Running a small business is tough. You’re responsible for everything from finances to design, services, and marketing. Moreover, you’re competing with other local businesses that are doing the exact same thing.
How do you stand out from the competition both in-person and online?
Building a web presence and using tools to rank higher in search engine rankings isn’t something everyone is familiar with, but knowing how utilizing search engine optimization can improve your small business will help give you an edge on the competition.
Local search engine optimization, or local SEO, is a search engine optimization strategy that can help your business’s visibility in local search results on search engines like Google.
If your small business has a physical geographical location, it can benefit from using local SEO. Today, we will take a closer look at local SEO and how it ties into your other SEO efforts to boost your business’ online presence and help customers find you.
A Different Type of SEO
While traditional search engine results include products and services offered in a broad range, local SEO factors in that people are searching for something close to their location.
Local SEO uses cues from local content, social media, links, citations, and profile pages to provide the top local search results for a business, product, or service that a search engine user might be looking for.
Building local SEO for higher search engine rankings means that clicks in the search engine results could result in that user visiting your business on the same day. In fact, 88% of searches for local businesses result in a call or visit to the business within 24 hours
Let’s take a look at some of our top local SEO tips to follow for boosting your local SEO and overall business strategy to beat out the local competition.
Create a Google Profile Listing
Google Business Profile (previously known as Google My Business) listings might seem less important when your business is already online, but they are crucial to drumming up local business.
Google Business Profile listings are considered a top influencing factor for building local SEO. They give users another opportunity to find, vet, and click through to your website directly from a search engine result that is filtered by location, narrowing your pool of competition and lending legitimacy to your business..
When you create your business listing, fill out your business profile completely. List all products, services, and other information relevant to your business and how it can help your customers. Create a secondary business category to flesh out descriptions for your products and services as well.
Google Profile listings also offer an opportunity for more visibility with mini-posts. Keep your customers informed of new offers while also showing Google that you are actively managing your Google Business Profile listing instead of letting it sit idle online.
Use Local Keywords
Using targeted keywords is a best practice for SEO in general, but placing hyperfocus on local keywords can improve your local SEO dramatically.
When people are searching for a business in your industry in your neighborhood, burough, or city, consistent and appropriate use of local SEO keywords is important.
On your website and in your local listing , include headlines, title tags, meta descriptions, a body, and a footer. Use keywords that are relevant to your neighborhood or city as well as your industry.
Optimize for Mobile
The vast majority of searches for local products or services are done from a smartphone or other mobile device. These searches are as good as gold much of the time, as mobile searches for local businesses indicate a high level of intent..
Does your business come up as effectively on a mobile device as it does with a laptop or PC?
With mobile technology currently being used at higher rates than ever, it’s crucial to optimize your business website for mobile while considering how local SEO comes into play.
Many mobile searches are location-related for ease of access and on the go use. Factors like speed, accessibility, and search engine rankings could make or break your business when someone searches for a local business in your industry via a mobile device.
Create Location Pages
A small business doesn’t necessarily mean one single location. If a business thrives in a specific location, the business owners may consider opening up another location nearby.
This means business owners with multiple storefronts need to feed customers content that is location-based for each physical location.
Creating separate social media pages and local listings for each location of your business will help build local SEO. Reflective of each physical location, these pages will be optimized on their own instead of relying on the broad page for the entire business. Store A might offer something a bit different than Store B, or Store A might be closer to one person than Store B is.
Use Localized Content
All businesses develop content related to their specific industries in hopes to beat out the competition. But if you’re a local business trying to boost local SEO, you may want to consider another approach.
Boosting local SEO with community stories and engagement is key. People will be attracted to businesses with a community story to tell or strong community ties.
Supporting a local team? Conducting a fundraiser for a local cause? Include these types of content on your website, and share them on social media.
You Don’t Have to Be An SEO Wiz. We Can Help.
SEO can be a struggle when you’re going it solo.
Many businesses are wasting money on marketing and advertising, sending traffic to websites that don’t convert.
At KangoMedia, We design websites and digital marketing campaigns that convert website visitors into leads and paying customers so that you get a positive return on investment.
Clients that work with us often see dramatic results in the form of an increase in website leads, requests for quotes, service calls, and sales. Businesses choose to work with KangoMedia because of our focus on growing their business. We are more than a service provider, we are your partner in growth.
Give us a shout, and let’s talk about your business.