The Beginner’s Guide To Local SEO

Local SEO can be incredibly confusing. Especially, if you’re planning on doing it yourself, here is Guide To Local SEO. There’s so much conflicting advice you could actually end up doing more harm than good.

How do you easily get people to find your local business? How do you connect with people in your local community who are interested in your products and services?

Below we’re going to cover the basics of any local SEO strategy. Any strategy you should employ to increase your rankings should utilize the following.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process of getting your site to rank for specific keywords that send you traffic. When a person searches for your business they’re going to type in certain keywords into search engines, such as, Google.

By implementing a local SEO strategy you’ll be able to attract new leads and customers to your website.

Local SEO 101

When it comes to local SEO there’s more than enough advice and Guide To Local SEO out there. A lot of experts recommend high-risk strategies, however, we believe it’s better to build a solid foundation, so you don’t risk the longevity of your rankings.

It can always help to stick with the foundational principles.

1. Foundation

In order to start ranking you’re going to need to have a website. Without a website you won’t have a place to build the links for, or send qualified traffic to. Besides a website it’s important you create local business profiles on popular review sites, such as, Google My Business and Yelp.

When creating these profiles make sure you invest energy into each profile and ensure it’s an accurate representation of your business. Make sure all of your business information is accurate and has the same exact details across each site.

2. Get Your NAP Right

One crucial element of your local SEO strategy you’ll need to get right is your Name, Address, and Phone Number. All of these need to be the same across your website and every local listing you create.

If you’ve moved since setting up your local listings, or didn’t spend much time on them the first time, then it’s a good idea to either re-do or double check your listings.

3. Onsite SEO Basics

Your site needs to be optimized for certain keywords and local phrases, so Google knows what to rank your website for. The foundational elements you’ll want to ensure are optimized across your site are as follows:

• Location relevant content
• A Google map with your address
• Images of your team that are properly optimized
• Post meta descriptions optimized
• And much more

If you’re interested in a full-fledged local SEO strategy, that will include both onsite and offsite strategies, then reach out to our creative team today.

3. Start Local Link Building

Beyond on-site optimization and creating local social profiles it’s important that you start building links. The best and quickest way to do this is to build local citations by submitting your site to relevant business directories.

You can also expand your link building efforts with other types of links from local news sites, organizations, and non-profits.

Local SEO can be overwhelming, but by ensuring your website is optimized, creating local profiles, and building relevant backlinks you’ll be on your way towards better rankings and increased traffic.