5 Ways to Improve your Local SEO and Grow Your Presence Online

Local businesses that are looking to grow their online presence often start their inquiries with Local search engine optimization (SEO), which is the process of optimizing your website and general web presence for search engines. Local SEO is a long-term strategy that can be extremely valuable for local businesses. However, it does require some technical know-how to truly reach your search potential and grow your audience as a whole. There are some very basic steps that any business can take to improve their presence in search engines and grow their business organically over the course of months and years. Follow these steps to receive more traffic from search engines and optimize your website for local search.

Publish Great Content

One of the best ways to be found by your target audience is to publish great content that directly answers the questions your audience and customers have about your product, service, or industry. Start by going through your previous support emails or think back to conversations that you have had with customers, and write down some of the common questions that you are asked. This is an excellent starting point for creating great content for your audience and growing your presence online.

Submit your Business to Directories

One of the most common ways in which customers find local businesses online is through online business directories like Google Business Directory, Yelp or Yellow Pages. By including your business in these directories you give prospective customers another avenue through which they can find and learn about your business and products. Start by submitting to the large, well-known directories but also consider submitting your business to smaller, local or industry-related directories as well. Give your customers many avenues to find your business online.

Include Relevant Location and Contact Information

Google actively reads every line of text on your website to determine whether or not your business is relevant for location-related terms. In example, if you ran an auto body shop in Seattle and had been optimizing your website for keywords like “Auto mechanic Seattle,” including a Seattle-based address and phone number on your website helps to show Google that your business is truly relevant for that keyword. Additionally, including your address and phone number on any directories that your business has been submitted to can help you to ensure that you have additional sources that confirm your location and help add relevancy for those keywords.

Citations from Local Companies

Another great way to show Google that your website is not only trustworthy, but relevant to location-based keywords, is to have your website mentioned by other websites that are located within your industry. Citations are an excellent way to build backlinks and show that your business is relevant for keywords that are related to your location. Try to find invented ways to get mentioned on local business websites, local directories, and in local newspapers to improve your citations.

Encourage and Respond to User Reviews Online

One of the most important ways to ensure that your business can be easily found (and customers easily convinced) online is to encourage and respond to reviews from your users. Having previous customers vouch for your product or services can go a long way in the eyes of a prospective customer, and being able to publicly respond to harsh reviews shows that you pay attention and are willing to rectify any misgivings that previous customers may have.

If you would like to learn more about how you can improve your local search engine optimization and grow your local businesses’ presence online, please contact us today to speak to our team of digital marketing experts. They’ll get to know your business and walk you through the process of setting up your initial optimization plan.