SEO for Local Businesses: Optimize Your Site for Local Traffic
local search – Not only is this a very cool feature on Google Search, but the whole concept of local search is of interest to most of us, especially those who earn primarily from local businesses.
A typical definition of local search from Wikipedia:
Local search is the use of specialized Internet search engines that allow users to submit geographically limited searches against a structured database of local business listings.
Typical local search queries include not only information about “what” a site visitor is looking for (such as keywords, a business category, or the name of a consumer product), but also information about “where,” such as the address of a street, city name, postal code, or geographic coordinates such as latitude and longitude.
In general, Local Search is useful for local businesses ranging from furniture sales, laptops, desktops, mobile phones TO travel packages, weekend getaways TO corporate events, local events, music events TO the best city deals, movie tickets TO trainings, classes, gyms TO doctors, hospitals, ATMs and much more.
There are so many things and so many places where we all need local listings and search results. Local search engine optimization (local SEO) has no shortcuts; It is an ongoing business promotion activity, which is done online to gain popularity and reach. Attract an audience that can interact with you. User interaction signals can give your site a higher prominence score in Google’s local algorithms. Blogs can develop frequent subscribers and readers and generally make a site/business seem more human friendly and open.
Whether you want to do local SEO yourself or hire someone else, such as an SEO expert, to do it for you, knowing the points below will make it easier for you to judge what is critical and what is not.
Some local tips for you:
- Get search rankings on normal and local searches for your website
- Disseminate information and details about your business
- Get social! Promote your business and yourself
- Let your clients promote you
- Local Trend Tracking
Get more details on these indicators above:
1. Get search rankings on normal and local searches for your website
Your website plays an important role in getting good rankings in local search and normal search results. There are some key points that you should always remember if you want your website to appear in search engine results:
1.1. Make the structure of the website accessible and clear.
1.2. Make your website useful – fill it with good and useful content
1.3. Make it easy for users to communicate with you through the website
2. Disseminate information and details about your business
The Internet is all about information. If the most important information is your company details, such as: company name, postal address, telephone number, service description, images, working hours, etc.
You can make it more useful to users by adding some of this information as well.
2.1. Get search on local directories and websites
2.2. Correct incorrect data and information about the company, if any.
23. Be your own representative: take control of information online
3. Get social! Promote your business and yourself
“Social votes” are becoming more important than the traditional concept of link popularity. Even though we have these local search results and listings with reviews and ratings, there is still one more thing that encourages our decision to make a selection and that is my friend’s referral or connection to the product or service.
Having a strong social presence in your locality will help you gain trust and new customers.
There are a few things you can do to get started with social media:
3.1. Select the most prominent social sites and register your business there
3.2. Let website visitors and bloggers talk about your online business
4. Let your clients promote you
You can ask your customers to leave some reviews and comments about the services offered. So that whenever there is a query about the related services, the user will be able to find your company and check your ratings and reviews before contacting you for the services.
In a way, you advertise your business or services and build a level of trust with a potential client as it is based on the feedback and experience of an existing client while working with you.
5. Follow local trends
Follow local trends; See what’s the talk of the town and how you can use it for your business promotion. This might sound more like a traditional offline way of promoting businesses. However, this is a very cool way to get into the mind of your customers and get them to visit your website.