This is a question that is easily answered. It’s not easily performed, but once you’ve gotten a clear idea of what Local SEO is you’ll understand why the tips provided here will be of great value.
Importance Of Local SEO
First thing is to realize that your Local SEO stats may not be where you want them usually starts with your own misunderstanding of either the value of it or your inapplicable approach to it. Local SEO is an augmentation of general SEO practices. Just like the energy and determination you’ve applied with regular SEO, you’ll need to apply the same with Local SEO. Your location is of vast importance here. If you think people are going to find your site based on your general keywords alone, you’re gravely mistaken.
Anyone in your region is going to be looking for goods and services nearby. They don’t want to travel hither and yon to get what they want. Mail order is the way people go when something they want isn’t affordable in their area, and in some cases, even mail order won’t do so they need to look nearby. If your company doesn’t emphasize that your location is the place to be, then they ‘ll find results in the search engines that point to a company that does or none at all. This puts you at a disadvantage as your competitors will gain the high ground. Far too many web marketers and webmasters have neglected Local SEO and wonder why sales are so rotten.
Things To Do
The first step is to look at your website and look to see if your location’s data is in strategic places on your website and blog. Your NAP (Name Address Phone) should be visible on every page of your site. Make sure everything is up to date and spelled correctly. Don’t miss this step or you’re just fighting the inevitable which is lost traffic and revenue.
Even graphics, photos, and videos should have tags with your location in them. For example, if you post a pic of your people doing a job, that pic should mention what they’re doing, your company name and location. As surfers looking for a nearby company that you offer services for, the more mentions of location that aren’t spammy will do you good.
Ways To Apply Local SEO
Thanks to social media, Local SEO has exploded in value. The means by which your local data can be spread out are numerous. Especially via social media as your social media venues will have your local data, any commentary you deliver should, and anyone who comments on your posts will be doing so automatically. Your Pinterest and Twitter posts should as well. As people comment, link, and share these posts, with your hyperlinks involved, it will appear to Google that your site is of significance especially if those inbound links are from popular or authoritative websites.
Cool Local SEO Tips
Being creative regarding Local SEO is all the better. This means not only tagging pics and videos and graphics but in taking advantage of any local events that you can tie your business into.
Look at the history of your business in your area. The older the better. You can capitalize on this by comparing your business’ age with serving your area during its most historic moments. Let’s say your company started out supplying materials during WWII. That’s over 70 years of service. When Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day approach, you mention this and you go take pics and videos of the events and use your YouTube SEO and Facebook SEO to showcase the events. Ask people if they know your company participated way back when and what do they think. People love to be interviewed and they’ll post your videos and pics and posts on their social media meaning more relevant inbound links.
Look for newsworthy events to capitalize on. If some local celebrity does something of note, write a blog post or Facebook post about it with well-tagged pics, videos. Their fans will see it and comment and share meaning more inbound links. Make sure your posts and such relate to why the celebrity is of such importance for your company’s notice.
Special social events in your area are prime. See if you can sponsor that school event, mostly sporting events. With today’s computing technology, the kids and their parents will mention you for years. Giving out a prize for the event like $100 to the MVP of the game or discounts to attendees. Those savings will be remarked about by the locals for a long time and bring in the curious who’ll want to know how they can get in on it.
There are so many contests and competitions in your area that you can invest some money in sponsorships and prizes that will get you lots of traffic and customers. Talent shows, beauty contests are also great venues to invest in.
These are better than radio and television ads because you’re dealing directly with the public instead of a ‘via’ to the public.
Look into your local animal shelters and see if you can give out money or discounts to people who adopt new pets or rescue pets. Not only will you garner great attention, but you’ll be loved and admired thus building a loyal customer base that associates your benevolence with a joyous life experience. This is better than gold.
Final Word
Local ranking results will definitely depend on your Local SEO acumen. If you find it too daunting, then you should hire an SEO company to do the job. It will save you tons of time, energy, and money.
