Local SEO Tips: 12 Ways to Get Your Business to the Top

It’s hard to keep up with the industry giants when it comes to building an online presence. They have the resources to ensure that they top the ranking in the SEO game. As a small business, you can still compete with these businesses and make your mark online by focusing on local SEO. There are various ways how to boost your local SEO ranking and the best SEO agencies know the ins and outs for that.

Before we dive into the different steps that you can do to improve your local SEO, let’s get a better understanding of what SEO is. Search engine optimization or SEO is the process of optimizing a site or a company to build its online presence and be on top of the search result. Local SEO, as the term suggests, focuses on strategies that will help you be on the first page of the search engine ranking when location-specific searches are made. Since bigger companies tend to focus on SEO at the national level, you can work your way up in the local field. Below are some ways how to get your company on top of local searches.

1. Get reviews from satisfied clients. One of the factors that search engines look for when a search is made is the reviews for the company. The more reviews that you have, the higher the chances of making it on top of the local search result. Positive reviews will give the impression that you are trustworthy and credible. As soon as you close a sale with satisfied customers, ask them to leave you a review.
2. Optimize your site. Companies tend to focus on the design of their site and lose sight of its optimization. There’s nothing wrong with creating an exceptional site design because it could attract clients to check it. However, do not miss optimizing your site for SEO and a better user experience. For instance, include meta and tags on your posts, and create a URL that has your keywords on it. Factors that affect better user experience are the speed of the site, and its user-friendliness.
3. Use internal and external links. Internal links are links leading to other pages in your site, while external links redirect to other sites. Use internal links to improve traffic and ranking on your various pages. Create external links to authority sites because it will show credibility. Ensure that your links flow naturally where you inject them into the content because search engines could detect if they are forced, and it could hurt your ranking.
4. Create excellent content. Content remains the king when it comes to SEO, whether local or not. You will naturally get more traffic, mentions, shares, and links to your site if you have excellent content. Write posts that are helpful, engaging, informative, and relevant. It will improve not just your SEO, but your online reputation in general because people will see your trustworthiness and authority.
5. Be active on social media. Companies now use social media as a platform to connect with their target market and engage with them. If you don’t have social media profiles set up for your business, it’s time to create them. The most popular is Facebook, although you should also not miss the followings that you could get on other sites like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Consumers check local businesses on these sites, so they are likely to appear on search results. If you are not active on these sites, you lose the opportunity of being seen and creating a relationship with would-be clients.
6. Focus on local keywords. Keywords are the terms that users type on the search engine when they need to find something on the Internet. Using the right keywords in your site, content, and profiles will get you on top of the result. For example, customers looking for garage door repair service specific to Chicago may search the words “garage door repair service in Chicago”. If you optimize your content and site with these keywords, the search engine will find you and include you in the result.
7. Claim your profile on various sites and directories. Search engines crawl the web for matches on the search made. It includes business directories and review sites, so be sure to create your profile on these platforms. Some examples are Google My Business and Yelp. Ensure that you include your location in your profile so it will show in the result when they search for your specific location.
8. Perform an SEO site audit. An SEO edit involves checking your website for its current SEO state, finding things that might hurt it, and taking actions to fix them. An example would be determining how effective your keywords are and looking for broken links that could also affect your ranking. The best SEO agencies can help audit your site for SEO and strategize to make it better.
9. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly. The shift in the use from computer to mobile when browsing the web was rapid. More people are forecasted to use mobile for searching the Internet in the coming years. Keeping your site mobile-friendly ensures a positive user experience. Also, those who search on their mobile device have a higher probability of using the business, and they do so within 24 hours.
10. Consider voice search in your SEO strategy. Voice search is also getting more popular for users. Instead of the typical way of entering the keywords in the search field, they use voice commands to do their search. Your keywords must also be relevant to these searches. Clients may use the keywords “companies that offer garage door repair service in Chicago” instead of “garage door repair service Chicago” which is more likely to be used in a usual web search.
11. Get links from trusted sites. Trusted sites that link to your page will also help boost your SEO because Google will see you as an authority. It’s not just the number of hits and mentions that it considers, but the trustworthiness, credibility, and quality of your content and site.
12. Feature local events in your area. Customers will be more interested in things that are happening near home. Creating content or sharing posts on events, occasions, shows, projects, or programs local to your area will generate more traffic and engagement from the locals.

The best SEO agencies have extensive knowledge, experience, tools, and skills in ensuring that your local SEO is effective and How much does SEO cost in the UK. With the right local SEO strategy in place, you can make your name known in the local scene.