Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Local SEO Right Now

Intro

Everyone wants to support small businesses. Since the COVID-19 push to avoid mega stores and support the people around you, local businesses should see an increase in their overall sales.

If that has not been the case for your small business, there is probably a very simple explanation: people can’t find you. Although you have posted an ad here and there and have a great sign placed on your door inviting people in, the truth is that if they don’t know you are even there, they won’t be stopping by to support you.

As a local business owner, you probably know the best strategies for making a profit, providing the best customer service, and hiring the greatest people. But as you work on your digital marketing campaign, are you including local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to make your business stand out?

If you are not sure what local SEO means and looks like, keep reading. We will cover what local SEO is and the top 10 ways to improve your local SEO right now.

What is Local SEO

Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps your business be more visible in local search results. Essentially, it makes your business stand out to those around you.

In life, you always want to be first – especially when it comes to SEO. If you have a good SEO strategy, you should be ranking in one of the top three spots on search engine pages. Having good, local SEO is the only way to achieve one of the coveted top search results.

For example, say someone is in the mood to grab a cup of coffee from a local business. They will pull up Google on their phone and type _best coffee in Atlanta. _If you have invested in local SEO to stand out as one of the best coffee shops in Atlanta, then you will be one of the top search results that person will see.

How to Improve Your Local SEO Tips

Nothing in life is free or comes without hard work, which is definitely the case for local SEO. Achieving good rankings and standing out from other businesses only comes after some good hard work.

Let’s dive into the top 10 ways to improve your local SEO right now.

#1 Make it Mobile-friendly

If you take a look around you, you will probably notice over half of the people near you are looking at their phones. A study from May 2023 even shows that 51.52% of all web traffic came through mobile phones.

So, if you have not analyzed your business’ website and made sure it is mobile-friendly yet, now is the time to do so. Simply pull up your website on your phone and note if the images are loading correctly, if anything looks distorted or out of place, and if you can navigate the website easily through your cell phone.

If anything seems off, now is the time to work on fixing it. Creating a mobile-friendly website should be one of the top priorities of any business owner, especially one working on improving their local SEO.

#2 Personalize Your Ads

When you are working on your ad campaigns, find a way to incorporate your local community into your ads. Instead of just using generic photos, have photos of people who have visited your store or local places nearby. Whatever you do, keep your ad close to home. You want prospective customers to feel compelled to visit your business and support the local community.

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#3 Create a Google Business Profile

Creating a Google Business Profile - formerly known as a Google My Business Account- is one of the top things you should do to ensure your business stands out to local customers. Studies show that 24.4% of all clicks go to the first result of local business searches, so if you have a Google Business Profile set up, you should be in that 24%.

A Google Business Profile is free, and it will help you gain a lot of visibility with local customers. Plus, it will allow customers to share reviews of your company, which is a huge game changer in visibility. Having professional business headshots can make a significant difference in your online presence. Not only are they a free tool, but they can also enhance your visibility among local customers. Additionally, they provide a platform for customers to share their reviews, which can greatly impact your visibility.

#4 Leverage Your Backlinking Game

Backlinking is the art of including links to other pages on your website or another website through anchor text. The stronger your backlinking game, the better your search engine ranking. Google and other search engines consider pages with a high number of relevant backlinks to have higher organic search engine rankings than those without.

Sadly, more than 66% of pages have zero backlinks pointing to them. That means that 66% of pages are missing out on a huge window of opportunity.

As a local business, you should be embracing the backlinking game and setting yourself up for success as a small business owner.

#5 Stake Your Claim on Online Business Directories

An online business directory is a list of businesses with a link to their website. To create an online business directory, you should have some great photos of your business, an engaging business description and correct information on your business location and contact information.

Experts know that 82% of shoppers have done a near me search, so if your name is on several online business directories, you should be one of the first businesses a prospective customer sees.

Take these two law firms as an example of how local SEO and online business directories help them.

The first one, FVF Law Injury Attorneys in Austin, Texas, should focus their keywords and SEO in Austin. In contrast, the second one, Anderson Injury Lawyers, in Dallas, Texas, should focus on Dallas. Although both businesses are injury lawyers, their services will only stand out to those around them. So, when a prospective client searches for personal injury attorney near me they will receive a targeted response of whichever injury attorney is closest to them.

This is further proved by looking at the keywords these law firms rank for on Ahrefs. FVF Law Injury Attorneys consistently ranks for keywords that include the word ‘Austin’:

On the other hand, Anderson Injury Lawyers consistently ranks for keywords including the word ‘Dallas’:

Some big-name online directories which are indexable in Google Search are:

• Google Business Profile
• Yelp
• Facebook Pages
• Apple Business Profile
• Better Business Bureau
• Instagram
• Yellow Pages
• Mapquest

The more online directories you can get your business into, the better. When people search for your business, they will be able to find your business through the online directory they are most accustomed to using.

#6 Encourage Customer Reviews

People want to buy products they can trust. One of the best ways to build trust is to allow and encourage customer reviews. You should not worry about negative reviews if you provide a great product or service. Yes, you may eventually receive one, but it should be overshadowed by all the amazing reviews other people make about your company.

When people go to purchase a product, they want to know that it is going to be a good thing, so they check out the reviews that others have made. Once prospective customers see all the glowing reviews, they will be more apt to purchase from your local business.

#7 Check Your NAP

NAP is a commonly used acronym in the world of SEO which means Name, Address, and Phone Number. The NAP for your business should be consistent across any and all platforms. As Google crawls your website and listings, it will raise your rankings if the information is consistent.

If the information is inconsistent, then Google and potential customers become confused about where they should be going or who they should call.

In SEO, consistency is key, and contact details are no exception.

#8 Optimize Your Site for Speed

Patience is a virtue unless you’re waiting on a web page to load (or so it may seem). Nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer.

So, if your online business page takes too long to load, you are definitely missing out on attracting new customers. Always run checks on your site to ensure it loads within a reasonable amount of time.

#9 Interact with Your Customers Online

Customers love a brand that interacts with them online. A great example of this is the candy company, Skittles. To get people to vote for them in the #BestOfTweet wars, they promised to follow 50 people who voted for them.

And vote, they did! It turns out that having Skittles follow you on Twitter is a very coveted endeavor, and customers went wild over the idea. Something so simple as clicking the “follow” button allowed Skittles to engage with their customers and boost their own following and interaction with clients.

One of the best local SEO tips is to find a way to talk to your community online. Ensure that you are reaching them where they are so they will be prone to visit you and find out what your business is about.

#10 Conduct a Site Audit

A key factor to ensuring your customers have an excellent user experience is to conduct site audits and experience your website as a potential customer would. Take some time out of your day every two weeks or so and navigate your website or use Ranktracker’s website audit feature. If you find any issues, correct them immediately. Navigating your own website may also inspire you to create new ideas and

Final Thoughts on How to Improve Your Local SEO

Implementing and following these local SEO tips will set your business up for success in your community. Once users know how to find your business and start seeing your targeted ads everywhere, they will be compelled to stop by and learn more about who you are, what you do, and what you provide your local community.

If you would like to learn more about improving your local business SEO, be sure to check out Ranktracker.** Ranktracker provides you with the SEO insights** you need to bring targeted traffic to your website. Research keywords, assess the competition, detect problems and accomplish so much more. Find out more today.