Following on from my last blog, an introduction to local SEO and as promised here are some local SEO tips on to get your business performing better in local search results.
1. Google+ local and Google placeThis one is a biggie and if you haven’t already created your Google+ Local page and claimed your Google place listing I highly suggest you do this first and foremost.
Some things to remember when you are setting up your page:
- Remember to fill out ALL of the information.
- Upload relevant images
- Link back to your website
- Include your business contact details
- Verify your business address
Understanding what pages you currently have and what more you need if anything can be confusing, Google definitely hasn’t made it easy. This article on Search Engine Watch explains more about the differences and similarities in Google places and Google+ local.
2. On site
There are a number of things that you can do on your site to help your local SEO efforts. The obvious one is to make sure that you include the location you are targeting in page titles, descriptions and in the page copy.
What is less obvious is that, it is important make sure that the business name, address and phone number (NAP) are visible on every page. Listing a phone number with a local area code is the best option.
3. Citations
A citation is essentially your name, address and phone number (NAP) but on a site other than your own. Citations work in a similar way to links to establish the authority of your local business.
Here are some examples of Media Matters citations:
Business listing on Opportunity Peterborough
Yell Listing
It is important that the citations that you create are the same as how your NAP is listed on your website. So for example if you are a limited company, will you use ltd. or limited? Pick a format and stick to it.
In the same way that low quality links can, low quality citation listings can do more harm than good even though citations do not necessarily have to link back to your site.
4. Reviews
Reviews are important to both search engines and your potential customers.
They are important to search engines because they are an indication of popularity and authority and they are obviously important to your potential customers because reviews are a form of social proof.
So, how can you get reviews? It is quite simple really… ask for them!
If you have an email database, email your customers and clients and ask them to leave a review. You could even build it in to a regular process so for example, if you are a hair salon, you could send a follow up email after a clients appointment, thanking them for their business and at the same time asking them to leave a review.
You could post the review link on your social networks or include the review URL on your customer receipts.
5. Links & Social
Just like in organic SEO, links play an important role in local SEO.
The number of links pointing to a site is still an indicator to search engines of the popularity and authority of that site, however the quality of those links is more important than the quantity.
The best way to get links back to your site its by creating unique quality content that people naturally want to link to and share on social platforms. This keeps you safe from any threat of a Google penalty that comes with artificially building links back to your site, just for the sake of having another link.
If you are stuck for ideas on what content you could create you should take a look at Dawn’s latest blog on how to find valuable and relevant content marketing ideas.
