When it comes to startup success, local SEO is the next frontier in optimizing businesses for the web. A study from Google revealed that 50 percent of mobile searches led to people visiting that business in person. And let’s be honest, if you aren’t making an effort to reach your audience online, you could be missing out on a huge amount of business.
Fortunately, I’ve cultivated a few tips that will help you get better at search engine optimization. Here’s how SEO in 2016 will revolve around optimizing for local searches.
Make Yourself a Local Business
Simply serving customers in a certain area isn’t enough – you have to start by presenting yourself as a business in the community. You’ll need a local address and phone number on your website – these are the key pieces of information Google want from you if they are going to make you pop up whenever someone performs a local search.
While you might not think something this small can make a difference, costumers are dedicated to businesses they can see. If you aren’t present in the community, they won’t be present on your website.
Claim Your Business
You should have business records in local directories scattered across the web. These should be regularly updated at all times. It may be a pain to change everything each time you alter your phone number, but it’s necessary to keep you ranking high.
Be precise in your targeting and make sure the information you are providing is genuine. Try to make sure that you have consistent social media links, as well as more intimate information, like when your store is open.
Intelligent businesses are going one step further. In product development, everything is designed to be consistent. Businesses are taking this principle and applying it to their font, color, and even texture. Remember to list yourself in as many places as possible. Quantity really is important in this field. The more places your name is in the higher the chances of you being discovered.
Be Local Through Keywords
It may seem difficult to be local with keywords without them sounding like they are being forced in. It requires you to do it in the right way. It used to be common to simply add a keyword with your city after that. However, this’ll be considered spam because it sounds completely unnatural.
Instead, combining your usual keywords with local and relevant information will make a lasting impact on your SEO search. Long tail keywords are what Google want and it’s how you’re going to rank. Focus less on targeting as many people as possible and more on hitting your precise niche.
Use Multiple Domain Names
Some businesses gather together multiple domain names in order to achieve more SEO juice. Generally, this only works if you happen to operate in multiple countries or localities. However, you can combine the SEO power of multiple websites by taking a different domain name out for each locality.
They are linked with the same central platform, of course, but they each gain a separate listing in Google. Just be sure to spread things out a bit so you don’t miss out on all that traffic.
Be Regular with Content Marketing
Content is king. You shouldn’t let up on your content marketing efforts regardless of how well your SEO is. No SEO tactic will be more successful than effective content marketing in this day in time. The more content you write the better. This will help you to create more awareness about your business, and so it will get higher in the search engines.
There are many types of content you should take advantage of, including blog posts, news, and updates on what the company is doing. Just make sure that you use the right keywords so you are driving traffic to the right place. SEO is still important, but it will never be as important as quality content.