Creating a local SEO strategy is essential for businesses that want to increase their visibility in their local area. To help you get started, we've created a comprehensive guide that includes local SEO tips and tools. The first step is to take stock of your services and products. This will help you determine which keywords and phrases you should target in your local SEO efforts.
Once you have identified the keywords, you can optimize your Google My Business listing and submit key business information to directory listings. Local search and mobile search go hand in hand, so it's important to make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices. You can use a desktop program like Screaming Frog to track links, images, CSS, scripts and applications on your website from an SEO perspective. This will help you identify any 404 errors or missing meta descriptions or H1 tags. As you build your blog's audience, you'll also want to collect inbound links. This will help boost your local SEO rankings and increase visibility for your business in your area.
You can also include an interactive map widget on your website to further improve the local SEO appeal of your website. A map of local service providers or a calendar of events across the city could add value to your website and contain very relevant local signs on the page. Although these sites don't always have a local focus, local search engines may consider them sources of citations. The map package (also known as the local package) is a Google SERP feature that shows the main lists of local businesses and a map. It's also important to make sure your website works well on a smartphone, as this will help with local SEO rankings. Once you've optimized your website for local SEO, you should be in a better position to improve your rankings and increase local organic traffic. Researching local keywords is another key step in improving your local SEO rankings.
This will help you determine which phrases your local customers are looking for when they search online. You should also refer to your location in key parts of your site, and use Schema's geomarkup to help search engines determine the location of your business. Inbound links are attractive opportunities to boost your local SEO: every inbound link indicates to Google that you are a legitimate company, and inbound links can also increase the authority of your domain. By following these steps, companies can improve their organic traffic from searches performed by customers in nearby areas. Local content, such as news and events, can also help search engines contextualize the niche of your website with their local service.
