Local SEO is a search engine optimisation strategy which directly targets potential clients who are geographically close to the business’ outlet. By employing a local SEO approach, you are making yourself known to a target audience which can conveniently reach your business, resulting in a higher possibility of them choosing your brand for your products/services. Take a look at 5 simple ways to boost your local SEO:
Create Local Content
People are typically more interested in what is happening in their local community rather than internationally, being that it may affect them or those they’re close to. This means that more people search for content which addresses something local. Since local search traffic makes up around 35% of online traffic, it is important to cater for locals so as not to lose that significant amount of traffic. By creating local content, your website or social media pages will be relevant to queries asked by numerous local people, resulting in a high search engine ranking. Consequently, more people will choose to visit your website for answers on local topics, thus generating traffic to your website and increasing brand exposure.
Use Google My Business
Creating a Google My Business account is an extremely effective way of boosting local SEO. Statistics show that 64% of consumers have utilised Google My Business to contact local businesses. Potential customers can conveniently reach your business without even having to leave the page on Google. The first step is setting up a free Business Profile with all the information of your business, including the name, a short description, contact info, address on Google Maps, pictures, and client reviews. Through Google My Business, whenever a query is asked on Google which your company may resolve, your profile will pop up either at the top or at the side of the page. This means that exposure is practically guaranteed.
Be Easy to Find
Being easily found on Google is a great first step, but searchers also need to be able to find you in real life. Without the information needed to contact your business in some way or another, being highly ranked on search engines is practically useless. This is why it is so important to have an up-to-date ‘contact us’ page on your website. Apart from certain contact details such as an email address and phone number, if you have a local shop, connecting your business’ address to Google Maps is a super convenient step which clients will thank you for. Other useful info to upload are the store’s opening hours (including weekends and public holidays) and parking availability. Apart from keeping your website updated, it is also important to include this information on your various social media platforms as well as on your Google My Business account.
Be Mobile-Friendly
The shift towards using mobiles instead of desktops to Google search is increasing exponentially, with the number of mobile users rising by 10% in just 1 year. With everyone today owning a mobile phone and carrying it everywhere they go, it is inevitable that people prefer to use their little devices to search for something no matter the time or place. Making your website mobile-friendly is therefore extremely important, as even if it is ranked first on Google, if it’s difficult to navigate, one can easily go back and choose another site within seconds. Here are a few things which you should avoid:
- Long loading time: If it takes more than 3 seconds to load, the searcher will probably go back to find a quicker one
- No long paragraphs: Especially on a website’s homepage, don’t bombard the searcher with big chunks of text, as they’ll quickly lose interest
- No tiny fonts: Use bigger fonts which are easier to read for the searcher’s convenience
Carry Out Local SEO Audits
SEO isn’t a one-and-done marketing strategy. Apart from updating contact information, adding recent client reviews, and consistently posting content on your website and social media pages, frequent local SEO audits are a very useful part of the process. Performing local SEO audits allows you to understand how much, if at all, certain marketing strategies are working to promote your business to your target audience. This gives you the opportunity to continue the features which have been most successful. It also allows you to see which aspects have not been so successful, which pushes you to change those strategies and find other ways to advance your SEO marketing. Audits may be performed to find out statistics regarding how well your website functions, how your business appears in Google My Business, as well as SEO comparisons with your competitors.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help to build your local SEO strategy.
