Local SEO can be one of the most powerful online marketing techniques that you can implement for your business, but it can be difficult to understand where to begin and how to get those top results on Google.
If you’re feeling that confusion and uncertainty of where and how to start, then take a few minutes and check out these 5 simple ways to kickstart your local SEO:
Google+
First things first, you are going to want to create and optimize a Google Plus page for your business. An optimized Google Plus page gives Google all the important and relevant information that it needs to understand where your business actually is. When Google knows where your business is, you can then be considered by Google for those local based keywords.
It’s important to remember that you need to make sure that once you have created your Google Plus page for your business, you verify it through Google. You can verify by having Google send you a postcard with a confirmation number that you will later enter into your account settings to prove that the address is real and accurate.
Tip: Make sure that you fill out all of the information on your profile (hours of operation, complete address, pictures, etc…).
Review Sites
Gaining positive reviews for your business or service can make a huge impact on your online presence. Not only will it influence users, but it can also affect search engine results. Google crawls the internet for any mentions of your business, so that it can rank those most relevant to certain search terms. The more reviews your business receives, the more “relevant” you are considered to be.
Local Citations
Creating local citations is a great strategy for helping to boost your local results, but if it’s done incorrectly then the consequences can cause serious damage to your rankings.
I see it all the time with new clients. Company A hires an “SEO company” to get them ranked for local search terms, so this “SEO company” grabs them 100 local citations. And 99.9% of the time this “SEO company” has entered inconsistent contact info for the client on weak citation websites and directories that aren’t even all that relevant. This type of careless citation building will ensure that your site gets lost in the mix.
For the sake of your business’s online presence, hire a professional to help you with your local strategy.
On Page
On page factors can make a huge impact on how well you rank locally for keywords. The content on your pages let’s Google know what your business is all about when your site is crawled. But the content isn’t the only thing that needs to be optimized. You have to consider page titles, h1/h2 tags and even how properly your footer is optimized.
Content, titles and tags are just the beginning to on page factors that can affect your rankings. There are also speed issues to consider as well as mobile optimization and html formatting.
There are a lot of on page factors, but once these are resolved you can really get the ball rolling.
Social Media
Your local clients are hanging out on social media, so why aren’t you creating an online presence there as well? Social media creates the perfect outlet for you to connect to your clients and to find your future, potential clients.
Utilize social media to create trust by engaging with your customers and use the social platform to answer any questions or concerns that an unhappy patron might have had.
Social Media Tip: Don’t alienate your followers with unending and irrelevant posts. Create and post shareable content. Quality > Quantity.
Like I mentioned above, local SEO is a powerful marketing technique that should be implemented for your business, but it is important to understand that it takes time and patience. If you feel overwhelmed with the idea creating and managing a local seo campaign for your business, then please feel free to contact one of our local search specialists here at Spark. We would love to help you get your business ranked locally.