A perfect definition for local SEO is:
“Local SEO is a practice to promote the local business locally to specific regions or cities. If you are providing services locally or selling products to specific locations you need to invest in local SEO.
What is local SEO?
Now let’s expand on this a bit more I mean this does give a general idea of what’s going on but it doesn’t specifically describe what local search engine marketing entails. We will be going through some of the crucial steps that SEO consultants take to improve your local rankings below. Now specifically local rankings are businesses that appear on the Google Map Pack is shown below.
Now when searching for a service or product in a specific location or city will almost guarantee a listing like the one above. This makes it more convenient for mobile owners to see what’s closer to them as well as allow them to call, find directions or see photos of the services and products offered at the click of a button. This is an essential aspect of any business’s marketing, it helps bring clients ready to take action to the door.
How to Improve Your Local Rankings?
Let’s take a look at improving these rankings and how do medical seo specialists go about making sure your business shows up in these top three results. Well there are several factors and we won’t be able to cover them all but I will be covering the four major factors that all businesses looking to rank, need to factor in.
- Keep Your Listing Up To Date
Make sure all your details are 100% correct and up to date this is a major factor in keeping on top of the rankings. Taking some time out once a month to post an update about your business or to announce some promotions you’re having will also help your business achieve top rankings in the long run.
- Reviews Are Everything
Thanks to the internet the world is ever smaller and ever faster. People can choose any service according to their requirements. if they are not satisfied with the product and service, they have the right to post a negative. This impacts on the next person looking for a similar service or product whether you like it or not keeping your customers happy is the only way to keep your business successful. Now I know there are all sorts of people around and keeping this 5/5 is not easy but making sure you show you care about your business and replying to reviews will go a long way.
- Location, Location & Location
Unfortunately, this is one of the most disappointing ranking factors for local SEO but businesses closer to the center of any given city rank better on the map pack. And I’m sure you can see why, as someone looking for a pizza in Melbourne won’t be too happy if pizzerias from New York show up. I mean it makes sense but unfortunately since the proximity of the business to the city center in question it a ranking factor it makes for manipulation.
- Always Require Citation:
Building citations is an integral part of local SEO. But what are citations well this is best defined by my friend Mark from the UK:
” A citation is an online reference to your business’s name, address and phone number (NAP). Like links to your website, Google uses them when evaluating the online authority of your business. Unlike links though, citations don’t need to be linked to your business’s website in order for you to be credited for them.
Citations For Local SEO | SEO Mark”
As you can see Mark knows what he’s talking about because for Local SEO you sometimes don’t need a website. We all see the amazing things done at Google and how smart algorithms for search engines have gotten. Just because you don’t have a link to your website doesn’t mean you won’t be credited for the citation since as said above Google looks at NAP (name address and phone number) in these cases. Making sure your details on all directories on the world wide web are up to date and correct is a must. These citations include websites like yellowpages, yelp, hotfrog, and yalwa to mention a few and I mean a few. Directories are not far and few in between there are thousands, so make sure you keep to your local ones.
In Conclusion
So we’ve come to the end of our discussion on local search engine optimization I’m sure all the above information is a lot to take in but making sure you have covered all your bases is key to the success of your business. Making sure you get traffic from as many sources as possible maybe one of your main goals. Our you might just as likely be opening your first business and don’t have the budget for your website this gives you the flexibility to be found by clients while being able to invest in your own business to make it the best it can be. Now given all the above information you can see why an Adelaide SEO consultant might be required later on. even without a website, there is a decent amount of work and factors to take into consideration.
Search engine optimization is a tricky, unpredictable business. it’s always wise to consult the professionals especially your first time trying to rank on Google.