Last modified on August 3, 2021
Local SEO offers many benefits to small businesses looking to increase the visibility of their business.
What is local SEO
Local SEO is the set of SEO techniques that allow a site to be positioned in search engine results for a geolocated query. In addition to following good SEO practices, local SEO still requires a certain number of specific actions to appear in local search results.
The Benefits of Local SEO
Being well positioned in search results is important. But depending on your business, the approach may be different, especially if you target customers at a local level. This is essential, especially for many businesses because an increasingly large share of Google searches are geolocated. This is why good local SEO is now essential.
Local SEO offers many benefits to small businesses that have a small budget and want to increase the visibility of their business in your city or a specific geographic area. In addition to the SEO factors to be well positioned, I will therefore give you some tips to have good local SEO and avoid the pitfalls.
Google increasingly encourages local
In June 2015, Google rolled out an update to its algorithm in order to improve local search results from its search engine. This is all the more interesting since more than 25% of searches on Google are local queries and this figure continues to grow. Local SEO is therefore important and you might as well have the best cards on your side to stand out from your local competitors!
Before you begin, there is a lot of work to do on your site to ensure you get the best possible results, especially if you want to be at the top like in the example:
1. Register on Google My Business
Formerly Google Places, Google My Business is the most popular platform for local SEO. Therefore, it is extremely important to create a Google My Business page for your business as it is a crucial factor for good local SEO.
Once your account is operational, you have several elements to fill in to configure it correctly:
- Add a unique long description
- Choose the right categories for your business.
- Add a high-resolution profile picture and cover. Also add your best photos
- Add your address and phone number
- Specify your opening hours and days
2. Optimize your content for local SEO
The first step on SEO is usually to do a research on the keywords on which you want to position yourself. You have to identify good content ideas that can interest your targets and optimize them for your geographic area. Therefore, make sure to include the name of the targeted location in your H1 or H2 tags, in your articles, in the images with the “alt” tag and even in the URL without neglecting your main keywords.
It is also important that the phone number and address appear on your website and are consistent with the information you have given on Google My Business and directories. These are data that must always be visible every time a visitor enters your page.
3. Build links from local influencer sites
Link building, also called netlinking, plays a key role in search engine optimization even locally. That’s why you should also think about local directories for good local SEO.
Of course, always make sure that the links are really relevant, and choose quality sites because this is what will add real value to your geographic SEO.
Depending on your business, select sites that are locally relevant to the location. Here are some ideas to help you:
4. Get customer reviews
Collect good reviews on your listings. I know this is easier said than done and takes a lot of time to come to fruition.
There are a few methods you can use to generate reviews or comments. You can always ask your relatives or friends but it is not very organic. You can also ask people to write reviews in exchange for a gift or discount but be careful with this approach.
Be as honest and fair as possible though. If you offer good products, provide excellent service, and take care of your customers, they will be more likely to give positive reviews… but even more likely to give negative reviews if that is not the case!
5. Have a social media presence
Social media is also an increasingly important factor for local SEO.
Instead of visiting your website, many customers choose to follow you on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Foursquare, or Instagram instead.
Local SEO Infographic
Last but not least, take a look at this infographic by Open Door Media on local SEO do’s and don’ts. It will surely give you some ideas!
Conclusions
If you follow the tips described above, your visits will start to climb and your sales too! Local SEO is more important than ever. You should not try to wait for a large search volume but rather to reach qualified visitors to your site.
Indeed, classic SEO is always more competitive, which is why we must focus more on local SEO which represents the best way to increase your business and grow your business!
Do you want to boost your local SEO? I offer SEO consulting services. So don’t hesitate to tell me about your project and we can discuss it together.
Passionate about the web and entrepreneurship, I founded Digitiz in 2016. My goal is to share my experience with you and save you time in choosing your tools.
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