Local SEO: 3 Things to Implement Immediately

Local SEO ensures that customers see results that are related to their location. This is an effective way to market your business online because it allows consumers to see things that will be most relevant to them, and more importantly, nearby. There's a variety of different tactics that Google uses to determine these results, such as getting listed on Yelp, Foursquare, and other location-based websites. Because Google automatically determines the user's location, it will direct customers to local businesses before any others. For example, if you were to search "restaurants" on your phone or computer, it would bring up restaurants in your region.

 

According to a study conducted by Fresh Egg in 2013, four out of five people looking things up on their phone are seeking local results.

The benefits of optimizing your search engine results are pretty clear, but now the question is, how do you do that?

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to optimize your local SEO. Google has probably already created a page for you – you just need to claim it as your business.

 

Once you do that, you can update all the information and ensure that it is correct and stays updated. Since these days Google is how people are finding you, this is a no-brainer--go right to the source, make it easy for people to find you and find the correct information about your business.

Next, you want to check out your own website because there are a number of things you can do on the page to optimize the local SEO results.

1. If you have multiple locations, use location-specific URLs. Having the location actually listed in the URL will help Google pinpoint the location.
2. Tag your images with the city and state. Alt-image tags are yet another way for search engines to easily determine your location.
3. Mention your location several times in the text on your home page. This shouldn't be super difficult to incorporate naturally and can boost your SEO a ton.
4. Mention the location in the title tag, which is a simple way to make your on-page text work for you.
5. Include the location in the meta description. While this isn't included in the search algorithm, it is what customers see and can improve click through rates.
6. Make sure the location is also in your headings. Heading should basically be optimized for search engines, as that is what you want them to be paying attention to.

3. Get Local Reviews

As briefly mentioned above, local reviews are an essential and highly effective way to improve local SEO. They are used extensively by Google and other search engines to pinpoint local businesses. The best way to build up reviews is to simply ask your customers to give you feedback. You can even build out a section of your website that is dedicated to reviews and will direct customers to your Yelp page or other review websites to make it as easy as possible.

 

Follow these three simple tactics and you're guaranteed to see a massive boost in your local SEO, and thus, hopefully, your business.

 

Get a complete understanding of local SEO and other SEO topics with this free, Beginners Guide to SEO.