5 local SEO tips you need to know

Local SEO is an important part of getting a physical business off the ground.

People nearby need to find you easily and pick you over your local competition, which is why a good local SEO campaign can help increase footfall and traffic comparatively faster than a national SEO campaign.

If you believe in the power of local SEO, here are a few strategies to bring some focus to your campaign. 

City Pages

City pages are what you need to look at if you want to get found in surrounding cities or metro areas. City pages are pages within your site that are optimized for a specific product/service in a specific city or market – a powerful tool that can help you rank in areas where you don’t have an address. This is important, as it lets you access the local search audience from afar – a valuable source of clientele, as, according to Searchbloom, 46% of all searches on Google are for local information. 

Make Use of Google Posts

Google Posts was launched in 2017 as a way for verified Google My Business owners to update potential customers about their business. Google Posts appear in the SERP alongside your Google My Business listing and allow you to communicate with your audience, post reviews, and publish events. Google Posts expire after seven days, though event posts live on until the end of your event, a great way to inform potential attendees cheaply and easily. 

Sharpen Up your Citations

Your citations are the published versions of your business that show up across the net – these might be your address, phone number, website URL, and more. Google picks up on all these citations, but if they are different from the pieces of information used on your Google My Business listing, you will be penalized for such inconsistencies. 

Use Images

Add many images to your Google My Business page, as this will increase actions that will help to increase your rankings in turn. Images increase engagement on your local page, as Google is optimized for mobile users, who will find it easy to open your pictures and keep swiping. Each photo seen increases your authority, which can do a lot to increase your rankings in the long term. 

Create Local Content

Original, high-quality content is very important for SEO, but few people realize that it can be equally important for local SEO. Writing content specifically relevant to locals enhances the chance that locals will read it, which will be picked up by Google and give you local authority. What’s more, when you create a new piece of content, you can add it to your Google Posts. Keeping content fresh and original will help to drive engagement.

Google will pick up on you being a regular provider of content and a regular updater of your Google Posts – you will be rewarded for your efforts and become a high location authority Google My Business user. 

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