Table of Content
- SEO
What Is Local SEO? Increase Your Visibility
There is fierce competition to be at the top of Google’s search results, but fortunately, there are many tools available to help one enter the competition. First and foremost, comprehend local SEO.
Local SEO is one of them, and it is the part of SEO work that should help your business rank higher in Google search results in your local area. We’ve compiled a concise list of the factors you should consider when working with local SEO.
Be Visible Where Your Company Is Located
Let’s start with one of the easy targets. One of the first steps in working with local SEO is to create a Google My Business profile for your company (GMB).
Google My Business is a Google tool that, as the name suggests, helps your business appear in search results when people search in the area where your store or business is located. If you own a Japanese restaurant in Hua Hin, for example, your restaurant may appear on local SEO if someone searches for “Japanese restaurant in Hua Hin.”
So it’s a simple way to bring in new customers who didn’t know you existed. Creating a profile on GMB is also free.
The screenshots below show where one’s GMB profile appears in a Google search.
It is critical to keep your profile up to date with the correct information. This includes not only the address, opening hours, and phone numbers, but also pictures and postings like those found on Facebook. This shows Google that your profile is relevant for others to see. Another unique feature of GMB is the ability for users to make change suggestions.
For example, as a user, you may discover that a store has closed despite the fact that it should be open.
These changes must be approved or rejected on a continuous basis, so it is critical to be aware of your GMP profile. However, if you do a good job, your Local SEO strategy will pay off.
Optimise Your Website
It is critical that your website is Local SEO optimised. This means you must have some good on-page pages that are optimised for the area or city in which your store, restaurant, or business is located.
However, it is also about having control over what is commonly referred to as technical search engine optimisation.
These include URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions, which must all be optimised for Local SEO. With a good SEO page, your website will fare much better in local search results and will receive more organic results from search engines such as Google.
You can improve your URL after local SEO by including geographical information and ensuring that it does not contain long and irrelevant information. A URL should be as brief and specific as possible so that Google can see what the page is about.
The same is true for your page’s meta text and title. These texts should be able to represent your website briefly and accurately, so try to incorporate local keywords into these descriptions. It is also critical that you have control over your page’s header, which refers to the headings on your page. By including relevant and local keywords, these can also be optimised for local SEO. As a result, Google will be able to quickly assess whether the page is relevant to a local search.
Local landing pages are pages that are created specifically for customers who are looking for a product and a location. It is not necessary to create a landing page for each product or placement; however, it is a good idea to experiment with different landing pages.
NAP Information
NAP is an abbreviation for Name, Address, and Phone. It is critical that these three details about your company are kept up to date on Google My Business and on your website. This gives Google a clear indication of where your business is and how to contact you.
It is also a good idea to include the email address of your company. It’s critical that this information is consistent across all pages where your company’s information can be found, so Google doesn’t get confused about what’s correct.
The NAP information is typically found in the footer at the bottom of your website, as well as on the pages “Contact” or “About us.”
Link Building Using Local Keywords
Link building is an essential component of SEO because links to and from your website help Google determine how credible and authoritative your pages are. If you use a lot of high-quality internal and external links, Google will consider your company relevant to the user’s search results.
You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs to see which links your competitors are using. Here you can see which links have a high relevance and credibility and are thus suitable for use. To improve your local SEO, obtain links from websites in your area to help your business rank higher for specific keywords.
CTR Optimization
CTR is an abbreviation for Click Through Rate, which means that the more people who click into your website from Google’s search results, the more credible and relevant your website becomes to Google in relation to the keywords from which the traffic is generated.
It is therefore important to consider how users interact with your website and how you ensure that users understand why they should click on your website rather than the competitors’. CTR is thus about user behaviour, and increasing your CTR will make Google see your website as credible and as the page that provides the most relevant results.
You can use Google Search Console to measure and track your website’s development and performance. Here you can quickly see which initiatives produce the best results and get a better understanding of what your users are looking for to find your website.
Keep Your Contact Information Updated
You must ensure that your contact information is correct not only on your GMB profile, but also on your website.
The majority of people include at least their contact information in the footer. To optimise for Local SEO, you must have the following information on hand: company name, address, phone number, and email address.
If this information matches what is on your GMB profile, it is a plus in Google’s book and increases your chances of ranking high on Local SEO, which is the goal!
Is Local SEO Worth It?
You may believe it is unimportant, but several SEO agencies still mention it. Is optimising your website for local SEO really worth it?
Local SEO optimization provides numerous benefits, not only for your search engine to choose to show you in your local area, but also for the user to find your location, opening hours, and other important information.
Optimization and information are critical in a recipient’s decision-making process, as you risk the user opting out of your site if there is simply a lack of information on Google. With local SEO optimization, you also help the search engine, as previously stated, to place you high in the search results, which benefits you and your opportunities for more visitors to your website, and thus conversions in the long run.
Do You Need Help With Local SEO?
If it appears easier to understand what local SEO is, or if you need assistance getting a handle on your local SEO, please contact IBEX Media Group, a digital marketing agency specialising in search engine optimization.