Local SEO is essential to attracting local customers.
SEO rankings are important for companies to improve if they want to increase their traffic and the attention they gain from customers. Successful SEO strategies take all factors into consideration and are updated based on the data they give the company.
SEO is essential for companies to optimize so they can attract more customers. When SEO is used properly by a company, more customers will see their website and social media posts than those of their competitors that aren’t using SEO as well. Properly utilized SEO not only increases a company’s ranking, it also leads to more traffic and attention from customers.
Local SEO Strategies You Must Implement in 2018
Many companies are looking to reinvent their local search engine optimization strategy and the first step in completing that is to understand and unleash local link building. Local links are different from general backlinks and obtaining local backlinks to a company’s website takes reasonable efforts. Some of these efforts include looking for opportunities of local sponsorships, donating to get quick, local links, participating in local community activities to gain access to their websites, becoming active in local news, portals and social media and local advertising to grab attention.
The next step for a company to reinvent their SEO strategy is to get a spot in local directories. People use internet searches and yellow pages to get information on local businesses. For customers to be able to search for a business, the business has to be there on those yellow pages and internet search pages. This is a major opportunity for companies to get local links. To get these links, a company must register their business with all local business directories and when they do this, they need to ensure that their profile is complete and that the profile is being updated consistently. When a company registers with local directories that are particular to their niche, these links will bring the company more profitable traffic.
The third step for a company looking to reinvent their SEO strategy is to monitor reviews and ratings of the business’s strengths. Reviews and ratings left on a company’s website have a considerable impact on traffic that comes to the business’s site. Most customers trust the reviews and ratings given by others on a company’s website when making their decisions. Reviews and ratings on a company’s Google business page and social media business pages are critical in helping to get the most out of local SEO practices.
Local SEO Tips
- Get Listed on Google My Business
- Use Google Posts in Google My Business Account
- Update NAP and Make It Consistent Across all Channels
- Use Schema Markup
- Optimize URL, Tags, and Content
- Engage in Local Link Building
- Be on Relevant Review Sites
- Track Rankings for Local Searches
With Google My Business, companies can add their company name, address, phone number, hours and directions to Google search and Maps. Doing this will allow customers to find the business in searches they conduct on Google. When adding the business to Google My Business, a company must ensure that their profile is complete and that it is kept up-to-date. Once a business is verified through google, they can get data regarding how people are finding them and where they’re coming from. This data helps a company plan their local search strategy moving forward.
Google My Business also allows account holders to post updates about deals, local offerings, and upcoming events through their account. These posts allow businesses to communicate with their customers before they have even visited the company’s site. Companies must make sure their contact and location information is updated and consistent across their website, social media pages, directory listing and review sites, as well as, staying on top of their Google My Business listing. Schema markup is a specific code a company can add to their HTML to improve the way their page is represented in search results. Having this markup can boost a company’s rankings and improve their click-thru rates.
Local SEO Factors
Many factors of local search rankings are foundational and needed to have any chance of showing in local results. Continuous focus on these factors is not going to improve a company’s SEO, though. A company must focus on competitive difference-maker factors to push their local rankings further. It is important for a business to have a consistency of their citations across the web. This is essential to guarantee for primary data sources for their home country and other countries, and for the top ten prominent structured citation sources in their home country. On-page factors like location and an embedded Google map on the company’s landing page are also important for increasing local SEO. Other factors that will help a company increase their local SEO include:
- Link Factors
- Social Factors
- Behavioral Factors
- Mobile Factors
- Negative Factors
SEO optimization is essential for companies to master to increase their website traffic and gain attention from more customers. Local SEO marketing is the best way for a company to gain more local customers that are more likely to become loyal to the company and spend money on their products or services regularly. Many companies are not succeeding at local SEO marketing and need to reinvent their SEO strategy. A good SEO strategy takes into consideration all types of factors and uses proven tips to increase their SEO ranking. Companies that increase their SEO ranking increase their traffic and customer leads compared to companies that have a low SEO ranking.
