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What Is Local SEO? Local Search Marketing Is Anything You Do on the Web to Promote a Physical Business That Makes Face-To-Face Contact with Its Customers

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What Is Local SEO? Local Search Marketing Is Anything You Do on the Web to Promote a Physical Business That Makes Face-To-Face Contact with Its Customers What is Local SEO? Local search marketing is anything you do on the web to promote a physical business that makes face-to-face contact with its customers. Looks like no one goes past the second page of search results… � Source: https://seo-hacker.com/lesson-28-important-page-serps/ Source: https://moz.com/learn/seo/what-is-local-search-marketing-seo Guideline compliance The way you conceptualise and market your type of local business will be based on the Guidelines for Representing Your Business On Google. • Your Google My Business listing is the most important listing you build for your company; failure to comply with Google’s guidelines can result in ranking failures and even listing takedowns. • To play it smart, you must be able to see your business the way Google does and follow the appropriate guidelines. Search: Guidelines for Representing Your Business On Google Google My Business – The big Kahuna! • Claim your listing if you haven’t! go to google.com/business • Ensure all your contact information, business descriptions and address/map location is always up to date. • Add your primary category and sub-categories. • Setup a “Shortname”. • Add your logo and business photos -location, shop fitout, services & team. • Add videos and virtual tours. Google My Business – Once you are live • Gain insights into how people are finding you including what type of keywords they have used. • See the number of people finding you on google search results vs google maps. • See common actions that took place – users have: visited to your website, requested directions or called you. • Reply to reviews as soon as possible. • Utilise the Posts tool to promote offers, updates, events and products. Site authority Your website can accrue some authority simply by virtue of its age, but you can actively pursue authority by earning links and mentions of your business from quality, relevant sources. • Beware of links from low-quality sources or schemes that attempt to inflate link count with no concern for relevance. • Industry surveys indicate that the quality and authority of the links you earn have a major impact on your local search rankings. • You can check your domain authority by going https://analytics.moz.com/pro/link- explorer/ Site quality If your website loads quickly, has a sensible structure, renders properly on all devices, features high-quality content, is free of malware or other malicious elements, and is easy for people to use, you’re meeting basic quality goals. No amount of marketing can make up for poor UX (user experience) on your website. Site quality Basic quality checklist. 1. Ensure your website is mobile optimised and as fast as possible. Search: Google Mobile-Friendly Test Search: Google Page Speed Insights 2. Ensure your website runs an SSL certificate. Eg. https://www.business.com 3. Have a sitemap.xml file. 4. Include a Privacy Policy. 5. Setup Google Search Console to get alerts on when your website is having issues. 6. Setup Google Analytics to track your user traffic and actions. Site optimisation The search engine optimisation (SEO) of your website aims to increase your organic (non-paid) search engine visibility via both technical and creative means. You must also understand that local SEO consists of everything traditional SEO does, plus geography. In other words, local business websites don’t just focus on keywords about products, services, and topics; they also highly feature terms relevant to the cities in which the business serves. Keyword discovery Keyword research is the process of finding and analysing actual search terms that people enter into search engines. The insight you can get into these actual search terms can help inform content strategy, as well as your larger marketing strategy. Keyword example: “townsville denist” Your Google My Business page is also a great way to find out what types of keywords have been used to find your website. Look into the “Insights” section. Using your keywords • Your keyword list should form the basis for the pages in your website. • Ensure you have consistency in using the keywords for meta titles and descriptions, page headlines and page copy. • Have at least a single page dedicated to each main service. • Use blogs to build additional content over time. Example of a Meta Title and Meta Description used in Google search results Tips for optimising your homepage • Use a H1 tag (Heading 1) for your most important keyword. • Have a good amount of copy on your homepage. • Have your NAP (name, address, phone) in your header or footer. • Use links to send the user to main sections of your site. • Consider adding some testimonials. • Link to your recent blog articles • Have a clear call to action. Tips for optimising the rest of your site • Have a good linking structure and hierarchy of content. • Optimise URL, title tags, headers, meta description, and content. • Have your NAP (name, address, phone) in your header or footer. • Have your NAP information marked up in schema.org – this should be added to all pages across your site. Use the Google Structured Data Maker Helper tool and then have your web developer add it to your site. • Add location pages if your business operates in multiple locations. • Create local content and don’t use duplicate content! • Use links throughout your blog to create a mesh of information between your articles and your service pages. • Again, have clear call to actions. NAP and Citations “NAP” is the common acronym for “name, address, phone number.” These three pieces of data make up the core of your business information in the world of local search. • A NAP can be found on your website or on another website like a business directory, these are commonly referred to as “Citations”. • NAP inconsistencies can misdirect customers, costing you revenue. • Further, when search engines like Google encounter NAP variants, they can become less trusting of the data they have about the company, which can result in lower local search rankings. • To avoid NAP inconsistency, you’ll want to audit all places your business is listed or mentioned and correct any variants in the data. NAP Breadth • A core task of local SEO involves helping your NAP spread across the Internet. • Much of this work hinges on building structured citations (local business listings) on important platforms like Google My Business, Facebook, Apple Maps, Bing, Yelp, Yellow Pages etc. • You can also build important citations on popular niche directories that relate specifically to your geography or industry. • The breadth of your NAP can grow as your business earns unstructured citations/mentions on social platforms, blogs, news sites, and other resources. • The number of both structured and unstructured citations you earn is believed to have a positive impact on local search rankings, as search engines find your business widely referenced around the web. • You can do all of this work manually, or use convenient tools that automate structured citation building in business directories and active location data management for you. Customer Reviews • Reviews may be the most influential Internet factor for any local business. • It’s estimated that 92% of consumers read online reviews and 68% state that positive reviews influence their feelings of trust in a business. • Have a strategy for encouraging customers to leave reviews on a variety of platforms. • The number of reviews you earn can directly impact local search rankings, while the positive and negative sentiments in those reviews can directly impact conversions and earnings. • Reply to reviews in a timely manner, Google actually times how long it takes you! • Inside your Google My Business dashboard you can find a link that you can use to direct a customer to leave you a Google review. Publishing The moment any local business steps onto the web, it becomes a publisher. Your communications with consumers may include the basic text content of your website, a blog, video or image content, owner responses to reviews, and social media participation. Everything you publish should engage customers and expose them to your brand. Search engines not only measure content quality, but also the way in which users interact with content, meaning the content you produce should result in high levels of user engagement. Plus, your high-quality content may be shared by your industry and consumer base, further promoting your business. You must devote time and creativity into developing and executing a publishing strategy, for as long as your company is in business. Publishing on YouTube • Youtube is a great way to build engaging content that will flow through to your overall local SEO strategy and help push your website higher. • Use the right keywords in your video title, you can employ similar strategies to finding the right keywords as we’ve already covered. • Use your main keyword in your file name. This will help YouTube instantly identify what your video is about. • Add a detailed description, again utilizing your targeted keywords. Keep the most important information at the start as YouTube only displays the first 100 characters in its previews. • Add a link to your website, or even a blog page if the two correlates. • Upload a custom thumbnail for your video. • Use high quality video, if your video stinks it will never get the right attention from Google no matter how much time you put into the optimization. • Provoke users to leave comments and ask questions, the more engagement your video receives the higher the importance Youtube will give your video. Competitive edge • Gaining a competitive edge in a crowded market requires a unique effort for each business, based on discovering opportunities your rivals haven’t yet explored. • Competitive difference-makers will be unique to each company and represent the advanced tactics businesses need to undertake when the fundamentals fail to give them an edge.
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