allow you to get the right traction in your locality.
1. Local SEO Business Listing
The example of getting a location for yourself on Google Maps, which we stated above, is known as a “business listing”. Getting a business listing for your business website is an elaborate and extensive plan. Here are a few ways you will list your business online for your local SEO strategy:
- Get a location ping for yourself in Google Maps.
- Get yourself a yellow pages listing, which will require your website URL, your phone number, and your email address. This type of directory should be available in every region.
- Use Moz Local as it will tell you where you are listed as a local business.
- Also, make sure to spread the word on the local social media pages associated with your niche industry. You will get more robust traction as a locally established business.
- Have a precise Google location on your Contact Us page. Google will crawl your page and see your locality. That will help the search engine list your page for the users who are looking for your business niche in your area.
2. Consistent Name Tags
This advice should not be needed for local seo, but you need to have a consistent and unique name, as in your complete company title, that you are using on Google. Also, put your company title into a Google Alert so that every time something new is posted on your place of business, you will be informed immediately.
Make sure that you are using the same complete name in every Google entry that you make so that Google can track you.
Any change in the name means that Google considers you a new company altogether. Every time you post a new blog and do any backlinking activity, Google should send you a Google Alert after crawling the website.
If Google is not doing that, then your content was not picked up about your business, and you need to check and make sure that your SEO strategy is not faulty in any way.
3. Google My Business
Google My Business has a portal for business owners that they can use to optimize their local SEO business listing. It will allow you to have your account as a legitimate claimed business, and it will show the performance of your business on Google as a portal.
You can review your Google Analytics activity, you can place FAQs regarding your business, and you can do customer engagement campaigns and many other beneficial SEO steps through the portal.
You can certainly list your products on Google, and develop your product listings, place your logo, have an office location, and collection of pictures, among many other things.
4. Take Care of the Reviews
Running endlessly after what people are saying about your company on forums available online is hard and complicated. That is why most people leave their Google reviews to Google. But you can change that by giving some form of discount to those who provide you with positive reviews.
You can also ask your old and trusted clients for positive reviews only as a favor. That way, even if someone does write a negative review, you will still have a wide variety of positive reviews to back you up.
Remember that Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Call-to-Action (CTA) are both higher for businesses that have a high star rating.
5. Localization
Localization mainly focuses on developing content in the local languages. It is the cultural norm in half of the world, from the Middle East to the entire Eastern and Central Europe.
The reason is that getting long-form content in a language you do not understand, i.e., English, is useless. So make sure that you are mass producing your content in a style most read by the reader.
Even in South Asia, where English is incredibly prevalent, the content that is being developed in Hindi and Urdu is gaining far more traction. The reason is that people are more likely to enjoy the content in their first language. All the products that are catering to senior class are usually advertised, promoted, and discussed in local languages because senior citizens are not big fans of English.
Final Thoughts: How to Optimize Your Business for Local SEO
All in all, local SEO is an exceptionally significant part of the recent organic growth of web content online. As the world grows more and more accustomed to Google, the global community also becomes used to developing their comfort zone in the material.
The truth is, that entire local SEO can be summarized in localized keywords and localized content generation. But the fine print will define how far you climb up the SERP ladder.
If you need any help or advice, contact us for assistance!
Take a look at the articles 10 Practical Digital Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers, 3 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Market Your Small Business Website, and 4 Signs Your SEO Campaign Is Failing for more digital marketing tips.
Great tips for optimizing local SEO! Clear, practical advice that’s easy to implement. Thanks for sharing!