A company's SEO strategy is important as it can allow
businesses to raise their profile and get noticed by customers, as well as
increase their sales. Local search engine optimization is often forgotten, yet
it should make up a large part of every business's SEO strategy. A local SEO
strategy is especially important for businesses that have a brick-and-mortar
store or whose target audience is a local community. Then, if you believe that
you are not paying enough attention to your company's local SEO in 2022, here
is a guide that will help you to give it a boost as we approach a new year.
1. Call in a Local SEO Agency
If you are struggling to make your local SEO strategy
sparkle and have the desired effect on your sales, you should consider calling
in a local SEO agency to help you, no matter how experienced you are in digital
marketing and search engine optimization. Even if you and your team have a lot
of knowledge of SEO between you, an agency that specializes in local SEO can be
advantageous to you as it will be aware of the latest trends and developments
and will be able to ensure that your local SEO is at the forefront of your
digital marketing campaign. For instance, at YEAH! Local,
they can help your business to reach the first page of search results, get more
leads, and implement a new local SEO strategy that works for you long-term.
This can then take the pressure away from you in terms of finding the time and
energy that is required to set up a new local SEO campaign while ensuring that
you can focus your attention on the other urgent elements of your business.
2. Perform a Local SEO Audit
It is impossible to improve your local SEO if you do not
know what is wrong with it in the first place. Without knowing the errors
within your SEO campaign, you will not be able to smooth these out in the next
one or instruct SEO agencies on how to help you. Then, before you take any
other steps, it is paramount that you perform a local SEO audit on your
company. This will involve looking at all the strategies that you are using and
checking that they work. For instance, you might need to examine your website
to ensure that backlinks and keywords are working effectively, that your
website is being indexed and ranked by Google, that your website is easy to
navigate, and that any blog on your website is full of exciting and fresh
content. You should also keep an eye on certain SEO metrics. By doing
this, you will be able to spot the weaknesses in your campaign and will be able to know which parts of your
SEO strategy need work. If you are struggling to perform this audit yourself,
most local SEO companies will be happy to carry this out for you in minutes.
3. Choose New Key Words
An integral part of any local SEO campaign is the keywords
that you are choosing to sprinkle throughout your website. It is these keywords
that Google latches onto and that allow your website to rank highly when users
search for the words in question. Then, you need to ensure that your keywords match
the terms that users are typing into Google when they are searching for a
company like yours. For instance, you should make sure that your location is a
keyword throughout your website, especially if you own a brick-and-mortar
store, as this will help customers within your community to find out about your
presence. For instance, if you run a business that sells carpets, you might
consider using keywords such as ˜carpet store New York' as this will ensure
that your website appears on the search rankings of local users. Once you have
worked out the best keywords to use, you should then ensure that these are
placed naturally throughout your website, although you should try not to
sprinkle these in too much, or you may find that this negatively impacts your ranking.
Before you choose these, though, you should conduct alot of keyword research or speak to a local SEO agency to ensure that you
have made the right choice and that these keywords will be effective.
4. Add Your Business to Google
Do you ever search for a local business and find that Google
shares information with you about this business without even having to click on
the company's webpage? These businesses have signed up for Google My Business,
which allows you to enter your contact details and address into an online
directory of local companies. This is an essential step that you need to take
if you are a local business, as this will allow you to update and change your
company's details. When you do this, your business will come up on Google at
the very top of the page when customers who are in your local area search for
your company's name or similar businesses. This can be incredibly helpful to
you as it can allow customers to quickly find your business and get directions
to it without giving up because they cannot find where your business is. It
will also enable them to find out the opening hours of your company so that
they do not turn up only to find that your business is closed. This will mean
that there is a clearer line of communication between you and your customers
and that they never end up going elsewhere for products that they could
purchase from you.
When you are editing your Google My Business account,
though, you should also take a look at your Google Maps marketing. When your
potential customers are out and about, they may look at local businesses like
yours on the Google Maps app. Then, you should make sure that you add your business to Google Maps so that you are consistently appearing when
people search the Maps app for your type of company.
5. Get Reviews
Although you might think that your reviews have a lot more
to do with public relations than they do SEO, this is not the case. Google
takes your ratings and reviews into account when deciding how to rank search
results. This means that the more positive reviews that you get on search
engines and beyond, the higher up your company will appear on search rankings.
Then, you should try and collect a constant stream of reviews from customers.
It can be difficult and even embarrassing to try and glean reviews from
customers. Therefore, you should try to encourage customers to do this by
offering them an incentive, such as a discount on their next purchase or a free
gift. You might also consider putting them into a prize draw if they leave a
review either on Google or your website. By getting reviews and by handling any negativity within these reviews well, you will be ensuring that you can
maintain your place at the top of local search engine rankings for a long time
to come.
6. Focus on Your Blog
Your company's blog is often the place where you inject most of your location-based keywords. Although you might struggle with content marketing if you are not a writer, developing and creating regular content for your blog can keep your ranking high by ensuring that your website appears to be active and related to your location. Then, you should create unique and interesting content within which you can drop your keywords and backlinks to other local businesses or informational sources naturally. If you find it difficult to constantly think of new content, you should consider hiring an SEO and content management service that will be able to ensure that your blog never flounders and that posts regularly appear on your blog. This can also entice more people to your website who might not usually be customers as they may come to your website to read your blogs and stay to find out what products you offer.
Instead of believing that there is nothing you can do to improve your local search engine optimization strategy or that it must remain the same, there are a huge number of steps that you can take to make sure that your local SEO benefits your business. From ensuring that your reviews are positive and that you have set up a great Google My Business account, to hiring a local SEO agency that specializes in SEO audits and location-based keywords, there is an almost endless array of options that can ensure your SEO thrives again and that you are found by local customers before too long. Whether your business is online or based in a brick-or-mortar store, there are always benefits, including increased sales, customer loyalty, and awareness of your company, to sorting out your search engine optimization on a local scale.
