Local SEO is an essential part of any online business, especially small businesses. It helps you compete with larger national brands that optimize for broader keywords.
Local intent is important because it drives highly-targeted traffic to your site. Using keyword research to find these local terms can be tricky, but there are tools that make the process much easier.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a critical part of any SEO strategy, but it’s especially important for local SEO. You can use free or paid programs to get insight into what search terms people are entering into Google, and this information can help you tailor your content and website to those searches.
You’ll want to focus on keywords that relate to your business and that have a reasonable chance of driving traffic, but avoid keyword stuffing. Remember, you’re creating content for humans, not robots, and search engines will penalize websites that use keywords too heavily.
You can also add product and service schema to your website, which helps search engines understand what you do and how it might help their users. Adding this information can boost your visibility in local search results as well as improve the performance of your mobile site. Finally, don’t forget about claiming and optimizing your Google My Business page. This is an excellent way to promote your business to local customers.
Local Citations
A key part of local SEO is building local citations. These are mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number online. They’re usually found in business directories, but can also be unstructured – for example, in a news article or blog post. Some citations may even include your website’s URL (also called NAPW or NAPU).
These citations are important because they signal to search engines that your business exists and is legitimate. It also helps Google to verify your information, which can improve your visibility in local search results. However, it’s important to ensure that your citations are consistent and accurate – otherwise, they could lead to confusion for customers. And, if your business has multiple locations, it’s important to build citations for each location separately. This will help search engines distinguish between different versions of your site. For example, if your company’s phone number is listed as 888-555-1234 in one directory, but as 207-353-1111 in another, this will confuse searchers.
Local Landing Pages
A local landing page is a web page that’s created and optimized to generate visibility and traffic in a specific location. It can be a separate website or part of your company’s main website and can be linked to from your Google My Business listing (now called a Google Business Profile).
Local landing pages should feature local images. This will help build trust with potential customers and show them that you are real and that your business is active in their community. It is also a good idea to include testimonials from local customers.
A key tip is to make sure that all local landing pages are unique and have truly helpful content. With Google’s SpamBrain update and their new “Helpful Content” criteria, duplicated or spammy content can send a red flag to search engines and cause them to penalize your site.
Local Web Design
Local web design is an important part of any local SEO strategy. It helps to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. In addition, it can also help to establish your brand identity online and build customer trust. Local web designers can be found through local search engines, online directories, or freelance websites. They may offer better communication and support than larger national companies or independent contractors.
One of the best local seo tips is to optimize your business listings and citations. Another is to create locally-targeted content, such as a list of events or local restaurants. Finally, it is important to add schema markup to your website. This will tell Google that you are a local business and increase your chances of ranking higher in the SERPs.