Small businesses began to compete with large businesses thanks to developments in the internet field. At the same time, they can easily reach potential customers in the vicinity of their physical location.
Thanks to local SEO, a business can reach customers looking for the service they provide in their immediate vicinity. Among the types of SEO, local SEO is the easiest and fastest to produce results.
If your business provides electrician services, you can reach your customer base in the immediate area with a successful local SEO work.
Local SEO is regionally focused optimization efforts to reach potential customers in the immediate vicinity. In this article, we will give you tips for local SEO.
If you have a small business, you can help your customers find you easily with local SEO service from Dopinger.
Why Local SEO is Crucial for Small Business Growth?
Since small businesses have very limited budgets, they cannot allocate budget for advertising and brand awareness activities.
At the same time, they cannot open a shop on a very busy street like a large business. Therefore, they have difficulty reaching their customers.
Thanks to local SEO work, you can stand out in geographical searches on search engines. If you apply local SEO strategies on your website, you can leave your competitors behind and rank higher in search engine results pages.
Local optimization studies do not require very high costs. Although local SEO is low-cost, its impact and return are huge. With the right local SEO strategies, you can reach all the people in your immediate area who need the service you provide.
A small business can advertise effectively without spending a lot of money. It can also become a memorable brand in a particular geographic location.
For example, imagine you are a small dry cleaning business. You want to reach customers in your immediate area who need dry cleaning. For this, you should strengthen your local SEO. Thus, the number of people finding you on Google increases. This way you can receive more phone calls. At the same time, the number of customers coming to your physical store from your location increases. In this way, you can earn more money and grow your business. Always get professional support for local SEO business.
Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO
If you want to reach your potential customers in your immediate area, you must first optimize your website for local SEO.
First of all, your website should not have any technical problems. Even if a user looking for a service in a particular region does not focus much on site speed and content quality, certain SEO mistakes will cause your website to fall into the background.
Among the most important local SEO strategy is writing content focusing on local keywords. You need to use the right keywords in the content.
Your address, phone number and business information must be included on your website. This allows your business to be better understood and ranked better. At the same time, ensure that your prospective customers understand the quality of your business by including customer evaluations.
How to Use Keywords Effectively for Local Search?
52% of searches made on Google are local searches. At the same time, when users search for services and products in Turkey, they find 95% of them in local searches.
When people search on search engines such as Google, they find the information they are looking for by typing various keywords. Users also add local elements to keywords when searching locally.
For example, let’s say a person is looking for a fish restaurant. Let’s assume that the person making the call lives in New York. In this case, the keywords he can search for are “Fish restaurants near me”, “best fish restaurants near me”, “New York fish restaurants”.
People search for products and services in their immediate surroundings with locally focused keywords. Therefore, keywords must be constructed correctly for local SEO.
If you are going to search for keywords in local SEO, it will be necessary to act according to different keyword types. First of all, you should use geo-targeted keywords. These are the words you will optimize to target a specific geographic region and a location. In this way, businesses can be more visible in local search results.
Service-based keywords should also be used in local SEO. Service-based keywords are words your business uses to attract customers looking for services in their area. These keywords focus on the services your business provides. For example, let’s say you have a plumbing business in New York. Here you can focus on keywords like “plumber in New York” or “emergency plumber in New York.”
Improving Local SEO with On-Page Optimization Techniques
If you want to rank high in search engines, you need to focus on on-page optimization techniques on your website.
Thanks to on-page SEO techniques, your business can be more visible in local searches. On-page SEO helps you rank higher in organic rankings.
On-page optimization recommendations for local SEO are as follows;
- Your name, address and telephone number (NAP) must be consistent. This information should be prominently displayed on your website. NAP information should be included on service pages and contact pages. NAP information must be entered identically on your Google My Business and website.
- You can integrate address information with Google Maps on your website.
- Optimize your page content correctly. Create local SEO focused content for both search engines and users. Use service and geographical region-focused keywords and titles in content. Tell people why they will need your services.
- Add expressions such as “nearest to me”, “near me”, “best near me” to your content.
- Optimize your title tags for local SEO. Create page title tags that include locally based keywords and your services.
- Create a strong internal link structure on your website that connects nearby services.
- Use the local schema markup strategy to easily tell Google about your business information, such as social media account, service area, reviews, address, business hours, and list it in search results.
- Check broken links on your website and make necessary edits.
Google My Business: A Powerful Tool for Local SEO
Google My Business is a free service developed by Google for local businesses to reach their potential customers.
Every business that wants to strengthen its local SEO and reach potential customers in Google search results should definitely use Google My Business.
Thanks to this tool, users can access all information about your business, such as working hours, full address, images and customer comments. With Google My Business, you can both provide information about your business to Google and share your references with your customers.
When you use Google My Business, your business also appears in Google Search and Google Maps. You need to write your business registration so that your customers can reach you via Google My Business.
Every business competing with local competitors should integrate Google My Business into its local SEO strategy.
Setting Up and Optimizing Your Google My Business Profile
You can start using this tool by registering with Google My Business.
You can set up your Google My Business profile by following these steps;
- Add your business information to the Google local business page.
- Go to the official website of Google My Business.
- Click on the “Start Now” tab you see in the upper right corner. Read and confirm the terms of service and explanations and press the “Continue” button.
- Enter the business name, street address, zip code, city, business phone, and business category.
- After entering the information, “I am authorized to manage this business and I accept the provisions of the Terms of Service.” Put a tick in the box.
- Confirm in the last step. The confirmation process will be done with a call to your phone or a code sent to your e-mail address.
- After approval, you can update your information on your account management page.
After Google My Business Registration, your business will appear in search results and maps.
In order for your Google My Business profile to be visible, you must enter your information correctly. The more detailed information you enter here, the better your business will rank. It is very important that your address information and contact information are correct in your profile.
Having a Google My Business profile gives you an advantage over your competitors in local SEO. Your business becomes more visible and you can reach your customer base in your immediate area. At the same time, customers can find your physical store more easily. Local seo marketing always allows you to reach new customers.
Leveraging Google My Business for More Local Exposures
Thanks to Google My Business optimization, you can achieve better performance in local display. With correct optimization work, you can appear at the top of the maps. Customer evaluation and timeliness are crucial for local exposure.
Google My Business optimization ideas are as follows;
- Add your business information completely and up to date.
- Add your blog information to your page. You can create content around 1500 words in total.
- Use images and add links to your pages here to drive traffic to your website.
- Fill out the information in your profile to the maximum extent. Businesses that provide detailed explanations may rank higher. Enter all the information your customers need, such as address and product.
- Add your business name, full address, contact number, website, working hours and business images.
- Choose the right keywords to appear on local maps and search results. Conduct keyword research with Google Keyword Planner. Also include a business name or local phrases in the keyword.
- You must choose your business category correctly. This ensures that you rank for the right audience. With category entry, Google recognizes your business and lists it correctly in local rankings.
- Quality images about your business should be shared on your Google My Business account. Use high-quality, real images that promote your business from different angles.
- Encourage your customers to share images too.
- Direct your customers to evaluate and comment. Respond to comments and try to give a sense of trust by creating customer loyalty. This will also help you gain new customers.
- Be sure to state your outstanding features such as free parking, service time, and shipping service. In this way, you can gain more customers.
Creating Local Links and Citations
Local links are links you create to your website from sources related to a specific location. Local connections show that your business is trusted and referenced.
For local connections, you can monitor your competitors’ performance and research opportunities yourself.
Businesses that want to be successful in local SEO must definitely obtain local links.
The Importance of Local Citations in SEO Strategy
Local attribution is the mention of your business’ partial or full name, address, contact information and phone number by another user online. Local references include NAP data.
If it is mentioned in local business directories, websites, apps and social media platforms, it is called local attribution.
Thanks to local citations, your potential customers can discover your business and ensure that you are listed in local rankings in search engines.
Businesses with high-quality local citations rank high in Google’s local search interface. Local citations contribute significantly to SEO success. Local citations are an important ranking factor for organic traffic and local ranking performance.
Local citations are often included in directory and review sites. These sites are at the top of Google Search. Google lists these sites high because they are useful resources for consumers.
Citations ensure that NAP data, an important SEO ranking factor, is effectively disseminated on the internet. Businesses should always focus on getting more local citations.
Research shows that the names of businesses on the first page of local search results contain an average of 80 local references.
Sources where you can get local citations for your website;
- Search engines
- Primary data collectors
- Large directories
- Sectoral blog sites
- Sectoral forum sites
- Geographic platforms
- Unstructured references
- Properties
Effective Local Link Building Strategies
Local links make a serious contribution to your tips for local SEO efforts. Off-site SEO work is very effective in increasing the authority of your website. That’s why small businesses must create effective local connections.
Having a large number of local links does not mean that your SEO will be successful. You need to get effective, relevant and quality local links.
Effective local link building strategies for your website are as follows;
- You can add your business to local directories related to your industry. You can also use major directories like Yelp, Yahoo and Foursquare.
- You can link to your website on local news sites by contacting local media organizations.
- You can send press releases to online publishers about newsworthy events.
- You can create a reliable source that tells stories related to your area of expertise.
- You can get your business mentioned on social media platforms such as Twitter.
- You can guest write in the local press or interview local journalists.
- You can contact local bloggers and get them to mention you.
- You can create links to your business by contacting bloggers and local social media influencers related to your industry.
- You can promote your business by creating a local guide yourself. You can look for ways to feature your business in different local guides.
- You can ensure that it is mentioned in the digital environment by participating in local organizations.
- You can offer reference links from various sources and websites to those with high local domains.
- Form partnerships with local tourism businesses.
- Find social media and unrelated mentions of your business and offer to link from there.
Leveraging the Power of Customer Reviews
Users who search to benefit from a product or service attach great importance to the evaluations and comments of different customers. Small businesses can build customer trust and increase brand reputation by getting more customer reviews and positive reviews. If you optimize your website for local SEO search, your search engine ranking will increase.
Here are some positive customer review solicitation strategies that will persuade your customers to leave a review:
- Ask them to comment on platforms that allow commenting. When you ask, one in every two customers will comment.
- Ask if they would comment in different ways. Ask for comments via e-mail, face to face and using different strategies.
- Follow up with your customers and remind them to leave comments. With the reminder, most of the customers will comment.
- You can ask them to comment on your business in many different areas such as text messages, e-mails, packages, receipts and vouchers.
- Give your customers the right CTAs and clear instructions for commenting. Direct them to comment by adding a link to your profile.
- Learn the platforms and channels where your customers can comment.
- Get your customers’ e-mail addresses and send them personalized e-mails for their comments.
- Encourage your customers to comment by asking questions about various aspects of your business in your social media posts.
- Respond to every customer comment and persuade more people to comment by providing feedback.
How Do Online Reviews Affect Local SEO and Business Reputation?
For small businesses, online reviews are crucial for local SEO and business reputation. Online reviews are comments and evaluations made by a customer who has used your business’s services.
Online reviews can be on many platforms, including Google My Business, your website, review sites, and more. Online reviews can also be found on social media.
Number, quality and diversity of online reviews are important in local SEO. Search engines learn about your business’s reputation and reliability by looking at online reviews.
If there are positive reviews and comments about your business, search engine bots see your business as trustworthy. This shows that you provide a positive customer experience.
The number of online reviews is important. Businesses with more reviews can rank higher in local search results. However, the quality of reviews is as important as the number of reviews in SEO. Detailed feedback and high-scoring positive reviews help small businesses stand out in local SEO.
Finally, review diversity is also an important local SEO ranking signal. If there are business reviews on many different platforms, such as Google, Yelp, social media, and industry-specific directories, search engines consider businesses to be reputable on each platform. In this way, your business gets a better ranking.You can get professional support for optimizing for local search work. If you get local SEO services from Dopinger, you can reach more local customers.