Introduction:
Whether you are a photographer in Valencia, a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo, or a multinational with physical stores in New York, local SEO can do wonders to generate traffic and attract new customers. And while taking on established competitors may seem like an impossible task, the truth is that local SEO can give any business the opportunity to be visible in Google search results.
How could we summarize local SEO positioning? Simply put, it’s about reaching people who are geographically close to you. However, local SEO is much more than getting local traffic to your site and that is what we want to explain to you below. In this post we will dive into the world of local SEO and tell you what it can do for you. In addition, we will share the good tactics that you should apply to start a successful local positioning strategy.
Let’s start!
What is Local SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is the discipline of optimizing a website to attract qualified and relevant traffic. In other words, the goal of SEO is to get more visitors to your website, more particularly visitors who are interested in your products and/or services and those who are most likely to take an action that adds value to you. It could be, for example, requesting a quote or an appointment, purchasing a product that you sell or subscribing to your newsletter.
Within the framework of SEO, there is local positioning, or local SEO, which consists of focusing on a local objective, that is, Internet users who are in a geographical location that is close and relevant to your business.
For example, if you are a plumber, it is in your best interest to reach potential clients in your area of operation. If a person calls you from the other side of the city because her bathroom pipe is leaking water, you will have problems helping her! Therefore, it is strategic to think of a way to better target your actions on the Internet according to a location, and this is precisely the goal of a local SEO strategy.
The Best Practices in Local SEO
There is no doubt that developing a local positioning strategy is an excellent opportunity to make yourself known to users when they are looking for a company or services in a specific geographical area. Not only does it allow you to gain visibility in search engines, but it also helps you increase qualified traffic to your website by attracting new customers.
Now, it is important to know the good practices that must be implemented to achieve a successful local SEO strategy. Keep reading to learn the best tactics that you can implement directly on your site (on-page) and external tools (off-page) that help you improve your local SEO positioning.
Include your City or Province in your Keywords
One of the first steps is based on On Page SEO, that is basic SEO that works through keywords. The fact that you focus on local SEO does not mean that you have to do without the most basic aspects of web positioning such as keyword research.
Once you have the list of keywords for your sector, you will have to add the city or province in which you want to attract your customers.
For example, if you have a gym in Valladolid and one of your keywords is “fitness for beginners”, the long tail you should use is “fitness for beginners in Valladolid”.
The Metadata and Content of your Website
Metadata is an HTML tag that is inserted in the header of each of your web pages to describe the content. It consists of a title and a description. The objective, for good local positioning, is to insert in this metadata the name of the city or area you are going to target so that Google and its robots can easily find the information.
And to be truly effective, we also recommend including your geographic area in the content of your website. For example, you can add it in the title of your page (like H1) or in the alt text of your images. Finally, don’t forget to include your address on a contact page and, why not, also in the footer.
Business Directories and Backlinks
Organic positioning is based, among other things, on a system of links called link building, and more particularly on backlinks. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours and are of greater importance for your local SEO. To do this, you can register in business directories since by including your website in the business directory, you will create a backlink that will help improve your organic local positioning.
But business directories aren’t the only backlinks you can generate to improve your local SEO. Local authority sites are also of some interest. These can be websites that are directly related to the geographic area you are targeting and that Google considers trustworthy. Some examples are city websites and tourist offices.
Schema.org Semantic Tags
Like metadata, Schema.org structured data contributes to the organic ranking of your website. This is a set of tags that help Google robots better understand the general information about your business or store.
For example, with the Local Business tag, you can clearly confirm information such as the type of business, your name, your official website, your address, your official logo, your hours, etc. By working on SEO semantics you can obtain a website that is more understandable for search engines, which will improve your indexing.
A Mobile-Friendly Website
The trend towards compatibility with mobile devices is even more advanced in the case of local positioning since mobile users often do proximity searches with their phones. Therefore, you need to make sure that your website works well on a smartphone. Its loading speed, responsive design and user experience are really important criteria.
Google My Business
Google My Business is an essential tool to carry out a successful local SEO strategy. GMB is the online directory developed and offered by the eponymous search engine.
It is free and allows any company to create a detailed listing of their business, which will then appear in the Local Knowledge Graph and on Google Maps. In other words, it allows you to be present on the list auto-generated by Google when Internet users search for a specific type of establishment.
Of course, it’s not enough to have a Google My Business account. Your company profile must be very well filled out. Below, we share the elements that you should include:
- Your company name
- Your geographic data: country and exact address
- Your phone number, your website and your hours of activity
- The precise category of activity (for example, bookstore instead of store)
- A description of your business, including your local SEO keywords
- Photos and images that highlight your company and your products/services
- Customer reviews (stars with the option to leave a comment)
- You can also indicate upcoming events you will be participating in and give users the opportunity to ask you questions.
Boost your Social Networks
Social networks also contribute to your local positioning. For example, Meta (formerly Facebook) is a very powerful network for your local SEO as it allows you to reinforce your local information including your contact information (address, phone number, email address, website).
The social network also allows you to promote your page locally, creating an ad that only targets users who are close to you. Additionally, as your page grows and you manage to create a strong community, search engines like Google will also be able to reference you through your account.
Key Takeaway
As you have seen, local SEO can entail the same work as the organic SEO we are used to. Therefore, it is worth taking your time to develop an appropriate strategy based on your business and its geographical location. By following these simple steps you can increase customer visits as well as purchases of products and services.