There are many strategies you can employ to build your brand’s local recognition. However, these days, people are mostly browsing products and services on the web. So, it’s important that you focus on improving your local search results. If you miss out on optimising your visibility in your local area, you’re also missing out on customers and valuable traffic.
This just points out how local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is becoming more critical for businesses today. This might be your first time hearing this niche strategy, so we’re here to guide you through mastering these seven SEO tactics.
- Create a Google Business Profile
Creating a Google Business Profile is one of the most effective ways to allow your target customers to find your business online. Users would search for “best restaurants nearby,” and Google would show a list of three businesses they can visit based on proximity. Businesses that show after we type in our query have Google Business Profiles.
This means when you set up your GBP, you can be one of the first businesses that Google would show users when they search for a geographically specific service/product you offer.
However, this also means you lose many potential customers or clients if you don’t have a GBP page. Besides just creating one, you must continuously optimise it, along with your local marketing strategies, as Google regularly changes its algorithms.
Setting up your GBP is something you can handle alone, but partnering with reliable agencies like Gorilla 360 can give you an edge. Their expertise in local SEO helps businesses fine-tune their online presence, ensuring they stand out in relevant searches.
- Be Active on Social Media
Social media may not directly influence your rankings. However, it can reinforce your SEO strategy by increasing your brand awareness online. In addition, it boosts trust signals with potential customers who are also active on social media.
With social media, you can also consistently earn and respond to more reviews as it’s more accessible to your customers. Most importantly, social media allows you to foster meaningful relationships that can lead to purchases, and repeat engagements with target customers.
- Invite Customers to Leave a Review
Collecting and responding to customer reviews is one of the most doable strategies for ranking higher in search and map results. Work towards authentic reviews, particularly positive ones, as these enhance your reputation and boost your online visibility.
Besides your GMB listing and your website, there are certain social media and consumer directories where Google would expect businesses to get reviews. These are Facebook, Thumbtack, Yelp, and Foursquare, among many other relevant sites to your business.
When you get good reviews, always acknowledge and thank your customers.When you get negative ones, do your best to respond to them as well. This way, your customers will think you’re serious about evaluating their experience with your products and services and finding ways to improve upon their reviews.
- Do Keyword Research
Keyword research is a foundation for successful local SEO campaigns. Your intention with keyword research is to identify keywords and phrases that local customers are likely to search for so they can find products, services, and businesses like yours. You can find many tools used to research local SEO keywords. These tools allow you to access insights into metrics like cost per click, search volume, and competition.
When doing keyword research, try to focus on long-tail local keywords. They often have lower competition, so it will be easier to rank for.
Most importantly, try to understand search intents or the reason why someone searches for a particular long-tail keyword. This way, you can create local SEO content tailored to a searcher’s query, allowing you to rank better in the results.
- Optimise for Voice Search
According to statistics, around 46% of U.S. internet users use a voice assistant at least monthly, specifically through smart speakers and smartphones. By 2023, the number of smart speakers in the U.S. will also surpass 200 million.
This presents an opportunity for businesses to earn organic search traffic. Optimising for voice search gives you access to a new group of users who rely on smart speakers and smartphones to purchase products and find businesses.
Moreover, search engines will give you more authority and a higher ranking on the results page since they like websites optimised for voice searchers. In a nutshell, targeting voice search can significantly help your site’s overall SEO and ranking.
- Optimise for Mobile
Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. So, if your website isn’t optimised for mobile, it might be harder for local customers to find you since you may not rank as high in search results.
Besides attracting customers, this can boost your brand reputation and credibility as you can now provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience. This could result in customers picking your business over others, especially when seeking those “right-now” solutions.
- Earn Backlinks from Reputable Local Companies
When ranking local content, Google looks at the volume of quality backlinks to your website. So, when creating local content, you should also target to earn backlinks from reputable local companies with high-authority sites.
Businesses in your area will link to pages on your site naturally if you create quality local content. Besides waiting for the backlinks to come, you can also connect with bloggers and industry leaders in your niche and ask if they can link to your content.
Final Thoughts
If you want your business to remain relevant, local SEO is one of the best practices you can try. With the seven SEO tactics we have shared in this guide, we hope you’re ready to capture potential customers ready to shop in your area. Before you go on your own, keep in mind that Google Search often releases core updates, so you must stay updated to keep pace with better content and better SEO strategy as a whole.
