Google has changed its algorithm to allow for more accurate local results. It’s important this change is reflected in your SEO strategy by optimizing your website for local searches. You need to take several different things into account to improve your local SEO. Let’s take a look at some important factors to consider.
1. Your Website Needs to Be Local-Ready
Nothing is more important than a local SEO strategy, especially with this latest Google algorithm update. You can no longer get by without optimizing your website for local search results. The most effective way to do that is by creating a Google My Business page and including the necessary information on your website.
This information includes your physical location, phone number, hours of operation, and a map to help users find you quickly. This is especially important if you have multiple locations. Make sure all the necessary information about each of your locations are included on your website. You should also consider adding contact info to pages throughout your site so users can easily find the page they are looking for.
2. Optimize Your Local Business Listings
In order to get the most out of your online listings, you’ll want to make sure that they are all completely optimized with accurate information. You’ll want to include a complete physical address, phone number, and website link for easy access to your company’s site.
Review your discounts and offers. Once you have all of this information in place, make sure that any current promotions are also listed on the business profile. You can also add links to coupons, deals, and other promotional offers.
3. Get More Reviews
One of the best ways to stand out from similar businesses in your area is by encouraging customers to leave reviews on one of your business profiles or a third-party review site where customers often gather opinions before making a purchase. Not only will this strategy help your local SEO, but it will also give you the peace of mind that your business is worth investing in.
You can encourage customers to leave reviews by offering discounts or incentives. If you offer free shipping, for example, customers might be more likely to write a review in exchange for their savings.
4. Ensure a Consistent Naming Structure
If you have a brick-and-mortar location, ensure that your business name is consistent across all listings. This can be difficult as it requires some coordination between your company’s marketing team and the IT department to determine every place where your brand is mentioned online. If possible, try to use your business name as the primary part of every profile in order to boost local SEO.
5. Optimize Your Location on Social Media
Next, optimize social media properties by updating profile information with accurate locations and specialties of your business. This is an especially important step if you offer services or products that are limited to a certain area. Beyond social media optimization, make sure to include location-specific keywords and hashtags to further increase your visibility on these platforms.
6. Utilize Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools
Finally, make sure to utilize these two free tools from Google in order to track your website’s ranking and traffic. Google Analytics is a great way to determine which keywords are driving the most traffic, while Webmaster Tools give you insight on the number of visitors you are receiving from local searches.
Google has made changes to their algorithm that is designed to improve local search results. Make sure your company website and online listings are optimized for these types of results by following these five steps. You will see an improvement in your local SEO, traffic numbers, and conversions once you have addressed these steps.
Final Words
In order to have a successful local marketing campaign, you need to be present in the right places. Take a look at your website and make sure it’s locally-ready before starting this process. You can outsource this to any good agency that offers local SEO services.
Ensure that all of your business listings are up-to-date with accurate information, get more reviews from happy customers, maintain a consistent naming structure for all of your products or services (e.g., use “San Diego Home Services” rather than “Home Services”), optimize your location on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, optimize Google My Business settings so they’re fully optimized for search engines and utilize webmaster tools such as Google Analytics for insight into how people find you online. We hope these tips will help improve your local presence
