7 Ways to Attain Local Search Engine Marketing Success
How do you attain local search engine marketing success? Search engines like Google are the “go-to” solution whenever someone is looking for local products or services. Being highly ranked in Google search results helps businesses get their content and brand in front of their target audience. As a result, companies can generate more leads and traffic from their websites.
But search engine marketing can be difficult for people unfamiliar with how digital marketing works, what search engines value, how Google ranks pages, and more. To help you, here are 7 local search engine optimization tactics to help your business dominate the search rankings and generate more leads and traffic.
1. Establish Citations & Directories
One of the foundational components of a local SEO strategy is a business’s citations. These are listings that provide information about a company, mainly what is referred to as NAP:
- Name
- Address
- Phone number
These directories include platforms like Yelp, Houzz, Yellow Pages, and social media networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.
Claiming these business directories is vital for local search engine marketing, as these listings help Google determine that your business is trustworthy and helps people find information about your business. So, your business information needs to be accurate and consistent across these listings. Otherwise, your website’s potential to rank highly will be negatively affected, as Google will not be sure whether you are honest with your information.
One of these directories, Google Business Profile, is an incredibly crucial listing for your local SEO plan. Companies need a strategy for their Google Business Profile to succeed, which we will go over below.
2. Make Use of Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (GBP) is an essential tool for local SEO. A GBP will likely appear next to the search results when people search for local products, services, or businesses. And an optimized listing means your business will show up more often.
A GBP listing needs the following information:
- A category that best fits your industry (e.g., Retailer) and, if applicable, subcategories such as specialty retail (e.g., Hardware store)
- Address
- Phone number(s)
- Website URL
- Hours of operation
You can also use your listing to answer people’s questions about your business from Google users or an FAQ section. And you need to use GBP to get more customer reviews and respond to them. Reviews and reputation management are vital for local businesses to help convert potential customers.
Your Google Business Profile listing is as important as your website’s home page. GBP may be a potential customer’s first impression of your company, so your listing should give potential customers information about your business.
3. Cultivate Reviews from Customers
Suppose you are selling beach towels online but are reluctant to pay shipping costs when shipping them across the country. In that case, you might focus on ads that target people who live nearby and are more likely to buy those towels over others because of a lack of competition with other sellers in their area.
One way to get more customer reviews is by asking for them at every step throughout your sales process. Some of the ways you can and should ask customers for reviews include:
- Phone calls
- Email follow-ups after a job have been completed
- Social media messages
You can also use tools to give your customers quick and easy access to write their reviews, monitor them, and respond as soon as people publish them. Again, our agency has such tools, so contact us if you are interested.
4. On-page Optimization
Search engines prioritize well-structured and optimized web pages when ranking search results, and website optimization involves many efforts. As a result, a few items for which an excellent local business has optimized its website.
Keywords and knowing which keywords are good requires keyword research.
Accessibility so that people with disabilities can use a website.
Performance, especially mobile, to deliver content quickly.
On-site optimization requires much work, so contact an agency like ours if you need help.
5. Create Local Content
Your website needs pages optimized for specific locations that you serve. The content on your website is a crucial factor that Google considers when analyzing and ranking your website. As part of a local search engine marketing strategy, you must give detailed information about your business and the areas said pages are about.
For example, suppose you own a bakery in New York City and serve croissants. In that case, the keyword could be “Croissant Bakery NYC” or “Best Croissants NYC.” That page needs to be written, structured, and optimized.
6. Social Media Marketing
Social media is an invaluable resource for any business and can be especially beneficial for local companies. Social media helps you connect with customers, share information about your business news and promotions, get customer feedback, and build a community around your company.
Here are some ways you can use social media to interact with customers.
Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to interact directly with customers by posting updates, responding to comments, and sharing links to your website or blog posts.
TikTok and YouTube are great for creating video content, which is vital if your products or services lend themselves well visually.
Websites like Reddit and Twitter are great platforms for encouraging and sharing user-generated content.
On-site optimization requires much work, so contact an agency like ours if you need help.
7. Measure, Analyze, and Improve
Even after implementing all these strategies and tactics, more work is still ahead. Algorithms change inevitably, and you want to judge the success of these tactics. Therefore, businesses need to measure and analyze their marketing tactics and see what is successful and which efforts need help. Then, improve those that need to improve and continue applying strategies that perform well for your brand.
Contact VIEWS For Local Search Engine Services
If you need help starting your local search engine marketing campaign, contact VIEWS Digital Marketing. Our digital marketing consultants have many years of experience developing local SEO strategies for small to medium-sized businesses. We can work with you to refine your strategy according to your needs and budget. Contact VIEWS Digital Marketing to see how we can help your business today.