5 Important Tasks For Local SEO

First off, it is vital for you to understand why local SEO is so important for your business’s online visibility. According to a 2014 Google survey, 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.  50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same.   People are searching for business’s addresses, phone numbers, and hours.  This data was taken from Google’s “Understanding Consumers’ Local Search Behavior”, which contains more great data to help you understand consumer behaviors for your local business.

5 Ways Local SEO Can Help Increase Your Visibility

1. Optimize Your Website

   It is super important to start with a strong foundation for your search engine marketing campaign.  By optimizing the message, content, and code of your website, you will be able to convey your targeted keyword phrases more clearly to Google and your customers.

2. Setup Your Google Account Properly

   This is an important step to plan from the beginning.  You will need to make sure you have all your Google services under one primary account.  We use Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Google My Business (for each location), and Google AdWords (if applicable).  It is especially important for multiple Google My Business location pages.

3. Consistent Citations and NAPs

   NAP is short for Name, Address, Phone number.  From the beginning of your campaign, you need to decide on your official NAPs.  You will also need an official email at your domain name (IE: info@domainname.com).  A consistent message will also need to be developed along with branding.  This message must be consistent because it will be used with every reference of your business on the internet, including your social media accounts, directory listings, review sites, etc…

4. Local References

   Typically, local businesses are affiliated with other local businesses or associations.  Local news and affiliations are important to include in your website blog, social media interactions, and inbound links.  When you are dealing with multiple locations, this can get pretty tricky, but applies to each location individually.  There is also specific folder structures needed for local referencing in your URLs, which is very important.

5. Reviews and Reputation

   Reviews are very important.  Not only do they help your potential customer make a decision based on others’ experiences with your company, it help Google determine your reputation within the online community.   Websites like Yelp and Google My Business (local listing in Google, used to be Google+ Pages) are where many go to leave reviews.  Make sure you solicit reviews from your happy customers.

It is very important to follow these suggestions from the beginning.  Many people aren’t aware of the importance of local SEO for their business, but it has to happen if you want search engine visibility.  We help businesses every day rebuild their online presence and help keep it pristine and visible.  With SEO changing constantly, all the above tasks must be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.  This is a part of our Monthly SEO/SEM Management services at Webtyde Internet Marketing.

Google wants to deliver great search results to their users, so let’s help them do that by incorporating local SEO and continuing to build a strong online reputation.