Speaking about local SEO for business, we note that the process of promoting this type of offline and online site is more straightforward than promoting companies with broader coverage of territories.
Here you are dealing with a narrow segment of the audience, limited in area and, therefore, in choice. Your task is to create a service that will meet the interests and requirements.
Promoting local resources is a relatively straightforward process. To achieve the desired results, well-thought-out semantics and the correct placement of keys on the pages are enough. If you’re not content with little, here’s a selection of local SEO strategy get the most out of your business site.
What is local website promotion?
Local business website promotion is a set of measures to promote a resource, taking into account the geolocation of the site and its target audience.
This method is a competitive opportunity to reach the same level with more experienced and advanced players in your niche, thriving within the same region. What is the essence of the approach, and what is local SEO in practice?
Of course, the main criterion is the interest of the user himself. Still, the territory of his residence at the time of the request has a remarkable impact.
For example, a user looking for foodservice in Patna enters the same query type in a search engine. The highest ranking in the search results will be occupied by web links to the benefits of this city. This condition is convenient for the users themselves and for regional companies aimed at promotion.
Local SEO allows you to maximize your own SERP (search engine results pages) ranks within your region.
Factors Affecting Local SEO Promotion
In addition to the general ranking criteria, the following factors affect local search results:
- The organization’s physical address (city, district, and even street). The Closer you are to the user at the time of the search, the higher the probability of getting into his local issue. You should tell the search engine exactly where you can be found to get this opportunity. Placing a physical address on the main page of a resource is a great way;
- Registration in services (Google My Business, Google Maps, etc.). The search engine uses any available sources to collect data about a registered company. One of the most important is Google My Business, which displays primary data about the site and its location;
- The link profile mentions external resources and sites similar to the subject matter. For local issuance, it is important to pay special attention to authoritative resources in your region. To improve rank, try to get backlinks from regional media, business directories, service aggregator sites, job advertisements, and city forums. This will not only effectively increase the link weight but also increase the overall visibility and recognition in the region;
- User activity – user behavior on the site, the number of reviews, ratings on other regional resources and services. Don’t even try to benefit from fake Google Maps accounts. It’s practically impossible. Careful verification by moderators minimizes the likelihood of receiving benefits. Instead, motivate your customers to leave reviews about your company with various discounts and bonuses. This not only contributes to the promotion but also attracts the trust of potential buyers;
- The semantic core is a set of words and phrases compiled, taking into account regional keys, allowing you to increase positions for queries with local binding. As a rule, such questions have a relatively low frequency, so many optimizers often ignore them. If the user is looking for services in your city, he is driven by a genuine interest in their order. Use the same technique in title tags and page URLs. Then the search engine will consider your content as the most relevant for the issue in the specified local area;
- Domain zone. If it is chosen correctly, it will promote promotion in a particular country or region. The name’s ending with .in, .com, or co.in it informs the search engine that the central segment of the site’s target audience lives in this country. All factors should be carefully weighed before applying this method of promotion. If you plan to expand your business, a domain zone can become a limiting factor, reducing your rank in other cities.
Ways of internal optimization for local website promotion
Although the main focus of location-based promotion is the city (district) of business localization, it also depends on a competent approach to internal optimization. This is a set of actions that work to improve the quality of a web resource, its attractiveness to the user, and search engines, which accompanies the growth of positions.
Optimize title and Description
Meta tags and work on improving them are the most important factors in the internal development of the site. In particular, the title and description tags are elements designed to describe page titles and their concise content. The right approach to work will significantly improve the site’s local issuance position and positively affect its traffic.
When compiling a title, consider the need to add a header on all site pages and work out the uniqueness and clarity of the phrase. This tag is the most significant for the promotion of the resource.
Description, in turn, requires readability and the most responsible approach to compiling a report for a potential audience. The tag, in fact, is regarded as an advertisement for a web page. Depending on the degree of attractiveness of the description, the user decides to go to the resource.
Implementation of microdata
Micro-markup is additional data for search engines’ better “readability” of the site’s pages and, consequently, faster indexing. The process is implemented by applying unique attributes in the code of the site pages.
In the case of local promotion, the required markup type is Schema.org “Local Business.”
Optimize content for queries
The content of your resource has a considerable weight in the promotion of any type, and local SEO is no exception. Speaking of text content, we note that you need to take care of complying with the previously selected semantics and well-placed keywords on the site pages. In addition, the content must be:
- specific – the modern rhythm and algorithms of actions on the Web are ruthless to boring, irrelevant texts written only for the sake of keywords;
- Helpful – bring real value to your visitors. Don’t let them drown in the “water” of content. Provide what they came for;
- Complete – provide comprehensive information that meets the client’s request.
Analyze the results, and look for the golden mean specifically for your niche. Depending on the topic, the optimal text size is “felt”: long read, mini-posts, etc. At the same time, remember that literal content is, first of all, content. Skillfully balance these criteria, setting proportions so as not to lose the quality of the content.
The expertise of the author and the texts he created also provide a bonus in ranking. In addition, it is a great way to add liking from users and, as a result, affect the quantitative conversion rates.
Local website promotion with link building
Link building -. The essence of the process is the distribution of links leading to the promoted resource on various Internet sites on related topics. It brings additional traffic through potentially interested in buying users, increasing the importance of Google search engines.
Every conscientious SEO specialist carefully monitors the quality of donor resources. This is the one where more is not better. Transitions from sites with a dubious reputation will damage ranking positions and the business.
When choosing services for placing links for local website promotion, consider several factors. Good donors are:
- sites of the target audience binding region;
- compliance with the theme of your site (interlacing themes);
- the arrival of relevant traffic due to potentially interested users;
- assistance in building the image, reputation, and credibility.
Local SEO with Google My Business
Google My Business is an electronic business card of your brand in the search engine.
In it, business owners post data about themselves and customers, and users just express their opinions from the interaction.
It includes:
- data on the main field of activity;
- reviews about the company;
- addresses of the Network’s representative offices (if any);
- opening hours;
- contacts for communication: telephone, e-mail address, link to the site, and profiles in social networks;
- photos and publications of the company, its products, etc.
Besides the service allowing you to get into advanced search results, including search by images, it is also a great traffic source. It is important to monitor the completeness of the information provided during the profile registration and, if necessary, update it regularly.
Promotion through social networks
The activity of your profiles in social networks will also play into the hands of local SEO promotion.
To get the desired flow of clicks from an engaged audience to your site, provide links to publications on your company’s Facebook pages. Use contextual advertising tools and post helpful posts in local groups with related topics.
Lure the audience you need with a set of usefulness from Instagram. Specify the locations of the locations you want to focus on to attract local target users.
Local promotion on YouTube is also possible, but this tool is more expensive in terms of money. Funds will be needed to produce exciting video products and promote them through contextual advertising campaigns. YouTube recommends its content collections and area trends based on users’ geolocation. However, getting in the direction of a social network is a task with an asterisk.
The benefits of social networks are obvious because users who come to your site through a link from your profile are already interested in the product and its purchase. And this is a sign to search engines about the need for a resource.
Summing up
Local website promotion is an excellent tool for increasing the visibility of small businesses in search results. With it, you can provide the most targeted transitions to the site since most users are located in your city or even in your area. Thus, a small enterprise becomes a serious competitor to any large organization in the city.