Local SEO Tips and Practices
In our last blog discussion we talked about what factors affect your SEO and could possibly do harm to your rankings in search. Now that you have a bit of background knowledge, it’s time to move forward and know what you can do to improve your local SEO. These aren’t overnight miracle workers. SEO takes a lot of patience and work, so stick with it until you see some results.
The first step to improving your local SEO is to optimize your Google My Business Page. It’s here that you can put all the useful information about your business to help Google identify and categorize your business successfully.
Verify the Page - Above anything else, the first thing you should do is verify your page. You want to claim your business in order to complete the process to improving your local SEO. Simply click on the “own this business?” link and follow the instructions.
Update all Correct Business Information - This should include your business name, address, phone number, website URL, category, and hours of operation. Google will provide you with some basic guidelines to fill out this section correction. Remember, your business name should appear exactly as you have it on your business license. There is no need to add in extra words or phrases in the hopes to catch an extra boost. The same goes for your address. Always include the exact physical address and never a P.O. Box. Lastly make sure to assign a category for what your business IS and not what it DOES.
Include Photos and Descriptions - This is your chance to give a brief description about your business and what it is you do. Remember to write unique and relevant content with a few keywords sprinkled throughout. But by no means is it oaky to overstuff your content with keywords. This will only harm you in the long run. Don’t skimp on the photos! Someone may click to your site on the visual appeal of your photos alone. You are allowed to upload three photos - profile photo, logo photo, and cover photo. Double check to make sure your images are all high quality.
Once you have finished creating and updated your Google My Business Page, there are a few more things you can do to optimize for local SEO.
Optimize Meta Description and Title Tag - Your title tag should contain the basic info: such as city, state, and keywords. You will want to order your wording correctly so as to avoid looking like spam. For example, Red Light Marketing Seattle - Best Seattle Marketing Services is appropriate. The same rules apply for your meta descriptions. Make sure to include location and keywords, while maintaining a short and descriptive phrase. For example - Red Light Marketing is a marketing firm based in Seattle, WA. We specialize in local marketing campaigns…”
Optimize Landing Page Content - This content needs to be unique, fresh, and relevant to users. Use top ranking keywords discreetly dispersed throughout your content to boost local SEO efforts. Keep it to about 300-500 words and use headings and sub-headings to break up the text.
Make Sure all Business Information is Correct - Just as with My Google Business Page, make sure you have your business name and address listed correctly and prominently. Use local phone numbers instead of 800 toll-free numbers and make sure your business hours are clearly displayed for viewers to find.
These are clearly the most basic of techniques to improve your local SEO rankings, but they are a great and necessary place to start. For further optimization of your website, you can take a look at optimizing images, improving page load speeds, including customer reviews, and optimizing your site for mobile. As we said, these aren’t simple fixes and will take some elbow grease on your part. But the end results will be worth it! You will find yourself ranking higher in Google, receive higher click through rates, and with any luck, more conversions.