Improve Your Search Engine Visibility with these Simple Local SEO Tips

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Be it man on the street or company with hundreds of offices, local search is important to all. But ever since Google’s Pigeon update rolled out in 2014, local search as we knew it transformed significantly. These changes made local businesses think that ranking on top Google pages now requires rocket science techniques. However, this is not true. The formula to succeed in local SEO has changed but not completely.

Our team of local ranking specialists has gathered points that will help you in evolving local SEO strategy that will bring your business in the forefront of Google search results in 2015.

So, let’s get down to business, and discuss some handy SEO tips & techniques for super local search strategy:

Run a website and social audit

Before you begin experimenting with local SEO techniques, you should have a strategy. And to formulate the right strategy, you must count your strengths and discover hidden weaknesses. Conduct a local SEO audit to discover website issues related to UX, Meta details, content, URL structure, and navigation. Also check if your online business assets like social media profiles, business pages, and listings are optimized correctly or not.

DIY Tips

  • Claim your Google Business page through your G+ profile and verify it with Google after checking critical details like contact info, and business hours.
  • Perform a comprehensive citation audit with digital presence management software such as Yext and Moz Local. Plus, don’t rely only on a single source’s results.
    Audit-listing-check
  • Use citation audit results to check which of your business listings are removed/flagged or need optimization.
  • Use SEO audit tools like WooRank and SEO Site Checkup to find out on-site issues like absence of sitemap, inappropriate tags, and not-found pages.

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Get listed on local business directories

You must be like, ‘okay, I’ve heard that one before’. But just listing your business on lots of business directories is not part of effective local SEO strategy. The trick is to get your business listed with the most relevant local business listing sites.

Most will say ‘list your business on Google Local, Yelp, Bing Places, or Facebook for Business’. That’s fine but more critical is to list your business with business directories that have strong presence in your geographic area and industry. And that’s exactly what most businesses overlook.

DIY Tips

  • Remember, more the reviews, better the visibility. Send your customers direct link of your Google My Business page, and ask them to post online reviews.
  • Make sure that your business details – name, address, contact, etc. – are correct across the business listing sites.
  • Optimize your profiles on local directories by uploading high quality pictures of your business and products.
    local reviews
  • Local directories are good source for getting high quality backlinks. Seize the opportunity by maintaining a blog on directories that offers blogging and advertising options. You can begin with these sites: MerchantCircle, StoreBoard.

Run ad campaign to support SEO efforts

Certainly, your best option here is to run a PPC campaign on Google AdWords. Other options include Bing ads, BuySellAds, and AdRoll. To generate local business mileage from Pay-per-click marketing and advertising, you need to give special attention to keywords. You can begin with targeting three keyword types – brand name, product/service, and location.

Pro Tips:

  • Since brand name and location are rather fixed, products & services is what you need to build around your keyword list.
  • Build a list with lots of variations by putting yourself in customers’ shoe and search like they do.
    Keyword-search
  • You can also take help from Google’s Keyword Planner and WordStream’s Keyword Suggestion Tool to refine your keyword list.

Learn how to run paid search campaigns successfully
Basic of PPC

Leverage the power of blogging

Blogging feeds the craving that today’s internet savvy generation has for information. Opportunely, it also feeds web crawlers and improves search engine ranking. Blog regularly, remain relevant, and get visibility on search results. But plain blogging is not the best local SEO tip.

Before you begin, make up your mind for the groundwork required. For instance, market research to understand the needs of target audience, building email list, cataloging information, keyword research and paraphrasing the content in compliance with Google norms.

DIY Tips

  • Publish your posts on most authoritative blogging platforms. These are the names you can begin with: WordPress, Blogger, and Medium.
  • Share the most popular posts on your social media profiles.
  • Make your blog engaging by replying to readers’ comments and queries.
  • Also write about local events and other things important for your local community to popularize your blog.

Make your brand more social

Your target audience is present on social media, and that makes leveraging it crucial for your local SEO plan 2015. With active presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram and other popular social media platforms, you will have more channels to engage your audience.

Social media sites have high domain authority, which eventually improves your visibility on the search results. Plus, in contrast to the traditional email marketing, social media marketing is more engaging.

DIY Tips

  • Creating social media profiles is only half the work. Optimize them relevant business details, keywords, and impressive cover image.
  • Create interesting posts and post them frequently to keep your followers engaged. Use your brand name frequently in posts.
  • Proactively ask your satisfied customers to rate and review your business on social media profiles. It will boost your online reputation considerably.

Optimize Meta details smartly

As a website owner, you must have come across suggestions like ‘each and every page on your website should have unique title tags and meta descriptions’. Assuming that part to be covered, the next thing is to optimize title tags and Meta descriptions.

Here again, it comes down to appropriate keyword usage. The approach we recommend is: a) optimize the title tag for both users and search engines, and b) make the Meta description informative for users but don’t forget to add your most important keyword in it.

DIY Tips:

  • Tell users in Meta description ‘why they should choose you’.
  • Don’t miss out on including critical keywords in meta-descriptions. But make sure that they are relevant to users as well.
  • Additionally, do use schema markups to display star rating and reviews with your search engine listing.
    schema
  • Pay attention to best practices while creating Meta details to maximize local SEO benefits.

We accept that local SEO tips mentioned in this section are a bit technical. If terms like Meta details and schema markups make little sense to you, then, take assistance of an expert SEO firm.

Make your website responsive

Local business and mobile search go hand in hand. Considering the same, Google rolled out its algorithm for mobile search results a few weeks ago. The so-called “Mobilegeddon” update will show only mobile friendly sites on Google’s mobile searches.

So in the post-mobilegeddon era, a responsive website isn’t just an option for local businesses but an obligation. In addition to responsive design, you also need to optimize your website for mobile devices, since mobile-friendliness is also a ranking factor.

DIY Tips:

  • Don’t start responsive upgrade for entire website at once as it may cost you a good deal of money. Target those pages first that brings you most traffic, since the algorithm judges websites on per-page basis.
  • Use Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool to check the mobile-friendliness of each webpage.
  • Make sure your responsive website scores in the field of usability.

Acting upon above listed local SEO tips & strategies isn’t hard but businesses often overlook them. In a way, these techniques are like eating healthy, sleeping properly and exercising regularly – you know you should do it, but adding them to your day routine seems hard. But if you gotta stay healthy (achieve more visibility), you gotta follow through.

Do you want experts to make your website reach Google search positions and develop your small business into an online brand?
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Comments (14)
Victoria

Great article thank you! I started to pay attention to SEO recently, even small things like google local business helps so much! I would love to know more about SEO, and how to optimize my business to be found.

FATbit Chef

Hello Victoria,

Thanks for appreciating the article. Yes, paying attention to local SEO can do wonders for local businesses.
Links to few useful and interesting articles:
https://www.fatbit.com/fab/reduce-high-exit-rate-bounce-rate-engage-convert/
https://www.fatbit.com/fab/6-crucial-page-seo-tags-rank-high-google-2015/
https://www.fatbit.com/fab/better-rank-online-store-google-seo-case-study/

Keep coming back for more such informational articles on SEO.

If you have queries please GET IN TOUCH

Cheers,
Shalini

srisathvika

Nice article about local seo strategy. strategy is important for every business to lead success. Thanks for sharing.

FATbit Chef

Hello Aman,

Thanks for your appreciation. Keep coming back for more such interesting posts to boost your venture.

Cheers

Robin Khokhar

Hi Shalini,
Amazing post, One should follow the above points you have shared to get some good results.
Thanks for sharing.

freya

Awesome tips of local seo..
I am really appreciating you such a great information about improving search engine visibility..
Thanks for sharing..!!

Stacy Stone

I am really impress with you for the selecting of new and unique topic and also well written article on it. Thanks for sharing with us.

FATbit Chef

Thanks for the appreciation Stacy!
Glad you liked the post.
Keep coming back for more posts on SEO and web world.
Cheers 🙂

Ivan Palii

Great structured and useful overview, Shalini. Thanks for a lot. I’ve tried some of those strategies. Some add to my wishlist.
And I also want suggest two our internal instruments, which most of our colleagues love to use every day.
– Free on page seo checker – sitecheker.pro
– Free keyword suggestion and research tool – kparser.com
I’ll be happy to know you opinion about that tools.

FATbit Chef

Thanks Ivan!
Glad to know that it helped. About my opinion on sitecheker and kparser, I may be able to give that after an analysis, both are new to me. But for keyword research, I would suggest Moz’s Keyword Explorer, Google keyword planner, SEMrush. These are the best tools for any SEO company.