Local SEO Techniques to Get Your Site Ranked

Are you running a small or multi-location business? Think With Google revealed that 30% of search traffic is local.

You need a local SEO strategy so that your nearby customers can easily find your brand through search. This process will optimize your business web presence so that you show up when nearby highly motivated customers carry out a search related to your business.

If your website doesn’t convert traffic into potential customers and revenue, then you need to start thinking about how you can change that.

Getting your site ranked with relevant search engines can be difficult depending on the niche you are in and your location in the world. 

However, Local SEO is a wonderful way to rise to the occasion and dominate search engines. Start by utilizing some of the tips we are about to share with you and see your views and clicks start to soar.

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1. Target and Optimize Your Site for Local Keywords

If you want to appear in local search results, find and use local keywords to help increase your search rankings. 

Consumers often find businesses by conducting local searches. Locally focused keywords include long-tail keywords and phrases with geographic area locations such as 'Best Sushi in New York' or 'Nearest Book-Seller in Minnesota'. 

This way you’ll be increasing your reach to more local potential customers.

If you are worried about finding local keywords, you can use tools such as Alexa’s Keyword Difficulty Tool, Google’s Keyword Planner, or SEMrush to source search volume data for your location and find local phrases related to your business. 

Voice search is also growing rapidly. If you can, adjust the SEO of your content to fit the conversational tone of a customer speaking. Integrate the 'who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why' and 'how' questions while you also consider user intent. 

Searches will be more accurate from how people ask questions when they speak as opposed to how they type out their searches.

2. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Mobile has eclipsed desktop completely in terms of monthly searches done by device. Your website will fall to the back reaches of the internet if it’s not properly designed for mobile devices. 

When you optimize your website for mobile, it will perform better in search and provide a better experience for users because it will be more responsive and adapts to any screen size. 

Your website will be easier for users to navigate, which will increase the time spent on your site, hence leading to higher conversions. 

To see if your site is mobile-friendly, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to scan your site. It will provide you with improvement recommendations if your site doesn’t meet mobile-friendly standards.

A good percentage of mobile searches are location-related. Consumers should therefore find you on local searches while using their mobile devices. 

Don’t let potential customers move off your site and opt for a competitor whose online presence is well optimized for mobile.

3. Add Location Pages to Your Website

Give Google an easy time understanding where your business is located. Indicate your physical address on your site. 

If your business serves multiple locations, make sure you are ranking in the local searches of all of these locations. Don’t risk consolidating. 

It’s not helpful for local SEO because it will show up as duplicate content on Google and affect your page rankings.

On your contact and location pages, consider inserting a Google map showing the business location. 

By having a specific landing page with structured location-based data about your website, search engines can easily locate your listing and deliver the appropriate location to the searchers. 

This information will also help the search engines to associate your business with a specific region.

You should include the suite number, street name, avenue, or road, written in full or abbreviated to make it easier to locate your business and help to create a clearer sitemap for search engines.

4. Update NAP Citations on Your Website

While you are doing every other thing right, don't forget to keep your name, address, and phone number (NAP) information correct and consistent. 

If you have multiple locations, then as we mentioned above, create a page for each location and correctly indicate the appropriate NAPs.

You’ll also want to be hawk-eyed about your NAP information. Google may update it based on changes on your business profile information as suggested by consumers with the ill intentions of disrupting your business. 

You should catch this ASAP! If by any chance you would like to move your business, then you should update this information across all your platforms.

5. Verify Your Google My Business Listings (GMB)

It is important for you to claim all listings under your business name, remove any duplicates and ensure the information left is accurate and up to date. 

Verify the Google My Business listing for your business and add your business address and location to include business hours, local phone number, and the link to your website.

This process can prove to be hectic, but with the help of tools such as Moz Local, the process can be very simple for anyone. Use Moz Local to detect all the listings related to your business. 

All you need to do is enter your business name just like it appears on your website then leave the rest to Moz Local. It will give you the complete, incomplete, inconsistent, and duplicate listings tied to your business.

If you do not verify your Google My Business listings, you won’t be able to know what people are saying about your business. 

You will not be able to host customer reviews and without claiming your GMB profile, you will not be notified when someone submits a review of your business. You need to be able to verify, monitor, and respond to reviews.

Google My Business allows your business to be seen by thousands of potential customers

Google My Business has given lots of new opportunities to small businesses across the globe. Around 50% of businesses receive more than 1000 views per month just on their GMB listing, and when done correctly you can easily hit the 5000-10000 views per month easily.

Additionally, “near me” searches on mobile are reaching new heights. Hotels and car dealerships have been cashing in on the increased amount of leads being generated by their GMB listings.

Think With Google reported that there was a 900% increase in “_ near me today/tonight” searches from mobile devices. This is an absolutely astounding increase and cannot be overlooked.

By making sure your GMB is properly optimized for these searches, and that your website correlates with these changes, you can start ranking and being seen by thousands of people much faster than traditional search tactics.

Discovery Searches are still on the rise

A large portion of searches (84% for that matter) is classified as discovery searches. These involve people looking to find new and exciting places to shop, visit, or purchase services from. 

This means that over 4 out of 5 people have not discovered your business yet when they come across it. Now is your time to increase your brand awareness and bring in new customers using your GMB and local search techniques.

This is simply too much traffic to be overlooking. In order to capitalize on these gains, you need to start working right away to establish yourself as an expert in your field and an authority in your industry.

Make Posts on your GMB

It’s very important to be continually updating your GMB with posts to keep activity up on your profile and for potential customers to see updates about your business.

These can prove to be very powerful in driving traffic to your site. Posts can be used to provide updates, promote deals or products on the site, and share valuable information with your potential customers.

So make sure to be making at least one post per week on your GMB to show to your customers that your business is alive and well, ready to serve them.

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6. Get Reviews

Consumers trust votes of validation when deciding whether to buy from you. It will be of great help if your customers get reviews about your products and services from other satisfied clients within their location. 

You can generate reviews by sending emails to recent clients asking for a review and including a direct link to your website.

Remember, when search engines are trying to figure out what the best results might be for a search inquiry, they will look for a number of factors in their system, the number of reviews you have on Google being one of them. 

Be sure to create a page where your past customers or clients can leave their reviews for other visitors to read. You can even create a link to the review form.

Final Thought

There are several variables that Google considers in their local search algorithms in order for websites to appear in the local search results. By targeting and optimizing your site for local keywords, optimizing your website for mobile, adding location pages to your website, updating NAP citations on your website, and verifying your GMB listings, you will give your local rankings on Google a substantial boost above your competitors.