Every year, Google processes over two trillion search queries. Local searches account for almost half. With local search engine optimization (SEO), you can appear for those searches to attract consumers to your store.
About 77% say Google is becoming the new homepage for local businesses.
Not sure how to improve your local rankings? Here are five simple local SEO tips for small businesses that can help. Rank up with these SEO strategies today!
1. Claim and Optimize Your Listing
About four in five consumers use search engines to find local information. About 50% visit a store after conducting a mobile search. Meanwhile, nearly 20% of these searches lead to a purchase within 24 hours.
About 52% of consumers search for business hours. Over 50% discover a new company through local searches.
In fact, about 46% of all Google searches are local. About 92% of consumers will pick a business on the first page of local search results as well.
Nearly 90% trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, too.
Developing a strong local SEO strategy can help you appear in front of consumers who want and need your offerings. Appearing when they’re in the mood to shop can help you generate leads and sales. To begin appearing for local searches, start by claiming and optimizing your Google Business listing.
Your listing can provide consumers will helpful information about your brand, including your:
- Business name
- Address/directions
- Phone numbers
- Website
- Hours
- Photos and videos
- Customer reviews
- Recent posts
If you haven’t already, click here to create or claim your listing. Make sure the information is current and accurate. Keep the information between your site and listing consistent, too.
Google will check the information that appears on your website to confirm it’s accurate. Match any abbreviations to ensure the utmost accuracy.
Don’t forget to claim your listing on other platforms as well. For example, you should check online directories like:
- Foursquare
- Yelp
- HotFrog
- About Us
- Best of the Web
- Bing Places
- Angie’s List
Keep your name, address, and phone number (NAP) consistent on every platform.
If your information isn’t accurate, the consumer might visit the wrong storefront. They might call a number that isn’t working or visit a site that’s down. These problems might frustrate the consumer enough that they choose a different business instead.
Generate Reviews
Once you’ve claimed and optimized your Google Business listing, develop a strategy for acquiring customer reviews. Positive reviews will improve your brand’s reputation and credibility. Gaining brand credibility could help future customers trust your brand.
Generating brand trust might encourage them to give your business a shot, helping you gain leads or sales.
Keep generating reviews throughout the year. Google will consider how fresh and current each review is. As you generate more reviews, your organic rankings could improve, too.
2. Know Your Audience
As you begin using these SEO tips, it’s important to consider your target audience. Otherwise, these SEO strategies might not help you reach your ideal customers. You could struggle to improve your rankings as a result.
Gather audience research to determine your ideal customer’s:
- Location
- Gender
- Salary
- Education
- Career
- Age
- Pain points
- Interests
- Hobbies
- Online behaviors
- Buying behaviors
If necessary, create buyer personas.
Consider why the consumer needs your help, too. For example, if you’re using local SEO for law firms, consider the legal services they need. With local SEO for dentists, you might group patients based on general dentistry, pediatrics, cosmetic dentistry, or other services.
Once you’ve gathered audience research, gather keyword research.
Google displays website content that best matches the user’s search intent. Their intent indicates what they expect to find when visiting your site. If your content doesn’t match their intent, the visitor will leave.
Your bounce rate will start to increase, leading to lower local SEO rankings.
Instead, use your keyword research to inform your SEO strategy.
3. Create Fresh Content
Google prioritizes fresh, unique content that aligns with the user’s search intent. Once you’ve gathered your keyword research, start creating fresh blog content.
If your business has more than one location, make sure to create location-specific pages for your website. Embed a Google Map onto each page as well.
Otherwise, experiment with different content formats, including videos, infographics, polls, and quizzes.
Stay Social
Once you begin creating more blog content, make sure to share it! Sharing your content online can help you generate more traffic. As you generate more traffic, Google might boost your rankings.
Then, even more people will have an easier time finding your content online.
You can start by posting your content on social media. Otherwise, send an email newsletter featuring your latest posts.
4. Update Your Website
Your website backend could impact your local SEO rankings as well.
First, make sure your site is fast, mobile-optimized, user-friendly, and secure. Google will review the mobile version of your site first to determine your rankings (mobile-first indexing).
Make sure your site appeals to Google’s Core Web Vitals as well. These user-centric ranking factors can help you determine if you’re offering a positive user experience (UX). If not, users will leave, causing a higher bounce rate.
You can appear for more local searches by structuring your content using Schema Markup. If you’re not sure how to get started, consider working with an SEO agency this year.
5. Start Link-Building
High-quality backlinks can help improve your Domain Authority (DA). A high DA can benefit your organic rankings.
Backlinks appear on other blogs before directing readers to your content. You can generate backlinks by guest blogging on someone else’s website.
Otherwise, focus on your own content marketing strategy. Create high-quality blog posts with helpful, informative content. Other blogs will want to link to your posts, helping you generate natural backlinks.
Reach More Customers: Start Using These Local SEO Tips Today
Local SEO can help you reach more consumers online, enabling your business to grow. Get started with these easy local SEO tips. Otherwise, consider partnering with an experienced SEO agency this year.
With help, you can boost your organic rankings to reach more customers than ever before.
Eager to get started? We’re happy to help.
Book an SEO strategy call today to learn more.
