Are you a small business struggling to attract more customers in your local area? Optimizing your website for local searches could be a powerful tool to achieve this. And if your business is not properly optimized for local search, you might be missing out on new customers looking for the products or services you are offering!
In this article, I will share my personal experience and some best local SEO solutions and tactics that I have applied to our company website to increase its visibility in local search results.
Keep reading to discover the local ranking treasure!
Local SEO Defined
Local SEO (local Search Engine Optimization) is a process to optimize the business website to improve the business’s visibility in local search results on Google. It is very beneficial for businesses that have a physical location or provide services to the geographical area.
Optimizing a business for a particular local helps a lot in growing traffic to the business website and improving business as a result.
Best Local SEO Solutions to Improve Traffic on Your Site
When it comes to local businesses, you look for the best ways to promote your products or services among local customers. The old system changed when people wandered multiple streets to find something.
With the involvement of technology, this concept has completely changed to the new world. Now customers look online to find products or services they need.
If you want potential customers to discover you online, you must add local SEO solutions to your online marketing plans. Here are some of the best strategies that must grow your website’s traffic.
1- Claim Your Profile on Google My Business
Creating a Google My Business profile is considered one of the most effective local SEO solutions. All the information that you have added to your business profile has great potential to develop your search engine ranking. Furthermore, it has a great effect on improving your appearance on Google Maps.
You can complete this by following these actions!
This profile is a local listing of your business with valuable information which can increase your visibility. The information you include in your business profile has the potential to improve your search engine ranking and also your appearance on Google Maps.
The process is simple, just go to https://business.google.com/create and follow the instructions to provide all essential details about your business.
Ensuring that All Details of Your Business are Correct
This is the first thing that has to keep in mind that the business name is correct, confirm your business address, and see that your contacts’ details are listed. Make sure the given information is matching with what your website is.
Adding the URL of your website, listing business hours (mentioning holiday schedules), and identifying your payment methods and acceptance.
Select The Best Appropriate Category
Choosing the category and subcategories for your business is very crucial and has a very important role in helping potential customers find you.
Adding High-Quality Pictures
To attract many more customers, it is necessary to add relevant and high-quality pictures to your Google my business profile.
We have created a detailed DIY SEO Guide for Startups that can help improve your business’s online visibility in search engine result pages.
2- Find the Best Local Keywords
To get started effectively, you need to find some best local keywords related to your business or products. This will help you find top queries or phrases local customers might be using to search for the products or services they need to buy.
Incorporate these keywords on your business website. Add them strategically to your website copy and also entitle them to the blog posts. By writing quality content and using local keywords, you can also help your target audience solve queries or problems they may have.
Hiring a local SEO agency can also help you in this task. For instance, if you are a new business in London and want to do keyword research or avail of any other services, you can hire any of the best SEO Agencies in London.
3- Tracking the Keyword and Positioning
Once you have optimized your website with local keywords, just check out whether the keywords are working or not. In that case, monitoring the keywords is an important factor. Google Analytics or other online tools can be used for local SERP tracking.
With that result, you will come to know:
- Your most productive keywords
- Underperforming keywords
- The areas of improvement
These are the essential things that you need the most when it comes to keyword tracking:
- Visibility
- Position
- Which pages are ranking on those keywords
- Search quality on those keywords
With all these procedures, you get clarity about the keywords and how to work if necessary improvements are needed.
4- Build a Strong Presence on the Social Media
Social media is a powerful marketing tool, especially for local businesses. This is the reason, social media marketing should be a vital part of your local SEO strategy to attract potential customers handing on social media sites.
Improve your social media presence to get noticed, attract, and retain customers when they are communicating with each other or watching their favourite content. It is not necessary to be on all social media platforms. Just focus on sites that are most beneficial for your business.
To have a good idea of the best social media sites for your business, you should spy on your competitors to check which platforms they are using for business promotion. Just pay more of your attention to all the social media platforms from which you are getting your actual audience.
Top Social Media Sites for Businesses
Facebook is a popular social media site that provides an audience from all over the world. On Facebook, your customers can use your business location as a check-in point to help you grow. By using the unique feature of check-in, these users introduce passive advertising for your business, and they also share that with their fellows.
Instagram is also a good option, especially for growing your brand image and engagement. You can share corporate events photos, products, behind-the-scenes videos, and many more on Instagram.
X (Twitter) is one of the popular social media sites and can help you grow your business locally.
YouTube is perfect for video marketing. You can create corporate videos and promote them on YouTube channel to grab the attention of more local customers.
Once you choose any of them, customize your social profile elements like page header, promote upcoming events, market products and services, and share attractive photos. Also, be focused whenever creating profiles on social media and try to be consistent on all the platforms you choose.
5- Build Relevant and Strong Backlinks
Building strong backlinks on high-authority local websites can also help you rank higher in local search results.
The backlinks have two benefits include:
- Backlinks can drive well-qualified traffic for your website.
- Reputable backlinks notify Google that the website is considered authoritative and valuable. Search engines consider backlinks a recommendation and improve the website’s authority.
The Best Ways to Build Backlinks:
- Submit the articles to the online publications in your area and add a link to the relevant page on the website.
- Write a guest blog post for related niche websites, including a backlink for your site.
- Build healthy relationships with the others in your community and the surroundings.
- Improve your link with a local business that compliments you in some ways and seems to link back with you. This procedure is reciprocal linking.
- You can also work with a link building company to generate quality local links for your online store.
6- Get More Online Reviews
Getting online reviews is one of the vital local SEO ranking factors. These reviews prove a stellar recommendation for a local business, service, or product. Positive and quality customer reviews boost the ranking and improve the website’s visibility.
More consumer reviews can boost your local search rankings. You can encourage both your new and returning customers to leave reviews by requesting them right after purchases or sending follow-up emails.
Also, make sure to be active in responding to all the queries and stay focused to monitor all the reviews. Handle all reviews carefully, as they have a direct impact on the image of your business. When you have a positive response, acknowledge all the reviewers by sending them thank you notes. If there any negative response comes up, try not to take it seriously and respond to them in a friendly way.
7- Utilize Geofencing
This is one of the best local SEO solutions at an advanced level. Brands can use advertising methods of Geofencing. With a location-based marketing technique, geofencing lets you catch up with mobile devices in a particular geographic location.
Around the physical business, Geofencing plays a very important role in inserting a visual boundary. Whenever a consumer enters a geofenced location on their mobile device, your ads will appear on their devices, notifying them that you are very nearby.
Final Thoughts
Adding the right local SEO solutions to your local marketing strategy is necessary for enhancing your business’s online visibility and attracting more local customers. Optimizing your Google Business Profile, advanced keyword research and strong social media presence are some of the best ways to rank your business higher in local search results.
Investing in local SEO not only drives local traffic to your website but also builds trust and credibility within your community, ultimately leading to sustained business growth.
