In today’s digital age, having a robust online presence is vital for any business aiming to thrive in the competitive marketplace. One of the most effective strategies for enhancing online visibility, especially for brick and mortar establishments, is through local search engine optimisation (SEO). Local SEO focuses on optimising a business’s online presence to attract more foot traffic and customers from relevant local searches. By implementing targeted techniques, businesses can significantly improve their local SEO rankings and attract more customers from their local area. Here are 5 simple, actionable tips for businesses looking to enhance their local SEO.
- Claim and optimise your Google My Business listing
This is probably our most important tip – to claim and optimise your Google My Business (GMB) listing. So many listings go unclaimed and these businesses are losing out on boosting their local search rankings. To find your listing, type your company address into Google and click on ‘claim this business’. Then make sure you add all of your business information including your business name, address, phone number, website URL, business hours and so on. Regularly update your GMB profile with high quality images and posts, just like you would on your social media accounts, and don’t forget to update any out of date information. Just implementing this one simple tip will give your local SEO a boost and will enhance your business’s credibility for the people who are searching.
2. Optimise your website for local keywords
Conduct keyword research to identify relevant local keywords that potential customers are using to find businesses like yours. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website’s content and in the back end of your website for the focus keyword, meta titles, meta descriptions, image ALT text and URLs. You could even create location-specific landing pages or blogs to further improve your local SEO. The more quality content you have on your website naturally incorporating the local area, the more you will improve your visibility for local searches. An example of this would be if you have a hotel or holiday cottages you could create a blog on the best places to eat in the local area or create an FAQ page on your website listing local walks, beaches and pubs for example.
3. Consistent business information across all online platforms
This is a very simple tip indeed, but that is to ensure consistency of contact details across all online platforms, as it’s is crucial for local SEO. Not only does it help your customers to find you but shows Google that your business is genuine and kept up to date. Platforms include your website, GMB listing, social media profiles, local directories and any other online platforms your business is listed on.
4. Earn Positive Reviews
Online reviews play a significant role in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions and can positively impact your local SEO rankings. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, Trustpilot and industry specific review sites. Respond promptly and professionally to all reviews, whether positive or negative, to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.
5. Local link building
When creating local content for your site, you will want to include high quality links to other local businesses. Not only will this ensure you have good content building up on your website about the local area, but it will encourage those local businesses to do the same for you. You can also help to gain quality backlinks from reputable local websites to your own by:
- Looking for opportunities to collaborate with local businesses
- Sponsoring local events or charities
- Participating in community initiatives
- Creating valuable local content that others would want to link to
Our final piece of advice for those wanting to boost their local SEO is to optimise your website for mobile devices. With the increasing number of people using mobiles for local searches, optimising your website for mobile is no longer optional. If you have a brick and mortar location then many of your potential customers will do a search on their mobile when they are in the local area, so this is an absolute must in order to appear in local results. Ensure that your website is mobile friendly, loads quickly and provides a smooth user journey. Google prioritises mobile friendly websites in its search results and penalises those that aren’t, making mobile optimisation essential for local SEO success.
By implementing these simple tips, businesses can enhance their local SEO efforts and increase their visibility in local search results. Improving local SEO not only helps attract more foot traffic and customers to physical locations but also strengthens the overall online presence and credibility of a business. We hope you found these tips useful and if you need expert help to improve your local SEO, please get in touch with us at Q Social Media.
