When someone searches for a business online, such as a type of restaurant or store, they usually look for one close to them, especially if they’re searching on a mobile device. Google knows this, so it tends to show nearby results to searchers.
Your brand must be visible to local searchers, whether you have a single location or many. Knowing how to increase your local search engine optimization (SEO) rankings will boost your local search presence and lead to more business for your brand.
What is Local SEO?
Local search engine optimization is a strategy that helps your business rank high in the local search results on Google. However, it’s important to note that local search results are slightly different from your standard results.
They’re the ones that appear alongside a map when you look for businesses that have a local presence, such as pizzerias, cafes, and clothing stores. Local SEO allows Google and other search engines to provide the most relevant results. After all, if you search for “pizzeria” or “pizza,” you probably want to find a place to eat it, not the history or how to make it.
Some words and phrases are more likely to trigger local search results than others, such as adding “open now” or “near me” following the business name or type.
Local SEO works because it answers an immediate need. People are more likely to visit your business if it ranks high in the local search results.
What Can You Do to Boost Local SEO On-Site?
Local SEO has a lot in common with natural SEO, with a very key distinction. Place and location matter when trying to get your site to rank in the local search results. That means focusing on where you are or where a specific branch of your business is above all else.
1. Local Keyword Research
Keywords are your friend for any type of SEO, including local. Keep your keywords focused on locations to boost your Google presence in local search results. If you own a coffee shop with five locations across Connecticut, create a landing page for each location, and use the town name in the title and content.
Also, focus on keywords relevant to your services or amenities at each location. For example, your coffee shop may serve breakfast on weekdays and brunch on weekends. Be sure to work those keywords into your site so Google knows what you offer customers.
2. Schema Markup
Admittedly, fitting all those location-based keywords onto your website can get repetitive. Remember the first rule of SEO, local or not: Put your human audience first.
Fortunately, there’s a way to deliver all the important location-based info to Google without alienating your site visitors. It’s called schema markup. A schema is a set of microdata you add to your website. The average visitor won’t see it, but search engine crawlers will.
You put all that nitty-gritty location data in the schema, such as your address, operating hours, and delivery options. It boosts your local SEO without turning away visitors, a win-win.
3. Location Pages
Location pages are landing pages you create for a specific location of your business. They can be used by companies of all sizes but are particularly useful for businesses with multiple brick-and-mortar locations.
You can build out location pages with information specific to your business locations. You can include operating hours, contact information, and any specific details about that location, such as the types of products you sell or the available menu. Furthermore, you may want to include some local history, fun facts, and driving directions.
4. Use Google Search Tools
Google wants to help bring businesses and customers together. Fulfilling user intent is part of its mission. For that reason, you can use plenty of Google tools to improve your local SEO. Google Analytics data can help you decide which keywords are most relevant to your business and can help you see where traffic is coming from and what it’s doing on your site.
What Can You Do to Boost Local SEO Off-Site?
Like organic SEO, you can do a few things off-site to improve your local SEO rankings.
1. Create a Google Business Profile
Your business has at least one profile on Google, called Google Business Profile. Claiming your profile for each location will allow you to track reviews, update your business photos, and add relevant information.
2. Local Citations
Beyond Google itself, there are many other business directories online, like Yelp, Apple Maps, and Yellowpages. You can claim your business’s profile on each of these directories and change the information found within. The more consistent your business information is, the better your local SEO rankings. Having a presence in the local directories also signals to Google that your business is legitimate.
3. Perform a Competitor Analysis
You always need to know what your competitors are up to. If there are businesses that outrank you in the local search results, take a look at what they’re doing and then copy it. They may regularly update their Google profile or have mastered local keyword use.
4. Create Backlinks
Backlinks are a valuable tool for organic and local SEO. You want to ensure that only authoritative, legitimate sites link to your own. Perform an audit once or twice a year to see who’s linking to you. If you don’t have many backlinks, promote your business by connecting with the local press or influencers.
Expert Tip: Increase your E-E-A-T
Quality matters to Google so much that it uses thousands of human search quality evaluators to assess sites. Those search quality evaluators are looking for E-E-A-T or sites with Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. A complete Google Business Profile plus accurate location and opening hours information enhances your site’s E-E-A-T, pushing it up on the local search results.
Contact ZGM to Handle Your Local SEO
Don’t have the time to improve your local SEO on your own? You don’t have to. Zero Gravity Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency and local SEO company that can help your business rank better. Contact our local SEO agency today to learn more about what we do.
