First off, let’s learn what local SEO is. Local SEO is an SEO strategy that aims to improve search engine rankings and visibility in a smaller geographic area. This is a big part of SEO for small businesses that only serve a select area or region. While national SEO tries to reach people across the country, local SEO is targeted for more localized leads and consumers.
Optimizing your website for local SEO can help you increase traffic, sales, and leads due to how focused your website has become by targeting a smaller geographic area. Essentially what we’re doing with local SEO is competing with the larger, more national businesses by narrowing our focus to a specific geographic region and becoming a key authority for that region. Let’s take a look at some of the different ways we can optimize to improve local SEO efforts.
Create a Google My Business Page
Optimizing your Google My Business account is the first step in getting started with your local SEO strategy. Your Google My Business account has all the information consumers want to know about your business such as hours of operation, what you do, where you are, how to contact you, and much more. By having an optimized Google My Business, you can begin to increase your rankings in Google Maps, as well as gain further visibility in the search results.
Once your Google My Business account is set up, be sure to regularly maintain and optimize your page with all the correct information regarding your business. Additionally, be sure to ask for reviews and manage the ones you get. The more 5 star reviews you have the more people will trust your business and what you offer.
Optimize for Voice Search
As technology has gotten more advanced with products such as Amazon’s Echo, Google Home, and the integration of Siri in Apple products, the number of voice searches has increased exponentially. That’s why optimizing for voice search can give you another leg up in local SEO.
By using long-tailed keywords in your website copy, you’ll be able to optimize for voice searches much easier. Most voice searches start with a who, what, when, where, or why. If you can have content that answers common questions like these with information about your business, you can start showing up as the first result for different voice searches.
For example, if someone asks Siri “Where is the best thrift shop in Nashville?”, and your website is optimized with the long-tailed keyword “Best thrift shop in Nashville”, you will likely show up in the top three results.
Local Keywords and Location Pages
When optimizing for local SEO, you need to make it obvious where your business is located. Having an optimized location page on your website can help you out tremendously. By focusing on keywords that relate to your geographic location, you are essentially telling Google where you work and operate.
Additionally, try to include location-based keywords when applicable. For example, if you have a business in Nashville, including “just two blocks from Bridgestone Arena” can have a huge impact on how Google perceives your location. It can also help you show up in different search results. If someone were to search for related queries such as “ Restaurants near Bridgestone Arena” and you own a restaurant nearby, you could possibly show up for that query.
The Takeaway
If you have a business that serves a smaller geographic area, local SEO is the strategy you need. By focusing your optimization efforts on hyper localizing your business, you can quickly improve rankings for relevant searches that come out of your geographic region. Be sure to establish a healthy Google My Business profile and to keep regularly optimizing content to focus on the location you work in.
–written by Jonah Ericksen