As a small business owner, it’s crucial to ensure that your business is visible to potential customers in your area. One of the most effective ways to do this is through Local SEO, which helps to improve your visibility in local search results. In this article, we will provide tips and tricks for maximising Local SEO and provide examples of businesses that do this well.
Claim and Verify Your Google My Business Listing
Everyone loves free stuff, right? What if there was a free way to market your business? Good news, Google brings you – Google Business Profile. This is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. One of the most important things you can do for your Local SEO is to claim and verify your business listing. This involves creating a listing for your business and providing accurate information such as your business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation. Once your listing is verified, it will appear in Google Maps and in the Local Pack, which is the section of search results that displays local businesses.
Your Google Business Profile has various features that you can use to optimise users’ experience and interactions with your business.
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- Posts, promotions, events – You can create mini posts on your profile advertising your latest promotions or discounts and encourage people to click through to your website, increasing your traffic
- Sell products – Google Business Profile lets you upload any products and services to your profile, with descriptions and pricing information making it easily accessible to customers.
- Get Messages from potential customers – Customers can send you a message directly from the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) with any questions about your products and services. When it’s easy to contact a business, people are more likely to continue interacting and potentially make a purchase.
Optimize Your Website for Local Search
In addition to claiming and verifying your Business Profile listing, it’s important to optimise your website for local search. This includes adding your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on your website, as well as making sure that it is consistent with your Google Business Profile. It’s important to include keywords that are relevant to your business and local area in the title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and content of your website. This gives search engines content and context to understand what your business is about so that they can serve your business information for relevant content.
Build Local Backlinks
Link building is an important aspect of Local SEO. Local backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. These links help to improve your visibility in local search results. You can build local backlinks by creating valuable content and reaching out to other local businesses and websites to ask for links.
Get Positive Reviews
Positive reviews from customers can have a big impact on your Local SEO. Reviews are a form of social proof that can help to establish credibility and trust with potential customers. In addition, Google takes reviews into account when ranking businesses in local search results. To get positive reviews, you can encourage your satisfied customers to leave reviews on platforms such as Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor.
Use Local Schema Markup
Local schema markup is a type of code that you can add to your website to provide search engines with more information about your business and its location. This can include things like your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and reviews. By using local schema markup, you can help search engines understand the context of your website and improve your visibility in local search results.
Local SEO is a crucial aspect of any small business’s digital marketing strategy. By following the tips and tricks outlined in this article and taking inspiration from businesses that do it well, you can improve your visibility in local search results and attract more potential customers to your business. Remember to claim and verify your GMB listing, optimize your website for local search, build local backlinks, get positive reviews, and use local schema markup to improve your visibility in local search results.
