Why local SEO is important
All businesses are local, no matter the size of the community. Whether it’s a mom-and-pop insurance company or an international shipping business, localized SEO content allows a company to increase website traffic and organically cultivate new clients and business partnerships.
Who Benefits?
While the SEO content has to change depending on the business, there’s not a single business that cannot benefit from using local SEO content.
For example, most communities have essential services like plumbers, real estate agents, and law offices. While the SEO content would have to change for each business, all three examples can see their respective businesses take root and branch out into the community with the right local SEO content.
So whether it’s a new bar, a highly respected nonprofit organization, or just the neighborhood coffee shop, every one of the local businesses can increase their role and impact in the community through specialized local SEO content.
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Keyword Research
The starting point for any good local SEO content should be keyword research, and SEO keyword research can be like discovering a lock combination.
Depending on a number of factors, including the type of business and geographical location, certain words and terms get entered frequently into search engines by people looking for those services. By researching those keywords, SEO specialists can create online content that finds the search engine sweet spot and brings more traffic to the website through targeted questions and SEO positioning.
Local keywords, for example, computer repair in Calgary, Rent a car in Austin are very helpful in achieving local visitors.
Competitive Analysis
Professional athletes study game tape. Professional business owners should study the competition’s web presence.
Every business has competition, and it helps to know the strategies they’re using to drive business through targeted questions.
SEO tools can help generate the right keywords to grab a potential customer’s attention, but it’s good to also know if the competition uses the same keywords, another reason why local SEO is important.
Competitive analysis helps to show what works in SEO content and what can be improved. If a competitor lacks the right SEO content, a smart business owner can gain the upper hand by organically spreading SEO content throughout their own web content.
Business Directories and Listings
Local businesses work best when they become a part of an active community.
How many times have you heard someone refer to a big box company as “the store?” How does that happen? The company’s owners work to ensure the store remains a vital part of community life.
By working to be included in local business directories and listings, a business can establish itself as a go-to community presence for whatever services they offer. It helps to be known, especially by the locals.
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Google Business Page
In addition to the local tips and directories, set up an online listing using Google Business Page to direct more foot traffic to your business and increase SEO positioning.
The platform allows any business to create its own listing, thus increasing the search engine rankings while serving as a digital signpost for anyone seeking local services. The site can be created and verified by the owner, allowing total control over the listing’s messaging.
Google Business Profile Q & As
Google Business Profile also includes the option of adding Q & A features on the listing, allowing business owners to list and answer frequently asked questions associated with the business and better establish SEO GEO targeting.
This serves two purposes: it allows the owner to illustrate their attentiveness to the customer’s needs, and it allows customers to get quick answers without investing a great deal of time to research the answer.
Link Building Campaigns
Like using bread crumbs to mark a path through a forest, link building allows business owners to create a digital path to their website by sprinkling links on other pages associated with the business.
By linking to other local businesses, a link-building campaign creates a sense of community among the local businesses while directing traffic to your website. By allowing other businesses to link on other websites, everyone gets positive exposure, whether it’s a hardware store or computer repair shops.
Useful Blog Posts
Blog posts that address frequently asked questions and concerns can help increase a customer’s comfort with the business while also allowing the business to demonstrate its expertise.
By including specialized SEO content, the blog posts can also get the attention of search engines, thus allowing a business to increase the volume of SEO terms and keywords without shoving them into every paragraph on the website. Organic and professional wins the day with SEO content.
Negative Review Strategies
Bad customer experiences will happen. To make sure a bad review does not become a bad local tip about a business, a business owner needs to respond in the best professional way possible.
Google Business Profile allows an owner to address negative reviews on their listing directly with the customer. It’s not about how bad the experience was so much as how the business responds. Even if the customer ends up unhappy with the experience, other customers will see how the situation was handled, increasing the odds of future business trust.
NAP Consistency
Name, Address, and Phone consistency, or NAP, must be maintained to ensure a potential customer doesn’t end up at the wrong website or produce negative SEO GEO targeting.
While local citations and bank links can highlight what and how a business operates, maintaining NAP consistency over various platforms helps ensure every potential customer can find the business. If a phone number on a Facebook page does not match the one on the website, business can be lost and potential customers can lost enthusiasm for working with your business.
And speaking of social media platforms, don’t hesitate to use them to promote the business.
Social media platforms don’t have to just include any sales or upcoming events. If a business participates in a local community event, for example, the business can live stream its involvement and demonstrate how the business interacts with the community. Get involved, and let everyone see how that involvement enriches the community.
Conclusion
By using these strategies, a business can increase its local exposure. Contact us today to find out how SEO content can help increase involvement with the local business community.
