In a world where nearly everyone walks around with a smartphone in their hand or pocket, it’s essential for businesses with a physical location to spend time orienting their digital marketing strategy toward local search engine optimization (SEO). Local SEO practices allow businesses to optimize their online presence in a way that increases local traffic to build visibility and brand awareness.
Think about it. How many times have you utilized your phone’s GPS function to search for something like “food near me.” That process uses local SEO.
If local business is important to your success, then it’s time to explore the importance of local search and review some tips for optimizing your website for local SEO. This post covers everything from keyword research to citation building and more so you can help your business rank higher in local search results.
Optimize Your Website for Local Search in 2023
The first step in a good local SEO strategy is to optimize your business’ website. From Google’s business listings to keywords and backlinks, let’s take a look at the top five ways to make sure that your website is ready to rule the local search results for your market.
1. Claim and Verify Your Google Business Profile Listing
The first step of any good local SEO strategy is claiming your Google Business Profile page. While it may seem redundant if you already have a comprehensive website, don’t be fooled into thinking this step isn’t necessary. Filling out the information for Google Business Profile has a direct effect on your overall local SEO results. In addition, make sure that you are filling out all the information completely and optimizing your listing with relevant keywords.
2. Include Location Keywords in Your Website Content
The trick to local SEO is actually simple once you think about it. Make your content local — literally. This means adding location-based keywords to the content on your website. By doing this, you ensure that both search engines and users pick up on the physical location of your business as well as the communities it serves. This, in turn, helps boost search results when users specify a location in their queries, such as “Italian restaurants in Albany, NY.”
3. Build Local Backlinks
Backlinks are important for all SEO, but when it comes to boosting your local search rankings, backlinks need to stay local too. In practice, this means reaching out to other businesses and finding opportunities to work with them to cross-promote each other or joining forces for promotions. Think “buy here, get a discount there” kind of promotion. You can also promote yourself to local tourism and government sites that feature local businesses as well as make sure your name and website are included in local online directories.
4. Encourage Customer Reviews
Another powerful local SEO strategy is also connected to general digital marketing best practices — reviews. User-generated content (UGC), such as reviews and customer feedback, can provide a big push for businesses that engage in digital marketing strategies. However, local businesses need these reviews to draw in smartphone-savvy customers. According to BrightLocal, 98% of these consumers read online reviews before patronizing local businesses.
Therefore, as part of your local SEO strategy, make sure that you encourage customers to leave a review to let other consumers know about their experience. This may include offering incentives, such as coupons, to those who post online reviews. Additionally, be sure to make it easy to leave reviews and highlight the great reviews you get.
5. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
Last, but certainly not least, every good local SEO strategy needs to be based on a mobile experience. The very nature of local search demands it since most people are performing local searches while they are out of their homes and on their mobile devices. Web design and optimization for the mobile version of your website needs to be a priority for local businesses and must include conscious mobile web development that does more than project your homepage onto a smartphone screen. Instead, it must provide the user with a mobile-friendly, easy-to-use platform.
Stay Ahead of the Competition with These Local SEO Strategies
In addition to the specific tips we have already outlined for optimizing your website for SEO, you can employ additional local search strategies to enhance your results. This includes both general monitoring as well as using an overall SEO strategy that aligns with your local goals. Let’s take a look at the possibilities.
How to Monitor Your Local Search Rankings
A good SEO strategy, no matter if it’s local or general, cannot be a one-and-done affair. Search engines are constantly changing, and the websites they list must change along with them. Therefore, you need to monitor how your business performs in local search results and adjust elements of your local SEO strategy to achieve improved results.
For most professionals, this means monitoring analytics and tracking whether your local rankings decrease or even fluctuate. This is complex work, which is why businesses often choose to outsource these tasks to professional digital marketing firms. At the very least, you can help monitor your local search results with routine checks of your Google Business Profile page. Because anyone can suggest making edits to your page, information can go awry without vigilance. In all cases, 100% accuracy should be the goal.
The Importance of Consistency in Your Local Listings
Closely related to the 100% accuracy standard with Google Business Profile, consistent messaging and information in your local listings is critical for SEO success. The backbone of this is your “NAP,” or name, address, and phone number. This information must be consistent across all platforms, which means monitoring any backlinks or directory postings with your business information and updating them when necessary. In addition, it’s also best practice to ensure that other major changes, such as operating hours, remain updated on these sites as well.
How to Stay Up to Date with Local SEO Best Practices
Local SEO strategy, like any aspect of digital marketing, is constantly changing alongside search engines and the users who drive them. Finding reliable sources, whether they are online articles or contacts within the digital marketing industry, is a critical element of building and maintaining your local SEO. Take steps to stay up to date by subscribing to digital marketing and local search newsletters and following reliable digital platforms on social media.
The Role of Local Content in Your SEO Strategy
As a local business with a physical location, it’s important to understand the value and return on investment that you can gain through a solid local SEO strategy. Minimally, this should include claiming and monitoring your Google Business Profile page as well as optimizing your website and digital experience while keeping local SEO in mind. By doing so, you ensure that users in your area can find your business when they conduct local searches, increasing your foot traffic and solidifying your role as an important business in your community.
Get Local SEO Solutions with Elevation Ten Thousand
Need help conceptualizing a local SEO strategy? Unsure of how to optimize your website for the mobile user? At Elevation Ten Thousand, we specialize in helping local businesses in the Albany, NY, area and beyond get ahead of the curve on local search rankings in an organic, personalized way. Contact us today to start learning more about our approach to local SEO.
