10 LOCAL SEO TIPS

The whole of Digital marketing has become an extensively used marketing technique nowadays since the usage of digital contents is surging. In fact, it has become extremely essential to outperform competitors and thrive in the industry and has become so common that even small businesses are implementing digital marketing strategies. Search engine optimization(SEO) is one of the vital techniques in the digital marketing stack because, in the current era where people search in google to find everything from simple information to services and products, it's important to have a decent search engine rank. However, obtaining excellent results is not an easy job as we think. It requires perfect optimization according to the industry, keywords, and other elements.

There are various ways of effectively doing SEO and from a small business's point of view, local SEO is critical in order to get more visibility in local search results and stand shoulder to shoulder with their local competitors. Gaining local popularity can also potentially pave the way
to national or global recognition over time. Local SEO can be done by anyone but to get a compelling result, it should be done in the proper way. That's why many businesses entrust it with digital marketing agencies. Even if someone goes the whole nine yards they won't get the coveted result because it's about how the techniques are effectively used and not the number of techniques used.

There are ways by which you could carve the best result out of local SEO. Let's dive into that.

1. Keep your Google My Business optimized.
Boasting a fully optimized Google My Business (GMB) account can lend a big hand to not just local SEO but the whole SEO. The search engine optimization needs of a business can be easily met if the business has a GMB account that is verified by google. Moreover, it is of utmost importance to add every bit of detail in the profile information section, and having some photos can also help your business attract more local customers. In a nutshell, having a well-optimized GMB account can help you gain the trust of Google and the customers and help you better rank in local searches.

2. Keep your internal linking structure perfect.
Having well-structured internal links can help search engines understand your website thoroughly and this can help to boost your SEO rank. Perfect internal linking can put your website pages in a particular order by which your website gets a hierarchy. This is an underrated technique which furnishes search engines with the complete knowledge of your website structure, thus improving your search engine optimization. Now, from a website user's perspective, providing them with internal links makes navigation a lot easier. Simply put, it enables a user to conveniently move from one page to another, potentially enhancing the sessions which ultimately make SEO impactful.

3. Optimize URL, title tags, headers, and meta descriptions.
Optimizing the URL, title tags, headers, and meta descriptions are as important as contents. Every content you upload on the website should have popular keywords in the URL, title tags, headers, and meta descriptions. Among the aforementioned elements, meta descriptions are not a direct ranking element unlike others but if it's catchy enough, it can attract and encourage the searchers to click. While including keywords in titles, URLs, etc ensure they are the right keywords that are popular in the local searches.

4. Add location pages to your website.
Businesses might have multiple locations. Integrating location page of all your business into your website can help search engines to crawl and display the apt store location according to the location of the searcher. For instance, when a person searches for a store, the store that is near to his location will pop up first in the search engine result page. Adding location pages to the website in one of the underrated techniques in SEO.

5. Ensure your website is fast and mobile-friendly.
The rise in technological advancement has resulted in a surge in smartphone usage. Thus the traffic to websites from mobile devices has also increased as a result. According to Statista - A German company that provides statistical data, approximately 3.2 billion populace use a smartphone, and more than 50% of traffic and searches came from mobile devices as of 2019. It is also predicted that the number of smartphone users will ascend to almost 7.3 billion by 2023. Therefore, making your website responsive is extremely vital to attain your coveted online presence.

Site speed and page speed are equally important as the responsiveness of the website from the SEO point of view. Slower websites won't be fully crawled by the search engines which in turn affect the indexation and on top of that users will bounce out from the site if it won't get loaded within at least 3-5 seconds. The bottom line is, this will adversely affect your SEO results since the bounce rate increases, and sessions decreases.

6. Create local content.
The saying "Content is king" is obviously true. As a matter of fact, content plays an important role in bringing more traffic to your website and enhancing the session. Engaging content will encourage the users to spend more time on your website and it can potentially lead to increasing the conversion rate. As far as the local SEO is concerned it's always better to make your content attractive to the local audience. Most importantly, you should research and understand their pain points and write the content accordingly. Local content can be any content that becomes helpful for the local audience like news, how-to blogs, tips, or any trending topic in your region. These contents can be posted in not only your website but also other blog sites and can be backlinked to your website. This way, you will receive more local traffic.

7. Bolster your social media presence.
Just like the surge in the usage of mobile phones, the number of users in social media has had a gargantuan hike. Thus it is an ideal place to build a brand image and make people talk about your business which will enhance your online presence. Moreover, it is said that search engine crawlers can crawl and display social media pages if it's has a minimum popularity. Likewise, you can also direct the users to your website if you can place links in the posts you upload which targets the local audience. Therefore, social media management should be included in your SEO strategy.

8. Ensure the NAP is correct and consistent
NAP refers to the name, address, and phone number. It's considered one of the top five ranking factors according to Moz Local SEO Ranking Report. NAP should have every bit of detail of your company and most importantly the information given should be accurate and should be consistent (even the abbreviations, numbers, etc shouldn't change) in every listing. Even minor spelling mistakes can become an issue here. If you have changed your address to a new address, it is essential to update it accordingly or else your customers will be on a wild goose chase. This will enable Google to display your business when a local customer randomly searches for a company that provides similar services to your business.

9. Encourage reviews from customers
Reviews are another powerful local ranking factor. Getting positive reviews in Google can uplift your Google rating and can show your business on the top of the listing if the rating is high. This can build trust with the prospects and they will look forward to connecting with your business. To get reviews, you could simply send emails to your happy customers requesting them to post a review. If the customer is not versed in posting reviews, you could educate them through the mail, and placing a link to the review section would also be a good idea.

10. Creating local links to your website
As we know interlinking is a powerful tactic used in SEO. Similarly, backlinking can help you get more local traffic. Backlinking is simply the process of linking phrases or words to your website with the goal to attain more traffic. To gain local traffic, choose a local public website where you can share content and post relevant and interesting content comprising backlinks. Another way is to provide the latest and newsworthy information to a media agency who will publish it on their website and E-journals, linking your business which ultimately bring you more local traffic and helps your local SEO become successful.

Wrapping Up
Local SEO is a vital tactic in SEO. If it's done in the perfect way, it will definitely bring more new customers. Adhering to the aforementioned tips can surely help you improve your local SEO and get that coveted online presence. Break a leg!