Inside Local SEO Strategies and how any Company can Surpass its Competition
Beat out the competition by focusing on growing online visibility among local consumers, instead of seeking more general non-geographic based visitors. In the mobile search revolution, one of the more dramatic areas where growth has been happening is in local search. Search engine optimization, with a focus on local search engine ranking results, has the opportunity to direct local consumers to content that is relevant and high quality. Here’s how.
Mobile users are a captive audience that if you’re not already tapping into, you should be. Mobile users and mobile search have surpassed desktop use and searches. Approximately 30 percent of all mobile searches related to location, including those performed in Google Maps. To ensure that your website is getting the most visibility it can with location-based and location-related searches, it involves first filling out all citations and business information in any local listings and directories. Be consistent across all listings, including Google Maps, where your business name, contact information, and website link should be placed.
After filling out local business directories and listings, ensure you claim your Google My Business Page and Bing Places for Business. These are two 100% necessary directories, required for local SEO success. This way, anyone who puts in a search on mobile or desktop platforms in your location using the relevant keywords, they should see your site name come up in the results.
The next component to local SEO strategies involves evaluating and improving online ratings and reviews. Even leaving local SEO marketing out of it, this is just good business. If someone has left a negative review of a product, service, or your business in general, be responsive. Seek ways to ameliorate the situation, resolve the dispute, and/or address the comment. Even if you cannot get a negative review pulled, by going the extra mile to ensure the customer is heard, this has the potential to have positive consequences down the line.
Above all else, relevant local content and ranking with location-based long-tail keywords are the central reasons why some companies surpass others in their local region. Title, meta description tags, and site body content should all be embedded with locations. For example, let’s say you are a local marketing firm in Toronto. You would want the title, Meta data, and body of a page include keywords such as ‘marketing firm Toronto’, ‘marketing Toronto’, and ‘marketing services Toronto’, among other possible options. The insertion of location into keywords can help Google index your page according to location. Also, inserting the geographic area as close as you can to the beginning of a tag, title, or paragraph also helps to communicate to search engines the importance of it as a keyword or term.
The deeper we delve into local SEO strategies, the more likely the question is to be asked, “If I am marketing my business to different locations, how do I create effective local SEO strategies?” If the goal is to service different regions, a website designer must create what we call ‘location pages’ which uses location-specific keywords unique to each page. These pages can then be used as landing pages for each geographic region. For example, a Canadian marketing company targeting locations across eastern Canada may include individual pages for ‘marketing firm Toronto’, ‘marketing firm Ottawa’, ‘marketing firm Montreal’, and ‘marketing firm Halifax’.
For small businesses marketing to a specific geographic area, localized search engine optimization oftentimes is what will make the most impact and will help to surpass competitors in the local marketplace. Call us if you need help with your website Local SEO Strategies
