Increase Your Organic Traffic with Local SEO
Many people know about the importance of Search Engine Optimization for e-commerce, but don’t realize it can be used for brick-and-mortar stores as well. Google searches like “restaurants near me” will recommend nearby businesses based on location and relevance, and optimizing your local SEO can help you make the list. Even though you may not practice any e-commerce, good local SEO will help increase foot traffic to your store as customers searching online will be directed to your business. Read on for the five best ways to optimize your local SEO!
Work with Google
Because Google is the biggest search engine out there, it’s what you want your local SEO to optimize for. Filling out all the information in Google Business, such as your phone number, website, location, and more, will both help make it easier for customers to find you and increase your rankings in Google search results. Similarly, encourage your satisfied customers to leave you a Google review. It’s a great way to spread positive feedback about your business and helps your ranking as well. Because you’re trying to rank higher in Google SERPs, using Google’s tools like business listings and reviews is always the best way to encourage Google to rate you highly and show your business to internet searchers. Be careful though, because the algorithms Google uses to determine search results are also always changing. Keep an eye on any news about changes to search results, and always optimize for the latest algorithm to help you stay on top.
Remember your NAP
Always be sure to remember your NAP, and unfortunately, we don’t mean an afternoon snooze—NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number, the most important information about any business. To help increase your local SEO, make sure your NAP is presented the exact same way everywhere it appears online. That includes things like capitalization, using abbreviations like rd. or ave. versus using full words, and of course, making sure your phone number is always correct. Consistency in even these small details can make a big difference in your local SEO. When there are small differences between your NAP on different websites, Google registers it as different listings instead of the same listing posted in multiple places. Since backlinks can greatly boost your SEO results, it’s essential to make sure your information matches everywhere it’s posted.
Work with the Community
Although it may sound counter-intuitive, a great way to boost your local SEO is actually to engage with the community offline. Partnering with another local business, a charitable organization, or a local government initiative helps strengthen your position both in the community and in search results. It gives back to your city, town, or neighborhood, and gets people talking about your business in person and through coverage on social media or a local newspaper. Online versions of these articles will create more search results on Google for your business’s name, which will help you rank higher on SERPs. The organizations you partner with may even link to your business from their website, providing valuable backlinks that help Google register your business as a popular site. Everyone wins!
Cover Community Interests
Another way to attract community attention is to cover local events or points of interest. If your business has a blog, writing about upcoming celebrations and elections or issues facing the community will get you a lot of local hits as engaged community members look online for more information. This is a particularly great way to increase local SEO because it establishes you as a sort of authority for local events and provides services to residents beyond just what your business offers. It also identifies a niche in which your business can rise to the top, as there likely isn’t a lot of competition for smaller, local news.
Increase time on site
A consistent element of Google’s SERP ranking algorithms is time spent on site. To boost your local SEO, you want to maximize the amount of time customers spend on your website. A great way to do this is to incorporate compelling video content, which encourages internet searchers to stay on your webpage at least until the video finishes, and even to explore further afterwards. Even if your webpage doesn’t sell anything, having engaging content will increase engagement, boost your local SEO, and lead to more foot traffic to your store.
Local SEO is the key to being listed in SERPs for local businesses and increasing your traffic both in person and online. Following these tips to optimize for local SEO will help your business thrive!
Search Engine Optimization have you feeling anything but optimistic? Let the team at Kraus Marketing take care of all your marketing needs and increase your SEO success! Contact us today.