Get Found Faster: Boost Local SEO in 6 Steps

2 min read
Jun 4, 2015 12:07:24 PM

Today, it’s all about local searches. According to comScore, 88% of smartphone users and 84% of tablet owners conduct local searches on a regular basis, which means that about 70% of all Internet users perform local searches regularly. And, according to a study conducted by Google in May 2014, local searches are more than twice as likely to result in a purchase and have a high conversion rate.

So, you know that you want as much local, targeted, valuable traffic as you can get – but how do you get it? Good news: you don’t have to be an SEO genius to attract more leads and increase company visibility, and this doesn’t require tons of money or time. Here, we’ll discuss the 6 most important things you need to do to boost local SEO. 

  1. Make your site mobile-friendly. 

It’s critical for your site to be optimized for mobile devices. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, all your other local SEO work is just driving people to a site on which users will have an unpleasant experience. They’ll likely leave and not return. 

  1. Perform local SEO optimization on your site. 

To make sure your site shows up for local searches, first you need to make sure it’s optimized for search engines. You can do this by improving all of your on-page SEO. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Including location, phone number, and hours of operation are key, so if any of this information changes, you should always make sure your website is updated as soon as possible. Most important thing: Use your city and state as much as you can in your page titles, urls, etc.

  1. Set up your Google My Business listing. 

Make sure your business listing is on Google My Business. Fill out your company information as completely as possible in your profile, including your local phone number and physical address. Choose as many business categories as your business qualifies for. Upload images of your business, add business hours – everything. 

  1. Start building a steady trickle of customer reviews. 

Getting reviews is one of the biggest topics of local SEO. Having 25 or more positive reviews from Google users has been shown to boost SEO rankings. You can prompt people to leave a review by placing a sign near checkout, offering small incentives, or placing a poster and a QR code on the back of bathroom stalls. Remember that happy customers are more important than reviews. If you stay focused on making sure your customers are satisfied, the reviews will come. 

  1. Check your business listing on the major directories and sites. 

Having your listing on websites such as Express Update, Yellowpages.com, and Citysearch can really help you. In local search, NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. It’s critical that your NAP information is consistent across different platforms and databases. 

  1. Grow your social following. 

Update your Facebook page and tweet at least a couple times a week. As long as you are consistent, your social networks will expand. 

If you follow these 6 key steps, you’ll be well along your way to getting more local traffic and trumping your competition. Local SEO is very important, so keep up with it in order to get found!

Thinking about redesigning your website, or even if you are not, make sure you are not making these SEO mistakes!

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