How to Create a Successful Local SEO Strategy
How to Create a Successful Local SEO Strategy
For small and local businesses, targeted marketing on a regional scale is much more important than large-scale campaigns. Local SEO is the prioritization of appearing in searches for a specific location. Read on to learn more about this specialized marketing strategy.
Table of Contents
What is a local SEO strategy?
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves the process of improving visibility for small businesses on search engines. Local SEO is intended for those mostly with brick-and-mortar locations who serve a local consumer base. By following local SEO best practices, businesses can see a direct increase of organic traffic through the doors.
What are the benefits of local SEO?
Optimizing your local SEO strategy can lead to several benefits for a small business.
- More website traffic
- Greater number of leads and conversions
- Higher foot traffic in-store
- Strategy that speaks to your loyal customer base
- Spend limited resources on strategies that work
- Neutralize advantages of bigger brands who have more varied resources
- Focus on smaller and more impactful digital marketing strategies
Expert marketers agree that if you’re missing out on local SEO, you are missing out on dollars spent directly at your business.
How to Create a Successful Local SEO Strategy?
1. Create a Project Plan for your Local SEO Strategy
The first step of creating a winning local SEO strategy is to form a plan. This plan should include some of the relevant strategies listed below, your own research on local SEO marketing strategies, and set some deadlines for you or your team to meet. All marketers agree that digital marketing strategies require solid plans, including content creation and SEO.
2. Create and Optimize Google Business Profile Page
Google Business Profile has quickly become an integral part for local search optimization. As a tool, Google Business Profile is ideal to ensure that your business meets the support, verification, and other needs that Google requires to be part of their search engine algorithm.
To ensure optimization:
1) Create and verify a Google Business Profile page.
2) Encourage reviews from customers.
3) Respond to reviews authentically and in a timely manner.
4) Ensure your hours, information, and website links are up to date.
5) Research and use Google Posts, if possible, within your account.
If you’re not sure how to use Google Business Profile – check out more information here.
3. Make sure your name, address, and contact information are accurate online
Check out your business’s NAP which stands for name, address, and phone number (with area code) of a business. Ensure that your NAP on your website is HTML text that’s easily discoverable by a search engine. Your NAP should also remain consistent across social media pages/platforms, Google My Business account, and any other places that your business information lives online.
Beyond Google Business Profile, it’s imperative to ensure that you’re making it easy for people and search engines to find you.
4. Encourage Consistent Digital Reviews
Reviews for your business on the Google platform can have a serious impact on your local SEO strategy. If possible, try to motivate your customers to complete honest reviews (without incentives or discounts – this can lead to your reviews being defined as “spam”). Authentic reviews ensure that local customers can trust the product or service that you’re selling.
Respond to reviews in a professional way (even the bad ones) to increase your visibility on platforms and appear more approachable. You can also use the reviews to improve your service or product over time.
5. Stay Consistent and Stay Up-to-Date
You may want to check each task off the list as you complete it (never to return again). However, it’s best practice to revisit this information often. We suggest reviewing your local SEO on a quarterly basis to ensure that it’s tightened up and continues to drive business for your location. Stay consistent and up-to-date for all potential and current customers’s sake.
Conclusion
And just like that, you’re ready to get started improving your business’s local SEO strategy. Have you discovered any other tips or tricks that have helped your business? What pieces of the local SEO strategy have you already worked on? Which could be better?
To read more about increase E-commerce sales, check out How to use videos to increase e-commerce sales? article.
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