Local Search
More and more people are using the web to look for local businesses, many of them using mobile devices to do so. Local search engine optimisation is really important if you want to stand out from the crowd, here are a couple of things you can do, to help you achieve this…
- Claim your Google My Business Page and Bing Places For Business
- Claim local name, address and phone number citations and listings in local directories online.
- Get people to leave ratings and reviews on Google Reviews
- Claim your name over all social media platforms
- Produce relevant local content
Local Content
Local content is probably the best way to improve your visibility and rankings in local search results. If your main customer base is local to you, you need to include local keywords, this will help narrow your competition and help you come out on top.
When writing content, make sure you include places that are local to you. For example, Sokada is based in Heathfield, so you will include Heathfield and other areas close by to this location in your pages content and blog post pages. The content needs to make sense though, don’t try to insert as many instances of it as possible! Also consider how you can link your business to relevant local news or industry stories, this will help you get further to the top of the search results.
It’s also important to know who your audience is, so that you can get your message in front of the right people. Sometimes the best way to do this is to utilise Facebook’s audience insights to identify demographics and interests of your potential audience. You can also look at Google’s Keyword Planner to see how certain keywords are performing and Google Analytics to see what your current traffic data is like.
However, despite all this, local content isn’t just a blog post; it’s also the other four things we’ve mentioned above and then some. Share user-generated content (the good stuff your customers post about your business), get people to review your business and share those too, be sure to post your blog content to all social media platforms you’re on. Maybe even promote some of the posts too. Social media is pretty crucial so make use of it!
More detail to come on the above 5 points…
If you’re not sure where to begin with SEO then give us a call on 01435 817226 or drop us an email and we can give you some guidance on how to get started!