How to Get Started With Local SEO In 2018
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David
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February 20th, 2018
The quest to get noticed locally has seen businesses engage in local SEO making it a top trend for search engine optimization in previous years and still maintaining that bull run in 2018.
There are several benefits of local SEO and you can confirm these from businesses who have gotten started with their on-page and off-page SEO optimization strategies. If you are a local business and yet to get started with this, you’d notice there are opportunities waiting to be had with local SEO.
Let’s Talk A Little Local SEO Analysis In 2018
According to the number one search engine in the world – Google, 80% of users online search for local businesses and 50% of these numbers who carry out their local search via their mobile devices head over to the business store within a day. The facts are solid and impressive but several businesses are yet to tap into the vast opportunities these local SEO offers.
Why be that business when you can snag a good share of the search visitors? Learn how to get started with local SEO and use the provided tips below to soar higher in search engine result page (SERP).
Google My Business: Claim and Optimize Your Google Page
If you haven't heard about Google My Business and the tremendous good it does for local SEO, take a minute and continue reading this. Google tends to give priority to local businesses that have had their Google My Business page claimed. What this means is that your business has a better chance of being featured on the front page when a local relevant search is entered, if you have filled out and optimized your Google My Business listing.
To get started with this, head over to google.com/business and begin the registration and verification process. The claiming process involves Google sending a postcard over to your listed physical store location.
The key thing to note is Google expects all the My Business pages to be run by real business owners so you should have an arrangement with your digital marketing agency on retaining the Google My Business listing provided to you even if they move.
A few things to bear in mind:
- All important details like your business name, address, and phone number which are usually abbreviated as NAP are expected to match your digital marketing details. Don’t forget to fill-in on business hours, categories, types of payment accepted and so on.
- A picture speaks a thousand words, so have handy high-quality photographs of the space uploaded (both front and insides).
- For digital businesses without a physical office, you can hide the office address
Citations are good for your local SEO
Citations are mentions of your business online and the more mentions you get, the better for your business local SEO. Mentions would have to include your business NAP to be regarded as a citation by Google.
Inconsistent NAP has seen several businesses lose out in getting the online citation they need. Although many digital marketers have come to the agreement that Google triangulates data and picks out different business names which are linked to a particular business name, address and phone number (NAP), it’s advisable to use a single NAP and keep it consistent.
Website Optimization for Mobile Is Important
Optimizing your website for mobile is an important SEO practice every website owner should engage in, and local business website owners are not exempted. In fact, they should up their game because most of the local searches are carried out on mobile devices. You can start your test with the Google-provided mobile friendly testing tool.
Business Directories Help Your Local SEO
Do you know that business directories provide a valuable citation for your local business? It does, and apart from that, they help your business get more visibility. Use these action points to boost your local SEO with business directories.
Example of plumber citations from City Search
- Begin your business listing on notable business review directories like CitySearch and Yelp.
- Create at least 6-10 business profiles weekly using this provided list of business directories.
- Make use of citation aggregators like Acxiom, Factual, and Infogroup
- Target niche specific directories and create your business profile
- If there’s a citation opportunity on a newspaper website(s), grab it
- Look out for local business community websites, ensure you put your listing on there
- Check if there’s a Chamber of Commerce or similar website by the state government and see if you get a mention from there.
- You don’t want to mess up on your NAP details while doing all these.
Optimizing Website Content for Local Appeal
Local content can help you get search engines to better understand your specific target audience. A properly written local content can help search engine link your local service to its niche.
You can also create a local news section where you could post well thought out content related to local events and news on your website. This section can come in handy for placing several local SEO relevant keywords which you’d like to be noticed for.
Many local businesses are already tapping from this and you could be started on it too. Businesses such as house repairs, restaurants, spas and beauty houses, interior décor, law services etc stand to benefit the most from using these tips.
Online Reviews Impact Your Local SEO
According to Moz, online reviews contribute about 8.4% to ranking. But before you scream about the negligible contribution, consider the 88% of users who actually use online reviews to form opinions on the quality of brands, businesses, and products. These bring the overall impact to a rather noticeable range.
Also, Google My Business reviews are the key source of SEO juice and before Google gets to display your reviews on its front page you need at least 5 reviews. You should also get some handfuls of Facebook Business reviews as they raise the trust of your brand among online users.
If you plan to go further and maximize your local SEO, you can try out several other review websites and get as many reviews from them as possible.
Example of some customer reviews from Google Business
Local Rich Schema Markup Can Be Worthwhile
You can add schema markup to your website code to increase search engines readability, however, adding specific local schema markup tags can do your website a world of good.
There are two key ways local schema markup tags aid your local SEO, they are:
- Helping search engines to better understand your business local relevance
- Adding perks of showing rich snippet info including phone number, working hours, address, reviews, rating, etc alongside your business page result
There’s a tutorial for schema markup for local businesses if you’d like to learn the ropes. So you can take advantage of it to learn how to get your local schema markup done right.
Once done, use the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to see if you’ve fixed up your local schema markup properly.
Rounding up
Every day there are hundreds or thousands of potential customers looking for businesses near them. There's no better way to connect with these searchers than getting your local SEO sorted out. This guide has laid out all the useful tips and tricks on how to get started on your local SEO, so take it up from there and have your business stare them in the face when they search.