Getting found by local customers is one of the trickiest parts of a local business’s online marketing campaign. It requires optimizing dozens of factors like your Google My Business listing, your website, and your reviews on popular review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. In this post, I’ll give you some tips to help you dominate local SEO:
Your goal is to be found by people who are searching for your business.
If you’re going to dominate local search, you have to be found online. It’s as simple as that. As a business owner, you’re competing with other businesses for customers. You can’t afford not to be at the top of their minds when they’re searching for what you sell or service.
When someone searches “dentist near me” on Google or Bing, how many dental practices do they see listed? How many will make them think “That’s my dentist”? You need to be at the top of their list and in front of their eyes when they are looking for a new dentist—and even better if there is an opportunity for them to find out about your practice from a friend or family member who already uses it!
What does this mean? Your goal is not just being listed on Google or Bing but being found by people who are searching for your business by name (or company name) so that you come up in the results page.
Keeping your core business information up-to-date is key.
Keeping your core business information up-to-date is key. If you haven’t updated your address in the last three years, that’s going to be a problem. The same goes for menu items and hours of operation. When customers are searching for a particular type of food—for example, gluten-free pizza—and they don’t find what they’re looking for on the first page of results, they’ll click through to the next few pages until they find something similar enough to satisfy their hunger. If you’ve been off their radar because your business has been missing from search results due to inaccurate or incomplete address information (or worse yet: no address at all), it could take longer than necessary before someone finds their way back into your dining room again!
Optimize your listings on Google and other platforms like Facebook, Bing, etc.
Optimizing your listings on Google and other platforms like Facebook, Bing, etc. is a vital part of local SEO. Make sure your business is listed with the correct address, phone number and hours of operation (if applicable). You should also add a photo of your business to help customers identify which one is yours.
Make sure you have a Google My Business account, and optimize it.
A Google My Business listing is a free online business directory that helps customers find you and learn more about your business on Google Search and Maps. By creating a complete, consistent, and accurate profile across all of the platforms where customers will be looking for you (including Google, Facebook, Yelp), you make it easier for them to connect with your brand.
Google My Business enables businesses to manage their data in one place so they can concentrate on driving more traffic through their website or retail locations. You can use Google My Business to:
- Learn how people are searching for your business online
- Get found by potential customers who are interested in what you have to offer
- Share information about your location, hours of operation and contact info
Get reviews on popular review sites & Google My Business.
After you’ve done the hard work of getting your business listed on the most popular local search sites, you should focus on getting reviews. Reviews are one of the most important factors that Google uses to determine how high your business ranks in their results. If you have a lot of reviews and they’re mostly positive, then it’s likely that Google will rank your site higher than competitors who don’t have as many or as good of reviews.
It’s not enough just to be listed on these sites—you need to make sure that people know about them so they can leave reviews for you there! That’s why it’s important for businesses like yours to actively encourage customers through email newsletters like this one (we hope!) and social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter—just remember not overdo it! If too many people are mentioning something about “googling” something else entirely unrelated from whatever topic was being discussed before…then no one will want anything else coming up anytime soon either.”
Make sure your website is mobile friendly and optimized for local search.
When it comes to local search, your website should be mobile-friendly and optimized for local results.
- Make sure your website is responsive. Responsive websites are made with code that allows them to adjust their size based on the device being used (i.e., laptop vs. phone). A responsive site will look great on all devices, whether a user is viewing it on their desktop computer or using an app on their iPhone while standing in line at Starbucks!
- Ensure that you’re using proper mobile SEO practices when building out your website—use schema markup to show local business information on Google My Business and Google Search Results Pages (SERPs), as well as other platforms like TripAdvisor and more. Schema markup provides much more detailed information about businesses than traditional HTML tags do, helping people find exactly what they’re looking for in seconds instead of having to search through dozens of irrelevant results before finding what they want.”
Build links to the pages on your site that you want to rank well.
Getting links to your site is one of the most important things you can do for local SEO. If people link to your site, Google will know that other sites think that yours is worth visiting, and therefore it should show up higher in search results.
Links are especially important because they can come from sites that are related to yours — but don’t always have to be. For example, if you’re a chiropractor and someone on a blog about windsurfing mentions how much they loved their adjustment last week, Google will assume this person is an authority on chiropractic care as well as windsurfing — making them an ideal resource for potential customers who are looking for information about both topics!
Use schema markup on your website.
Schema markup is a way to help search engines understand what your content is about. It’s easy to implement, and it can help you rank well in local search results.
Here are some basic guidelines:
- Create a schema.org markup vocabulary for each of your listings pages.
- Make sure you use the same vocabulary on all pages that have rich snippets related to that listing (e.g., multiple addresses).
Local search engine optimization requires attention to several different parts of your online marketing campaign.
Local search engine optimization (LSEO) is a complex process that requires careful planning and attention to detail. There are many elements that you will need to consider, so it’s important to have a plan in place before you begin.
Having the right tools and resources can help your company succeed in the local market. The following are some of the most common ways businesses can optimize their online presence:
- Create high-quality content: If you want people to visit your business’ website or social media pages, then you need to make sure they’re engaging with quality content on these platforms. It’s important for businesses who want success with LSEO strategies to create valuable content that consumers find interesting or helpful when searching for local businesses online.
Conclusion
We’ve only covered the tip of the iceberg here, but we hope that this gives you a good idea of how to get started with local SEO. The best thing to do is to take action! If you feel overwhelmed, it’s ok — do just one thing at a time and you’ll be on your way. Or we can help! Check out our SEO Services or call us on 1-833-277-8273
