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When it comes to local SEO, it’s more important than ever that you optimize your website on sight and off site SEO strategies for customers and clients looking for your local business.
Local competition is fiercer than ever, and if you’re not at the top of your rankings, you can bet your competitors are.
Here are six local SEO tactics you can use to help your business rank higher for local search terms.
Title And description tags are HTML elements that you can customize to display the content of your web pages. The text from your title and description tags will appear in search results.
Think of this text as a “mini ad” that you must craft carefully.
Your title and description can grab a searcher’s attention and encourage them to click your link in the search results to go to your website. So think carefully about what you post in these areas on your web pages.
If your title and description tags are missing or Google doesn’t think they’re good enough, Google often makes something up or “rewrites” them. (And often what Google creates can be less than convincing.)
Both should describe the content of the page And should contain keywords so that it stands out on search engine results pages.
The generally acceptable length for title tags is about 50 to 60 characters, and description tags can be about 160 to 200 characters. Take advantage of this space and use it wisely.
Speak to your audience in these areas. What will they notice? What will she make? want to to click your link versus all other links on the page? These are important questions to ask yourself when writing title and description tags.
If you’re not sure what your title and meta description tags will look like or how many characters you can get away with, try an emulator like Yoast’s SEO Plugin for WordPress, where you can see what your title and description will look like on both pages. a mobile device and desktop:
Writing titles and descriptions is considered an art in the SEO world.
In a sea of competing search results, if this text isn’t unique, compelling, and descriptive, your click-through rate will suffer (which can hurt your ranking).
In addition, too many words or characters can cut off your text with ellipses (…).
This may not be a real tragedy. Some SEOs even encourage you to exceed the recommended maximum number of characters. But I think this looks unprofessional, especially if it appears in the middle of a sentence, interrupting your thoughts mid-sentence.
The lesson? This space is precious and every character counts. Here are a few tips:
- Never waste space on page names or words that don’t provide the searcher with useful information about what your web page (or business) is about.
- If you want to stand out to local customers, include the name of the city your business is located in and/or the area your business serves (for example, “Serving Iowa City and Cedar Rapids”).
- Focus on using one targeted keyword and carefully place that keyword as close to the start of the tag as possible.
Keep in mind that if your business shows up in search results, you only have one chance to get that person to click on your link. Your title and description are the determining factor.
Don’t ruin it by wasting characters that won’t convince a searcher that your site is worth visiting.
2. Google Business Profile: Claim and optimize
Google business profile (GBP) is one of the best local SEO strategies for local businesses that meet customers in person.
If your business is eligible to be listed in GBP, you will need to make a claim And optimize your Google business profile. (It’s one of the best ways to get your business ranked high on Google!)
Google Business Profile is free and your business can get a lot of exposure if you’re optimized enough to appear in Google’s local three-pack:
To claim your Google Business Profile listing, visit google.com/business. There is a claim and verification process that you must go through.
This verification process is necessary because Google wants to confirm that your business is a legitimate, real business. The business owner must claim the GBP listing.
If you work with a digital marketing agency for your SEO efforts, you can later give them permission to become an administrator of your business profile. This way, you – as the owner of the company – retain control over your profile if you end the relationship with the agency.
The next step is to optimize – and continue to improve – your GBP listing by:
- Select categories.
- Add opening hours.
- Writing a solid description.
- Upload photos and videos.
- Create posts/updates.
- Answering questions that potential customers ask.
- Add any products or services you sell.
- Respond to reviews you receive.
- And more!
The Google business profiles/knowledge panels are full of information about your business. So make sure you complete all relevant sections completely to complete your Google Business Profile.
3. Online reviews are important
According to BrightLocal’s 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey, a whopping 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Online reviews are like gold to a business, especially when it comes to five-star reviews. In general, you want at least ten five-star reviews on your Google Business Profile. But your goal isn’t to stop there.
You want to constantly ask your satisfied customers to leave GBP reviews. Why? Online reviews are a well-known ranking factor, so getting good reviews should be one of your top priorities!
“Positive, high-quality reviews from your customers can improve the visibility of your business and increase the likelihood of a customer visiting your location,” Google states.
Two places you should focus on getting reviews are your Google Business Profile and your Facebook Page. These are big ones.
Many people use social media to see what their friends and family think of a company. So good feedback on your company’s Facebook page can help attract potential customers.
Third-party reviews can even appear on your Google Business Profile.
Whenever a review is left about your business, positive or negative, make sure you respond. That shows other people reading the reviews that you, the business owner, care what your customers think.
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4. Create separate service pages
If you have a service-based business, it’s best to create separate pages every service you offer instead of just posting a list of your services on one page.
To create service pages This allows you to optimize in a much more targeted way for the location you’re targeting and for keywords related to the specific service you offer.
Instead of a rules list or just a short paragraph on a ‘Services’ page, you have a whole page to talk about each service you offer, meaning you have a lot more room for content and ways to optimize the text to serve your wishes. readers And Google (for SEO purposes).
So spend some time creating individual pages for each service you offer, even if you only have time to create the pages one at a time. It will be worth it in the end. I promise!
5. Online guides and quotes
You need to ensure that your business is listed correctly and consistently in the top online business directories (also called citations) such as Yelp, Facebook, Merchant Circle, Citysearch, etc.
Why? Because online directories often show high organic search results.
If your business is not listed in these directories, potential customers will not find your business information when they click on these links in the search results.
You’ll also want to try to find high-quality ones local directories to get your business listed.
Check with your local newspaper website and your Chamber of Commerce to see if they have a local business directory where you can be listed.
You can also search for keywords such as “(your city) directory” to find other local citation sites or directories.
It is also essential that you list your company’s name, address and telephone number (NAP) on major citation data aggregators such as Foursquare, Data Axle and Neustar Localeze.
Data aggregators distribute your company’s information to hundreds of other online directories.
Always make sure your company’s NAP is consistent across as many of these directories and citation sites as possible.
6. Be social
If you’ve been avoiding social media until now, it’s time to get social! Google Business Profiles now lets you add social media links to your business profile.
You can add one social media profile for each of the following platforms:
- X
- TikTok
- YouTube
To even things out more interesting: Google recently started showing actual social media posts on Google business profiles! (Note: This is a brand new feature that may not yet be available in your company profile.)
Posting to social media on your GBP listing will increase engagement with your business profile listing – and with Google Loves involvement!
These six local SEO strategies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to local SEO. Implementing the six local search tactics above will give you an edge over your competition. Start today!
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily those of Search Engine Land. Staff authors are credited here.
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