Did you know that 50 percent of consumers visit a store within 24 hours of conducting a local search online? That’s the power of local SEO page rankings.
If your business thrives on face-to-face sales, you’ll want customers in your vicinity finding you. Here are 5 tips for growing your local SEO page rankings.
1) Make Your Site “Crawlable”
In order to show up on different search engines, you’ll want to make sure your site is “crawlable” by search engine robots. Robots can be smart! But they aren’t people and have a hard time reading “rich” media, including photos.
Make sure your company name, contact information, and local address are listed in plain text on your website. Watch out for pages that only include your company logo and never spell out in text your company name.
While a human visitor can read your logo, often times a search engine robot cannot. Sprinkle in your company’s name throughout each page’s content to make sure it’s easily recognizable.
2) Contact Local Directories
One of the most well-known ways of getting customers or readers is through recommendation. Someone is more likely to trust content from a first-person experience holder, vs. any content you can create on a website. Local SEO rankings are no different.
Do a quick engine search for directories of businesses within your community. Which directories are the most well-known? Which have the highest traffic? Are there any that specialize in your industry? These are the directories you want to get listed in.
Keep in mind that each directory will have its own process for getting listed. This process often includes “claiming” your business by answering the directory representative on your publicly listed business phone line.
This can become a hassle if you’ve partnered with a marketing agency or virtual assistant to pursue directory opportunities. Be patient with any employee you put on this task.
3) Blogging Boosts Local SEO Page Rankings
Blogging is an easy way to create a point-of-contact with potential consumers and converters. By regularly posting blog content, your site will naturally rank better in search engines. This is because sites that are regularly updated and maintained are seen as higher-quality by internet bots.
That’s right – you don’t even have to change every page on your site for this to count.
Regular blogging goes a long way. While you’ll want to have industry-specific blog posts on your site, in terms of local SEO page rankings, your topics can be even broader. Try finding local events to attend. Cover these events on your website and end with a call-to-action about how your company fits into this niche.
Remember that the event itself doesn’t have to be your company’s event! Your goal is to become known around your local area. By showing search engines that your site has location-specific information, you’ll boost your rankings in local searches. Sounds like a major win to me.
4) Ask for Genuine Reviews
Your customers are your best marketing tool. Ask your current customers to leave a review on your local website or local company listing. Having a large number of positive reviews will boost your local and general SEO as a whole.
Sometimes, it can be hard to convince consumers to go the extra step to write a review. Try to ask for a review in-person directly after having contact with the customer.
Better yet, ask them to do so directly after receiving their new product or service. They may be more likely to review your company after experiencing your service first-hand.
Additionally, consider offering prizes to customers who do take the time to leave you a review. This could be as simple as some company merchandise, or as detailed as a company membership. Offering discounted prices for future purchases or services are also a smart choice to keep customers coming back.
Doing so can even help instill and keep brand loyalty. Having a set of regular customers is ideal for locally-run businesses such as hair salons and dentistries. Be sure to explore specific SEO resources according to your industry, such as dental SEO marketing.
5) Check and Recheck Your Social Media
Search engines love it when you’re consistent. Keep your social media accounts up-to-date. This means making sure that each account lists the same working address, contact information, and business name.
As a general branding strategy, you’ll want to keep your imagery and written tone consistent throughout your different profiles as well. This will make you more recognizable after consumer exposure to your content.
Using social media accounts for your brand is also a great way to reach local consumers. Try incorporating location tags and hashtags on your Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Instagram accounts.
Feeling social media-savvy? Interact with consumers and potential clients by searching those very same hashtags. Try liking relevant individual’s posts. They’ll get a notification about your profile and be more inclined to recognize your brand in the future.
Local SEO Optimizes Your Business
Search engine optimization does just that. It optimizes your business for success and relevance in your local community. By making yourself not only available, but visible in your local community, your business and brand will thrive.
Unfortunately, the world of SEO is not only competitive, but always changing. local SEO page rankings are no different. Stay up-to-date with general SEO guides as well as specific SEO guides depending on your profession.
Ready to learn more? Find out how you can further use White Label, legal SEO to help your brand and website.