Local search can help in improving your online presence and expand the reach of your business to businesses, customers, and anyone searching within search engines. Driving traffic to your business takes a great website and professional search engine optimization (SEO) to reach your target audience. By optimizing your website for local search (your local geographical area) you can reach a local audience rather than a global wide audience.
It all starts with your website and professional search engine optimization (SEO). Recent trends and site optimization can help maximize your benefits when customers search for your business. Local SEO can become an invaluable tool for your business if you rely on local customers.
Why is Local Search so important?
- Approximately 3 billion search queries contain local search terms every month
- 30% of Google searches are for local information. (Source: HubSpot via Google)
Here are 5 ways to dominate local search and become noticeable in SEO and your local area.
- Use Title Tags – The title and meta description of your website is like your online billboard. A good title tag tells your customers what your business title is and what your business is all about. What info will make a customer click on your title tag? You can optimize your title tag by:
- Use describing keywords and put keywords first
- Be creative and stand out
- Make full use of the characters given (160-200 characters given)
- Make title tags for humans and formatted for multiple search engines
- Keep your title tag in front and user-friendly
- Claim your Google My Business Listing – Google My Business (GMB) is an online directory within Google. This listing feeds directly into Google search results. By adding your business address, this can help pin your location on a Google Map to provide your customers your exact location. You can use these additional features to enhance your GMB listing:
- Business Location Address
- Business Hours of Operation
- Upload quality photos of your business (outside of building, inside of business, team, or staff, etc.)
- 360 Tour of Business
- Business Phone Number
- Check your NAP – The NAP (name, address, phone) of your business will need to be integrated into your website. Avoid the common mistake of only including your NAP within an image – images can’t be crawled from search engines like HTML text. The most common location for the NAP is in the footer or header of the site. It is also important to list your NAP on your contact page with an interactive a map.
Ensure your name, address, and phone number are consistent online. You’ve got to make it easy for people and search engines to find you. Make sure your business name is spelled exact and is correct everywhere and anywhere throughout your site, including GMB. Your address also needs to be accurate and identical in all listings. FYI – punctuation and spaces matter, especially when your business address contains St., Rd., Ave, Suite # or spelled out names such as Street, Road, Avenue, etc.
- Be Mobile Friendly – Making sure your website is mobile or smart device friendly can make or break you on today’s changing world. Often local search and mobile devices go hand in hand. Most often customers will use your site in a mobile environment is to look up reviews, find directions to your location, and search for contact information.
Make it easy for your prospects and customers by making your site mobile friendly. Here are just a few statistics on why being mobile friendly is so important:
- 64% local customers who use online search engines & directories as their main way to find local businesses
- 50% of customers who conducted a local search on their smartphone or device and visited that business within a day
- 9 out of 10 smartphone users conduct local searches on their devices
- Reviews That Count – Customer reviews & feedback can be detrimental to your business success. They provide potential customers with insight to your business from another customer’s view.
Many customers often read and research reviews before making a purchasing decision or deciding on a service provider. If your customers are looking for reviews from your previous customers, make it easy for them to find out how awesome you are by displaying your reviews on your website & embracing your presence with online review sites.
Almost all businesses ask customers to post about their great experiences after making a purchase or having a service performed. Reviews are so powerful because customers share stories, honest feedback, and personal experiences with the company they just visited or purchased from.
Focus on positive reviews and gaining new potential customers by adding reviews to your website. A positive review is a powerful marketing asset to share with potential customers. Encourage satisfied customers to write a review by posting links to your review links and social media accounts.
If you want to learn more about local search and add these features for your business. Contact us today to maximize traffic to your site and begin your SEO strategy plan or take advantage of our free marketing assessment.
Advantage Marketing Group has been providing quality marketing services, business consulting and creative services since 2005. Give your business the marketing advantage.
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