How to optimize pages for local SEO?

Local SEO is a quickly emerging digital marketing strategy deployed by a local SEO marketing agency. Learn what it is and why it is important for a local business. You’ll also find an overview of some key steps to boost your local SEO

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is a subset of SEO that takes into account specific characteristics of a physical location. A local SEO marketing agency will leverage Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp pages and citations to enhance your local presence. This way, local SEO enables businesses to appear in local search results. 

Why is ‘local’ presence online important?

Over 2 billion people use Google services monthly, and 30,000 searches take place every second. With this incredible statistic, there is only one foolproof way to ensure that those in your local community find your business. 

You need to create a website and actively manage it with the help of a local SEO marketing agency.

Following are some local SEO best practices when setting up your digital marketing strategy is an essential part of assuring success.

[1] Set up Google My Business

The first step in local SEO is to create a Google My Business page and complete all the information associated with your business. You can complete this process directly on Google by searching “Google My Business,” or going to google.com/business. 

[2] Get a Google My Business Profile Photo

Your Google My Business profile photo is the first impression to those who see your business in their local search results. It’s best to use an image that is professional, has a high resolution, and is uploaded at the highest quality setting possible. 

In addition to uploading industry-standard images, be sure to include information that properly identifies your business, such as your full name and your primary business category.

You can also include photos of your business location (especially exterior photos), staff, products and services.

[3] Use the Keyword Planner Tool

Google My Business is an essential tool for local SEO. Beyond the fact that Google owns it, it allows you to do keyword research and find opportunities along with your competition. 

As stated previously, keywords vary from local SEO to regular SEO. However, if you are unsure of which keywords to optimize for, using the Keyword Planner tool may be beneficial. This enables you to see which keywords have a high monthly search volume and cost per click and are highly correlated with what your business does.

Carefully choose which keywords you want to optimize for. If you choose keywords that are too broad (i.e., “Landscaping Company”), you could lead your company to appear in searches that are not related to what your business does. This would lead to low click-through rates.

[4] Start Using Local Superlatives

When starting out, it’s best to use broad descriptors when describing your business. These include: 

• Best Landscaping Company in (Neighborhood)

• Top Landscaping Company in (Neighborhood)

Once you find these keywords, you can now begin to optimize for them as you would for any SEO strategy. You can also continue to create and manage local pages for all of the locations that your business services.

[5] Optimize content for Local Searches

You may find that some of the search phrases you are optimizing for are specific to a particular location in your local area. This would be something like: 

• Landscaping Contractor in (Town or City)

• Landscaper in (City)

When optimizing for these search terms, you can make use of geographic keywords and phrases such as “in” or “near” when finding opportunities in the space.

To sign off

With these tips, you can deploy the right strategy to rank well on local SEO searches. Connect with an experienced local SEO marketing agency to get targeted local SEO campaigns geared for success.