The definitive information to native search engine marketing

Local search engine optimization is important.

In fact, 46% of all searches on Google are local.

That said, if you are a local business and your local search engine optimization is down, you are missing out on an opportunity every time someone searches for your product or service online.

And a lot of people are looking for it.

About 89% of people search for a local business on their smartphone at least once a week, 58% search daily.

And of that search, 72% will visit a store within five miles.

These searchers are unlikely to find you if your local search engine optimization is bad.

What exactly is local SEO?

Local SEO is the practice of increasing the online visibility of local businesses. It's a similar organic search engine optimization, but with an added geographic component.

Specifically, you want to rank high on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for local searches.

It doesn't make sense for a New York restaurant to rank high in Houston local search results. You want people looking for restaurants in New York to find them.

Hence, improving your local search engine optimization is imperative if you want to increase your organic local traffic.

According to Moz's local search ranking factors for 2018, Google My Business signals, including proximity, are a top ranking factor.

These are the signals that will help local businesses rank in Google's three-pack.

But what is the "pack"?

The Google Three-Pack is the collection of the three most important results for your local search.

This used to be a pack of 7 but it has been cut off to be more suitable for mobile search.

Your company should be based here.

How do you get there?

Here are some local SEO tips that will get your business noticed.

1. Optimize your website for local SEO

If your website isn't optimized properly, the SERPs will be hard to hit.

Now, check your website SEO to see how it can be improved.

For local SEO, in addition to standard SEO best practices, you need to do the following:

Create a dedicated contact page

Nowadays, people want more detailed information about your company.

On your contact us page, make sure you clearly display your "NAP:".

I would also recommend that you view your email address like the Velo Bike Shop in Seattle did on their website:

Include all of your business addresses

If you have 10 locations or fewer, include the full name, address, and phone number of each location in the footer element on your website.

Make phone numbers clickable on mobile devices

Around 30% of mobile searches are location-based.

Hence, it is important that your website is optimized for mobile devices.

Also, 76% of local searches result in a phone call.

So make sure your phone number is clickable.

If someone finds your website on their mobile device and wants to call you, they may be annoyed at having to switch between apps to manually enter the number.

Here Barrio Restaurant has made sure that the phone number is clickable when viewed on mobile devices.

When the user clicks on the phone number, their phone asks if they want to call the number.

Google has a post that teaches you how to make a phone number clickable on your website.

Add a map or your locations

The whole point of local search engine optimization is to make it easier for people to find you, right?

So it would be silly not to add a map, especially when 86% of people look up a business's location on Google Maps.

In this example, Starbucks gets it right, including an interactive map of all of their locations.

Add testimonials

Google sees testimonials as a sign of trust and helps users feel confident that you are a real company.

This is why Local SEO Guide has an entire page devoted to these types of reviews.

Collect testimonials from local customers on your website and display them prominently for an extra local SEO boost.

Add scheme

Schema.org was invented to create a common language between the major search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo.

This makes it easier for search engines to understand what your website is about.

By adding the appropriate local business schema markup to your website, you're telling Google that you are a local business and not a big brand.

This, in turn, can help improve your local rankings.

To make this process easier, Hall Analysis created a tool that you can use to create your schema markup.

Just enter your details and copy the code on the right.

Next, paste the code into the box Section of your HTML document or website builder.

After you've added your schema markup, you'll want to test it out using Google's structured data testing tool.

This tool should get your information and display it on the right:

Once you've optimized your website for local SEO, you should be in a better position to improve your rankings and increase local organic traffic.

2. Request your online profiles – – Especially Google My Business

Your website isn't the only place you need to be online.

You need to make sure that your business is properly listed on major review platforms like Google My Business, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook.

And don't forget about popular sites with local reviews.

Why?

Because for local search queries, the following review pages often follow the 3-pack from Google:

Google My Business

Filling out your profile in Google My Business is a good place to start.

With this profile you can manage your presence in the Google search engine.

Filling out your profile in full and collecting reviews (which we will talk about in a moment) will improve your ranking.

Google Maps also shows searchers a detailed profile of your company, e.g. B. Seattle Coffee Works.

It's huge. So big that I wrote an entire post on how to optimize your Google My Business page.

Especially when you remember that 86% of people look up a business's location on Google Maps.

All local entries

You will often see the local reviews page among the big hits like TripAdvisor and Yelp.

You can find the websites that are relevant to your business and location by searching for keywords like:

• (Destination) ratings
• (Industry / Niche) (Destination) Reviews

Claim other social profiles improve local SEO

You also want to set up profiles on the social media channels that are relevant to your target audience.

Be sure to follow social media best practices.

When setting up your profiles, it is very important that your information is the same on each platform.

Remember, consistency is key.

Setting up these profiles will make you more visible to potential customers. You also provide search engines with more information about your company in order to improve your ranking.

3. Create local content

Blogging is essential to SEO.

If you haven't already, create a blog on your website.

If possible, host your blog on your company's domain for the best SEO benefit.

For example, "www.website.com/blog" instead of "blog.website.com" or "websiteblog.com".

Here is Stonyfield's blog:

That way, when you acquire links to your blog, you will also get links to the main page of your business.

And if you remember the pie charts at the beginning of this article, links are the second most important localized organic ranking factor.

As your blog's search engine rankings go up, so do your website's rankings.

When writing your posts, make sure you include local city and neighborhood names wherever possible.

Not everyone will use your city name in their search. So make sure you also include any neighboring cities, neighborhoods, and unofficial terms that locals may be using.

Add local news and events that will not only improve your SEO but also provide useful information to your audience.

Take advantage of the popularity of an upcoming community event, election, trade show, etc.

Or sponsor and write about local events, teams or organizations.

Try to cover local events from the perspective of a local business owner.

You can also interview local experts inside or outside your company.

Here Stonyfield is involved in a local charity.

But don't write about your business.

David Meerman Scott, an online marketing strategist, says it perfectly:

“Stop talking about your products and services. People are not interested in products and services. You care for yourself. "

Write posts that will help and benefit your reader in some way. The goal is to become a trusted source in your industry.

None of Stonyfield's most popular blog posts are directly about the business or the products.

Instead, they are meant to somehow help the reader.

Create links

As you build your blog target audience, you'll also want to collect inbound links.

A good place to start is by participating in conversations on other local business blogs.

You may want to avoid direct competitors, but are there complementary or related business blogs in your community?

Participate by leaving thoughtful comments or mentioning (and linking) their posts on your blog.

Building relationships with other companies is a great way to set up your website and get links to your blog.

You can also do a backlink audit of your top competitors. You can use Ubersuggest to do this. Here's how.

Step 1: Enter your competitor's URL and hit "Search".

Step 2: Click on "Backlinks" in the left sidebar to run your check.

The last section of the results page lists all the backlinks along with:

• Domain Score: Measures the overall strength of the website from 1 (low) to 100 (high)
• Page rating: Measures the overall thickness of the page from 1 (low) to 100 (high)
• Connection type: Text or image
• Anchor text: The clickable text that leads to your website
• First seen: The first time Ubersuggest robots identified the backlink
• Last seen: The last time Ubersuggest robots confirmed the backlink

If Monteverde Restaurant & Pastificio is one of your competitors, there are two things you should check out each backlink for:

• Quality (measured by the domain score)
• Your ability to secure a link

Reach out to those same websites and let them know why they should link to your website too. It's a hit or miss, but even if you're just getting a few backlinks, it's a step in the right direction.

Know who you are addressing

If you don't know who you're writing for, it's extremely difficult to create valuable content that hits the mark.

Once you've established your reader personalities, you need to understand your target neighborhoods and their demographics.

Nielsen has developed an excellent tool called Zip Code Lookup to help you with this.

Just enter your zip code and you'll get information like median income, age and consumer spending.

The tool also offers a title that summarizes the area, e.g. B. "Urban Elders" or "Aspiring A-Listers".

Local content errors to avoid

Avoid common mistakes when focusing locally.

Do not take content from other websites – even from your manufacturers – unless you use it as an associated source or citation in your own original content.

Be careful with the multi-website approach to your business.

Many experts agree that building a single, powerful website for your brand, services, and offices is almost always better than splitting resources across multiple websites.

4. Get reviews for a local SEO boost

Before the internet, it was easier for bad companies to spin their branded and scam customers.

Fortunately, the internet has given consumers more power.

Now everyone can see right away if you are as good as they say you are.

Research shows that 81 percent of people read and review reviews, and more than one in three consumers comment on blogs or contribute to online forums.

In addition, 97% say customer reviews play a role in their purchase decisions.

So basically everyone.

What is the status of your online reviews?

If you have anything other than a four or five star rating on any of the major review sites, you might be in trouble.

Bad reviews turn off potential customers. And a lack of reviews may not instill confidence in your brand.

However, a study by Harvard Business School found that even increasing your score by one star can help increase sales by nearly 10%.

Reviews are also noticed by potential customers as they are often included in local search results.

They actually make up 15% of the local pack ranking factors.

Collecting reviews is an ongoing process that you will be a part of throughout the life of your business.

Every business will receive negative reviews at some point along the way.

In this case, make sure you respond professionally and personally.

The best way to prevent negative reviews is to offer an incredible product or service.

By delighting your customers, you limit bad reviews and encourage good ones.

Now that you've properly listed your business on major review platforms, it's time to fill them with positive customer reviews and photos like The Station:

According to Moz, Google reviews are probably the biggest impact on Google's local rankings.

You can create a shareable Google review link here to promote your audience.

Things to Avoid When Inquiring Reviews Online

Before asking for reviews on any platform, make sure you know their policies and terms of use.

For example, Google doesn't allow you to offer incentives in exchange for reviews, and Yelp prohibits companies from soliciting customer reviews in any way.

You want to channel the positive attitudes of your customers to influence new prospects.

What goes around comes around, right?

So don't do anything intrusive like setting up a review station or kiosk to ask for reviews.

Make sure local customers leave reviews on their own devices and under their own accounts.

Also, don't ask for too many reviews at the same time. A sudden influx of positive reviews can look suspicious and lead to filters on some platforms.

Again, collecting reviews should be a steady and ongoing process for your company.

5. Create quotations for local SEO

What exactly are quotations?

They mention your company name, address, phone number, or website (NAP + W) anywhere on the web, even if there is no link to your website.

Quotes are important to your local SEO efforts as their signals account for 11% of local pack ranking factors.

Make sure you only create quotes for real physical locations as P.O. Boxes and virtual offices are not acceptable.

You can create a unique set of quotes for each physical location.

However, make sure that the name, address, phone number, and website URL are correct and identical for each quote you create.

As I mentioned in a previous article, mismatched NAPs account for 41% of all ranking problems.

So again, consistency is key.

Even so, search engine algorithms are smart enough to understand most abbreviations.

It is important to check that your abbreviation is being recorded and read correctly by search engines.

For a full list of acceptable abbreviations, see Whitespark's full table.

Here are some ways to create quotes.

Local search engines

Search engines like Google or Bing scour the web for quotes to review or update the information in their own indexes.

You can help the search engines do this by listing your businesses on sites like Yelp, Hotfrog, and Foursquare. (It's worth noting, however, that FourSquare's city guide is much less popular these days.)

Spend some time and resources making sure your business is listed in as many relevant, high quality local business directories as possible.

Local blogs

Local blogs are a fantastic place to list your business and improve your local SEO.

These blogs are well indexed by search engines and are highly associated with a particular city, region, or neighborhood.

When you receive links from these blogs, search engines will increasingly see your business as trustworthy and relevant in the local search engines.

Local blogs are different for each location. However, you can find the ones that are relevant to you and your business by searching for terms like the following:

• (Destination) (Niche / Industry) Blog

Often times, the best local blogs have the city or region name in their title or domain, such as the Seattle Theater.

Locally targeted directories

Like local blogs, local directories are strongly associated with geographic area and are well indexed by search engines.

Human edited directories are preferred.

This is because they are less prone to spam and therefore more likely to be trusted by local search engines.

First, add your company to the Best of the Web regional directory.

You can then search for specific local directories by using the following search terms:

• Directory (destination city)
• (Status) directory

Industry-oriented directories or blogs

You can also get quotes from industry-specific blogs and directories.

These websites focus on the topics and keywords related to your products and services.

Although these websites don't always have a local focus, local search engines can count them as sources of citation.

Do you have a membership directory for your trade organization or blog that is popular with readers in your niche?

Both are likely to be crawled for quotes by the local search engines.

Porch is a directory of local contractors such as painters, plumbers, and electricians.

You can find business directories and blogs relevant to your business by searching for terms such as:

• (Your industry) directory
• (Your keyword) directory
• Top blogs (in your industry)

Conclusion

Struggling to climb the SERPs can be tough for businesses, especially if you're a small business with limited resources.

However, local SEO is critical to your business success.

As users increasingly rely on search engines and reviews to find what they need, you need to improve your local rankings to get found.

So get on the local SERPs by optimizing your website, creating great local content, capturing quotes and getting reviews.

But don't limit yourself to technical local SEO practices like quotes and web optimization.

Build relationships with other relevant local businesses, attend community events, and join local organizations.

Local SEO is not a stand-alone endeavor. You also need to use SEO and social media marketing to improve your rankings.

Online efforts always reflect the offline reality. If your business is bad, so will your reviews.

So focus on building the best business possible.

What local SEO techniques have produced great results for your business?

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