When people are looking for something nearby they usually search in Google or use another similar search engine. That is why if you want to attract more clients to your business, you should consider investing in local SEO campaign. It doesn’t matter, if you have a big or a small business, you still need local SEO. If you manage to show up in local search results, hundreds and thousands of people will know about you. Local SEO is a type of search engine optimization that allows a website to get higher positions in the search results for users of a specific region. So what should be done for achieving the highest rankings? Check out the best local SEO strategies below.
1. Start with creating the listing on Google My Business.
You have to add maximum information about your company on your profile, including the full description, working hours, address, contact information, links, photos, payment methods, etc. Information from Google My Business will be visible in all Google services: in maps and on search. In addition, ad systems take contacts for advertising from there. Don’t forget about the visual part and add some photos, which can show some aspects of your business.
2. Create a mobile-friendly website.
This is one of the first steps you need to start with as Google is using mobile-first indexing. If your website is downloading longer than it is recommended, and it is not optimized for mobile devices, your chances to rank high in search engines are very low. Instead, make sure that your website doesn’t have technical errors and it is user-friendly to search and use on smartphones. Avoiding technical errors is also crucial for SEO efforts, that is why you can use a SEO checker tool to make sure you don’t have links to broken pages, wrong metadata, and other technical SEO errors.
3. Optimize your website’s content for voice search.
According to ComboApp mobile marketing agency, voice recognition for searching the web is one of the biggest trends in 2020. Nowadays, most searches come from smartphones, and more and more people are using voice instead of typing to search in Google. Voice search SEO works differently than usual desktop search. For being found by voice search inputs, your website needs to rank in Google’s snippet that means you need to take the 1st spot in SERPs among your competitors.
4. Work on getting reviews from your customers.
Most users, when evaluating regional companies, perceive reviews as personal recommendations. Reviews are useful for achieving higher rankings and improving website visibility. The search engine measures the popularity of your business by the number of reviews and their content, especially with the words “best”, “recommend”, etc. The company’s task is to provide all the possibilities so that the user can easily leave a review. Don’t worry if you get negative feedback. The main rule is not to ignore such comments but to try to solve the client’s problem as quickly as possible. If you can’t fix the situation quickly, keep on communicating with the client, explaining what steps have been taken to resolve it.
5. Sign up for local directories.
Finding directories for mentioning your company is quite simple. Just type in the name of the region/city and “business directory” in search engines. When you find the relevant directory, check out what it takes to get listed there. Usually, it’s a very simple process, just be sure that all information is up-to-date. Make your profile more attractive by adding images. After the catalog posts the information about you, you will get the additional source of the customers as well as the backlinks. If you face the directory which rejects posting a new business for free, do not worry and pass them because they usually don’t worth any charge.
6. Develop your local content marketing strategy.
Content marketing is one of the leading factors in SEO. If you want your website rank high in SERPs, you need to create interesting professional content which is optimized with keywords relevant to your niche. For example, if you have a language learning app, you can write about the best ways to learn foreign languages, challenges language learners may face, benefits, etc. Search for long-tail keywords and include them to the texts, as well as collect backlinks to your content to make it more authoritative and trustworthy.
