Local SEO Strategies to Get Ahead of Your Competitors

‍Every successful digital marketer knows that local SEO plays an essential role in improving search engine visibility for small businesses, especially those with brick-and-mortar locations. 

If you happen to be one of these businesses, you’ve definitely come to the right place.

Optimizing your local SEO means more traffic to your site, more leads, and more conversions. Believe us, you’ll be seeing your sales skyrocketing in no time!

Using local SEO, you can position your products or services to people within your area who are searching for them. In other words, they can find you easily, or even instantly, as they’re searching online.

You obviously don’t want to turn that opportunity down, do you?

Now for the most awaited part, here are some of the best local SEO strategies you can use to boost your brand and get ahead of your competitors:

Create and Optimize a Google My Business Account

It would be a mortal sin to not have a Google My Business (GMB) account if your goal is to rank high in Google local search results. GMB is pretty much your Business Profile.

Setting up a profile is totally free. Once all the required details about your business have been included in your Google My Business dashboard, they will be added to your Business Profile, which will then appear in Google Search local results, Google Maps, and the Google Search Knowledge Panel.

Now that you’ve made and verified your GMB page, it’s time to optimize it. Here’s how:

• Provide additional information such as your logo, operating hours, the product and/or service you offer, and the payment methods available.
• Publish posts regularly to keep your audience updated.
• Encourage your customers to leave reviews online.
• Respond to customer feedback genuinely.

If your business gets verified by Google as authentic, expect to receive a coveted sidebar space in Google local search.

Focus on Local Content

As Google continues to think more and more like a human, content creators and digital marketers are now doing their best to write for humans, and not search engines. That being said, you must write about local news to attract local users.

Your content can be anything from promoting local events like a brand-wide campaign to introducing your team members to prospective and existing customers. You might also want to post about a community outreach you’re organizing or any recent news related to your industry.

If you happen to operate in different areas of a region, you can set up location-specific web pages on your site with high-quality content.

For example, if you’re a local real estate business, you’ll want to create multiple pages, one for each place you serve. These pages will feature hyper-local content surrounding the latest news events or updates in the local real estate industry.

Take Advantage of Online Directories

Yelp, MapQuest, and Foursquare are among the top websites you can use to get the word out about your business. Not only that, but listing your business on these platforms will also boost your local SEO.

Your listing should include these basic details:

• Complete business name, address, and phone number (NAP)
• A detailed description of your business
• A backlink to your site

Make sure that your NAP is consistent across all directories. Look out for discrepancies such as misspellings, typos, wrong contact numbers, and lack of room numbers. Your local business might not show up in search results if Google is unable to determine which information is correct.

Additionally, you will be rewarded with an external inbound link if you emphasize a Chambers of Commerce membership in your community.

Target Local Keywords

Keywords are the backbone of SEO. Local keywords are the backbone of local SEO.

That’s why you need to do local SEO keyword research.

Your aim here is to find the most commonly searched, relevant terms for your industry. If your content’s far from relevant to what people are actually looking for online, the chances of them finding you in the search results are extremely thin. Plus, your visitors will most likely bounce in less than a minute after landing on your site.

Keep in mind that the relevancy of a page’s content to the search term is one of Google’s key ranking factors for all searches. Researching which keywords have the highest search volume and search intent ensures you that you’re focusing on the right terms.

Below are three of the most effective ways to find local keywords:

• ‍Look for industry-related keywords, which are the common words and phrases your prospects would use to search for your business. For instance, if you own a local coffee shop, use keywords like “cafe that serves the best local iced coffee” or “24-hour coffee shop”.‍
• Include local-based keywords, which are the geographic location of your business, the areas it covers, and the areas your target audience lives or works in. Examples are “coffee shop near (your neighborhood)” or “coffee near me right now”.‍
• Use keyword modifiers that describe the service, type of product, quality, or occasion people often use when searching. Terms like “best”, “fast”, and “cheap” are popular modifiers that can improve your clickthrough rate.

Get Inbound Links

Inbound links are powerful tools that can boost your local SEO and domain authority. They will tell Google if you’re a legitimate company or not.

To get inbound links, you can start with your own personal network. These include trade associations, business improvement districts, vendors, resellers, manufacturers, and the Chamber of Commerce.

You might want to consider becoming a guest blogger. Ask any established industry-related websites if you can write for them, and participate in forums as well. Being an active participant and a resource provider for the community can help you gain more inbound links, media coverage, and social media growth.

Other ways to garner inbound links are by:

• Sponsoring a meet-up or webinar
• Establishing relationships with notable people and influencers
• Asking affiliates if they can feature you on their partner directory
• Hosting a community event

Use Location Pages or a Location-Specific “About Us” Page

If your business operates in more than one area, you’ll definitely need to use location pages. Here’s what your pages need to provide:

• Name, address, and phone number
• Store hours
• Individual descriptions
• Promotions
• Testimonials
• Google Maps
• Parking availability

You have to ensure that each page comes with unique and compelling content to attract customers within that location. Don’t duplicate content across multiple location pages.

On the other hand, if you’re a single-location business, create a locally descriptive “About Us” page. If you’re a bakery, for example, you can use your “About Us” page to highlight your involvement in supplying cakes for birthdays and weddings in your city.

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

63% of Google’s US organic search traffic stemmed from mobile devices, which means that you can be a top player in your industry if your site is optimized for mobile.

People usually look to company websites on their phones for numerous reasons, from reading reviews and searching for contact info, to checking out the products or services being offered.  

Take a look at the tips below for a mobile-friendly site:

• ‍Choose your most suitable solution. This could be either a mobile app, a separate mobile-friendly website, responsive design, or dynamic serving.‍
• Make your images as light as possible by compressing them without reducing the file size by using a free online tool.‍
• Strip back your content. Work out the main goal of each page and make it a lot more prominent on your mobile version. See to it that the copy on your site is short and sweet, and that includes all forms for filling out. No need to put big chunks of text.‍
• Use mobile SEO best practices. Make sure your website meets Google’s mobile criteria. Configure your site for mobile devices, prioritize page speed, come up with the right titles and meta descriptions, and use bigger and easy-to-read fonts.‍
• Steer clear of common mobile optimization mistakes. Don’t put up unplayable content, don’t include irrelevant cross-links, don’t display pop-ups and flash animations, and don’t block JavaScript, CSS, or image files.‍
• Check your links. Make sure your hyperlinks aren’t positioned too close together as people tend to click the wrong one accidentally. Provide links to pages that are also mobile-optimized for a pleasant user journey. ‍
• Test regularly. You can do this in two ways: Run URLs through Google’s mobile-friendly testing tool and try out different device sizes from your desktop.

Ready to Get a Step Ahead of Your Competitors with Local SEO?

Applying these local SEO strategies will take your business nowhere but up. Ask our clients, they know.

If you need professional help, consider yourself lucky to be here.

Digital Resource is your go-to local SEO Miami company. We’ll be more than willing to help you optimize your professional website to reach your goals of being a big name in your industry.

Schedule your free local SEO consultation with us today to start your journey to success.