Local SEO should not be an afterthought for your SEO campaign. While improving your organic search rank may be an important goal, it won’t give you the kind of visibility and reach as placing in local search results. Unless your business exists strictly in an ecommerce platform, local optimization will be critical for increasing traffic both on the web and at your storefront. So, what do you need to do to locally optimize? Here’s a look at the basics:
Google My Business
Your free business listing on Google My Business is the foundation of your local SEO campaign. With your Google business page, you can tell people about your business using keyword-rich text that plays into your local search rank. You can also post updates about your business, respond to reviews, and more, so you can connect to your local audience directly through search rather than relying solely on customers visiting your website to find what they need. This listing is also what will allow you to show up in the local pack of listings in regular searches as well as in searches through Google Maps.
On-Page SEO
Your Google business page is important for local SEO, but your website still plays a significant role. Keyword targeting in particular will boost your presence in local search results for relevant search terms, and that should take place in the content on each page of your website as well as in title tags, meta-descriptions, and image alt-tags. You also need to make sure that you have your business name, address, and phone number prominently featured on your site, so this data can be pulled by search engines and various directories where your citation portfolio is built out.
If you aren’t showing up in local search results, Anchor Wave can help you improve your local SEO strategy with a well-rounded approach to market your brand in the digital landscape. To learn more about what we can do for you, call us at (520) 622-3731.
