As a local business owner, you may find yourself struggling to stand out among a sea of competitors, both locally and nationally, who are trying to capture the attention of the same potential customers in searches online and in your vicinity.
Excelling in local SEO can help your business rise above the competition, making it easier for local customers to find and choose you.
With proven strategies, local SEO can vastly improve your online presence, drive increased traffic both online and in-person, and ultimately fuel your business’s success.
Want to know how to win online with Local SEO?
We’ll quickly break down the most important aspects of local SEO so that you can start making a difference online today.
Table of Contents
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO, or Local Search Engine Optimization, is a set of strategies and practices aimed at improving your business’s visibility on search engines like Google when potential customers in your local area perform a search related to your business.
Imagine a potential customer searching for “best coffee shop near me” or “bookstore in [your city]”.
With effective local SEO, your business’s name would appear higher in those search results, increasing the likelihood of that customer clicking through to your website or visiting your physical location.
This targeted visibility directly connects you with local customers who are actively seeking the products or services that you offer, making it a powerful tool for driving both online and in-person traffic to your business.
Before You Start: Evaluate Your Website vs Your Competitors
Before doing anything it’s always a good idea to look at your competitors online.
Search for your local keywords (ex: “[your product or service] near me” or “[your product or service] in [your city]”) and look at the websites that are ranking at the top for your keywords.
While these websites may or may not have their Local SEO already optimized, it’s important to look at what they are doing with their website. Things like:
- What pages are in their main menu?
- How is their homepage organized? What is it saying? How much are they saying?
- Are they blogging?
- Do they have location pages?
Anything that your leading competition is doing, you want to emulate on your own and, if possible, do it even better.
After you’ve completed analyzing your competition and made baseline optimizations to your website, you can continue to optimize your Local SEO.
Let's Get Started: How to Optimize Your Local SEO
1. Make a List of Local Keywords You Want to Be Seen For
As mentioned before, potential customers search for keywords that are relevant to your business and local area.
Take some time to brainstorm a list of these keywords that you would like to rank for on search engines.
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What would they search to find your products or services?
2. Optimize Your Website With Your Main Local Keywords
Ensure that your website content mentions your keywords in a natural way.
For example, if you’re a plumber in Austin a great introduction paragraph on your homepage could look like this:
“Welcome to [Your Company Name], your go-to plumber in Austin, TX. We offer a wide range of top-quality plumbing services for both residential and commercial properties.”
This naturally incorporates your main local keyword “plumber in Austin” while still providing valuable information about your business.
You’ll also need to optimize your website title tags and descriptions.
Again, it is highly recommended to look at what your competition is doing and use that to guide your content and keyword usage efforts.
Don’t just focus on your homepage.
You will need to do this with all the pages of your website – including service pages, about pages, etc. If you don’t have a page for one of your services or products, you will need to make one.
Using the plumber example, there need to be service pages for heating repair, cooling repair, ductwork, air purification, HVAC installations, etc.
3. Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
Google My Business is a free tool that helps businesses manage their online presence across Google’s search engine, including Google Maps and the Local Pack. You can boost your online visibility by claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing.
You can claim your business by signing into your Gmail account here:
https://www.google.com/business/
Once you’ve claimed or created your listing, it’s time to optimize.
Fill Out Your Google My Business Profile Completely
An incomplete Google My Business profile can hurt your local SEO. Make sure you provide as much information as possible, including your address, operating hours, and contact information.
Also, include a thorough description of your business and your services and add high-quality photos of your storefront, products, or services.
Regularly Update Your Google My Business Profile
Keep your Google My Business profile up-to-date. Update it regularly with new photos, posts, and offers to keep your listing fresh and engaging. This communicates to both Google and potential customers that your business is active and responsive.
Encourage Google Reviews
Ask your satisfied customers to leave a review on your Google My Business profile. Reviews greatly influence how potential customers perceive your business. They also communicate to Google that you are a reputable business, which can improve your search ranking.
Respond to Google Reviews
Interacting with your customers by responding to their reviews shows that you value their feedback. It also signals to Google that you’re an engaged and active business, which can also contribute positively to your local SEO.
4. Build Local Citations
A citation is any mention of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites.
Examples of citations include websites like:
- Yelp
- YellowPages
Building local citations will help increase your website’s online visibility locally.
Search for local directories, industry-specific directories, and review sites to add your business listing.
Ensure that your citations are accurate and consistent across all websites.
Bonus: Be A Local Sponsor
By sponsoring local events, charities, or organizations, your business gains the opportunity to be featured on various local websites, thereby creating valuable local citations.
This visibility enhances your business’s local reputation and recognition, signaling to search engines that your business is a trusted and relevant entity in the local community.
Moreover, these sponsorship activities often lead to high-quality backlinks to your website, which is a strong ranking factor for SEO.
Remember, local relevance is key in Local SEO, and engaging in these sponsorships helps establish and boost this relevance.
Bonus: Use Local Schema Markup
This is advanced Local SEO and may require a website developer!
Schema markup is a code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content better. Using local schema markup can help boost your website’s local SEO efforts. Add schema markup to your website’s NAP, business hours, reviews, and other relevant information. This will help search engines show accurate information about your business in local search results.
We highly recommend asking a professional website designer how you can implement schema onto your website.
Don’t let the world of Local SEO intimidate you – we’re here to help! If you’re a business owner looking to dominate the local search landscape but unsure of how to navigate the SEO complexities, reach out to us.
Our team of SEO experts is dedicated to helping businesses like yours improve online visibility, attract more local customers, and grow. We’ll handle all the details from optimizing your Google My Business profile, building local citations, to implementing schema markup on your website.