16 Local SEO Marketing Tips for Better Local Rankings
If you are thinking about SEO for your website and you are a small business then this Local SEO Marketing Checklist is for you. Each item in the checklist is crucial to your online success both in terms of being found in the Search Engines and in providing your visitors and customers what they expect on your website.
Before we dive in, let’s make sure we are on the same page and understand the basics of Local SEO marketing first.
What is Local SEO Marketing?
Local SEO Marketing is the art of optimizing your website and online presence for better visibility within local search results in your specific geographic location(s). It is used by businesses wanting to achieve local exposure and build their brand in their local market. The goal is to reach people who are searching Google for a local result “near me”.
This is a very lucrative initiative for local businesses – did you know that this type of search (with local intent) accounts for nearly half of Google searches?
“Local intent is the desire to find products, services, or information in the local area. This type of search is usually identified by the addition of ‘near me’ to the keyword, or the addition of a geographical location, such as the town or city of the searcher.” (BrightLocal.com)
How Local SEO Marketing Works
From a big picture perspective, local SEO works by:
- Optimizing your own website for the types of keywords people are searching for
- Establishing your local authority and trustworthiness through reviews
- Managing your Google Business Profile
- Building and monitoring third party business listings (called Citations) and backlinks
You need to make sure your company’s online presence represents its interaction and roots in your local community. Essentially, successful local SEO strategies ensure that no matter where a potential finds you online (your website, Google Local Pack, social media profile, customer review, etc.) they gain an accurate picture of your offerings and selling proposition.
Benefits of Local SEO Marketing
Admittedly the most important benefit of local SEO marketing that comes to most of our minds is better rankings which lead to more website traffic. But the list of local SEO marketing benefits is much more impressive than this!
By implementing a local SEO marketing strategy you stand to gain:
- More relevant website traffic
- Better conversion rates
- More customer reviews
- Increased brand awareness
- Stronger customer trust
- Improved social signals
- Better website experience
- Reduced advertising costs (if you are running Google Ads)
- Continued business growth
- Longer lasting rankings
- More educated customers
- Better support for all other marketing initiatives
- Stronger community connections and relationships
1. Claim, manage and populate your Google Business Profile listing.
Your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business and Google Plus) is one of the most critical components of a strong local SEO marketing strategy.
This free platform is available to all local businesses and is quite pivotal to website rankings, traffic, and customer reviews. Plus, people searching for your brand often rely on the information that your Google Business Listing presents in search results (such as business hours, special hours).
2. Write content to support all of your services and unique selling proposition.
Are there words on your website for Search Engines and visitors to read?
With Search Engines the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is not true. Search Engines needs words to understand what your website is about and to know when to direct searchers to your website and to what page(s) will be most appropriate.
Have you fallen victim to the “All brains, no beauty” scenario with impressive graphics but no words?
If you find your website missing you will need to implement a plan to write and add engaging content that describes all of your offerings and creates a desire for visitors to want to do business with you.
Here are a few places to start with Local SEO content:
- Talk about all of your products and services – make sure you have a page for each unique product or service
- Tell what addresses and cities your business is located in or what cities it services
- Showcase your employees and accomplishments
- Convincingly explain why visitors should choose you rather than your competitor(s)
- Add image alt tags to pictures to help Search Engines better understand
Adding useful content like this is a major component of “SEO for local businesses” that you hear about. The more content you provide the more information search engines can read and add merit to your business for being the authority on your products or services in your area. This in turn means Google will be more inclined to show your website to its visitors, more often.
3. Give your visitors exactly what they want and expect.
Does your website have all the critical information visitors need?
There are several key components to any website that help your visitors learn about you and also help the Search Engines understand who you are:
- Phone Number. This needs to be in the top right corner of each page so a visitor can call without thinking twice.
- Address. This should be in the footer across all pages of the website to help the Search Engines better understand your location.
- Consistent and clear navigation. This helps visitors and Search Engines crawl your website, understand its structure and reach the pages needed.
- Call to Action. Placedon each page to help your visitors make smarter decisions and to motivate them to do something after looking at your page, whether it is downloading a form, sending an email or printing a coupon.
- About Us Page. Tells your visitors more about your company and what makes your different.
- Contact Us Page. A central page to put all your contact information including phone number, address, hours of business, driving directions, email address and a quick contact form.
- Reviews, Badges and Awards. Visitors need to see that you are trustworthy and will deliver on what you promise. Customer testimonials, badges of your industry involvement (BBB, local Chamber of Commerce, etc) plus announcements of recent recognition can help instill trust.
- Privacy/ Legal Page.
Take a couple minutes to look through your website for these features. Many of these items are ‘quick fixes’ for giving your local business listings a boost.
4. Get rid of any plagiarized or duplicate content.
All of your website content needs to be different on each page and unique from any other website including Wikipedia. Search Engines will give credit to the first website page it discovers with new content. If you copy this content (even phrases or short sentences) the Search Engines will not give you credit.
To check if your website content is unique you can use the Copyscape tool and enter in several URLs.
- If you find duplicated content across several pages on your website it’s time to rewrite your content so that it reads 100% unique.
- If you find duplicated content on other websites that you originally wrote then contact the website owner to remove the content.
- If you find your own website has copied content that belongs to other websites it is time to rewrite as well.
5. Write exciting, well-optimized Meta Titles and Descriptions.
Do you have unique Title Tags and Meta Descriptions on all your pages?
Titles and descriptions can be added into the backend code of each website page to give the Search Engines a general idea of what the page is about. Most of the time these titles and descriptions are shown in actual Search Results. When written properly your title and description can improve the chance of a searcher clicking on your website!
Google and other Search Engines are pretty savvy about understanding what your page is about regardless of the Title Tags and Descriptions. Today’s best practice is to write your Titles and Descriptions to capture a searcher’s attention and have them click on your result (even if you aren’t in the #1 position).
Check your title tags and meta descriptions
In Google search type “Site:yourwebsite.com” to see several Titles and Descriptions of your top website pages. Do they look enticing? Are they repetitive? Do they represent what is on each page?
Tips for writing good title tags for local SEO
Each title and description should include as many of the following:
-
- Your brand name
- Targeted keyword (if the page is about Golden Retrievers then “Golden Retrievers” needs to be in the title)
- Phone number in at least the description
- Area of service
- Call to action – “free evaluation”, “call today”, “first time buyer disount” etc.
Furthermore each and every title or description needs to be unique.
6. Create SEO Friendly URLs.
An “SEO friendly” URL is easy for visitors to read and helps Search Engines understand the page and structure of your website. When shown in Search Results, a friendly URL can also improve Click-Through-Rates.
Non-friendly: www.website.com/?p=189
Friendly: www.website.com/toronto-plumbing-services
Do your websites URLs have characters and numbers? If you need to “rename” your URLs we highly suggest having your website developer or an SEO company help implement proper page redirects so that the Search Engines know that “Unfriendly URL 1” is now “Friendly URL 1” and so you don’t end up with two duplicate pages.
7. Do as much page speed optimization as possible for quick load times.
Are you losing website visitors because your website is just too slow?
People are impatient.
If your website takes more than a couple seconds to load your visitors will likely hit the back button. Google recognizes this and has taken a stance against slow websites: if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load your rankings are likely taking a hit.
There are several page speed test tools you can use to see how fast your website is:
If you are having page speed issues it is best to contact your website developer or hire an SEO expert to help with page speed optimization.
8. Create a great mobile browsing experience.
How does your website work on mobile devices?
If you follow current trends, more than half of your visitors are using their phone to browse your website.
Did you know that Google now uses a mobile first indexing method? This means that Google predominantly views the mobile version of your website content in order to index and rank your website.
As a result, it’s more important than ever that your website needs to load, display and function properly for all of these devices. You especially need to consider the small screen size and “finger” navigation involved with using a mobile phone.
Consider all the different ways people browse the internet to find information about your business:
- The desktop searcher checking your store hours at the office during lunch.
- The tablet searcher doing comparison shopping from their couch at home in the evening.,
- The mobile searcher doing an on-the-go lookup for your store directions.
How to check if a website is mobile optimized
You can always use your own mobile phone to look at your website. Do a simple search for your business name, click through the results to your website and try to navigate a few pages on your website.
We also recommend the PageSpeed Insights by Google Developers that is designed to help you check how fast your website pages are on all devices. Simply type in your URL and see your score for mobile and desktop devices. You can also see how your website will look on a mobile device.
Without mobile optimization your visitors can’t see what you are offering and will likely leave the site frustrated. Furthermore, Google and other Search Engines recognize this frustration and demote non-mobile friendly websites from Search Results pages.
9. Ensure cross browser compatibility.
Does your website work across all internet browsers?
Check how your website functions on Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer:
- Do all images display properly?
- Does the search tool work?
- Does the formatting look the same?
- Does the page size properly?
You can check the current breakdown of browser usage here. Currently, Chrome claims about 80% of browser usage.
10. Create and maintain consistent SEO Citations.
Are you recognized on 3rd Party Local Business Listings?
Today the Search Engines use third party directories such as Yelp, Yellowpages, Facebook, Superpages, Angieslist, Manta, as well as industry and location specific directories to gather information about your company, phone number and location.
These listings help support your main website and can also drive traffic to your website.
To see what type of Citations you have type any combination of the following items into Google search:
- Name or brand
- Current or past address(es)
- Current or past phone number(s)
You can also do a similar search for your competitors to see where they have established Citations and Business listings that you don’t. Make sure that you are well represented!
An important SEO factor is consistent NAP (name, address, place) across reputable, local, and industry specific citation websites. Claiming listings is usually free and takes just 5 minutes to enter your information and a short description.
11. Make customer reviews a top priority.
What do your customers have to say about you?
Not only do online reviews on Google, Facebook, and Yelp impact your local SEO rankings but they also heavily influence whether a searcher decides to do business with you.
Think about it – what is the point of pursuing Local SEO and getting good rankings if people searching are also bombarded with negative reviews?
Reviews are beneficial in influencing a purchaser’s decision and can provide you with critical feedback for improvement.
12. Pursue a Local SEO Link Building Strategy.
A backlink (inbound link) is an incoming link from another website to your website.
Backlinks play an important role in establishing your trustworthiness and popularity and sending Search Engines strong ranking signals.
Within local SEO you want to obtain localized back links from other businesses and organizations within your geographic area. This will often require localized content, getting involved in local events within the community, and pursuing guest posting opportunities.
13. Get social on the platforms that matter to your industry.
It’s generally understood that although social media does not directly contribute to local SEO rankings, the two have a very close connection.
Essentially, social media can help increase your local brand exposure, enhance your brand reputation, establish connections with your existing and new customers, assist with content distribution, and more.
If you are working hard at local SEO rankings you should also consider what can be done within your social media profiles to boost your efforts too.
14. Perform an SEO Technical Audit.
If you’ve tried most Local SEO tips listed online and still aren’t able to get the rankings and traffic you’re after it could be that there are some hidden technical background issues on your website preventing better performance.
An SEO Audit reviews several less obvious ranking factors, such as site structure, hosting, server configuration, page performance, keyword integration, and more.
Typically completed by a professional SEO Agency, this level of analysis often presents several opportunities for improvement that helps local websites gain the advantage in their markets.
15. Add local business schema to website.
Schema markup on the backend of your website can be used to help the Search Engines better understand your organization and location and improve your chances of showing up in Google’s local three-pack.
Check out Google Search Central’s Local Business Structured Data for more information on how to add structure data, examples and guidelines of business schema for local companies, and structured data type definitions.
16. Track your results and monitor progress.
As you go after strong local rankings with a local SEO strategy it is important to set goals and use your goals to guide everything your do, monitor, and track.
You can be using Google Analytics and Google Search Console to measure your website performance and pull
Important local SEO marketing metrics might include:
- Average page load time
- Number of backlinks
- Bounce rate
- Conversion rate
- Website traffic
- Local search ranking distribution
What’s the next step?
What is your website missing? Follow the advice in this checklist and gather the group of people required to make the needed changes to your website. By using our method to evaluate your website from a high level perspective will help you move forward.
We know it can be a lot of information to take in, that’s why we’re here to help. To discuss your website with one of our friendly staff please call 1-888-262-6687.
