Local SEO enables you to effectively market your small business digitally. It will be difficult for billions of people worldwide to patronize your business. Why not target your local consumers instead?
Local SEO focuses your efforts on the small group of people in your location. This will increase your local ranking, click-through rates, and conversion.
Here are a few tips to improve Local SEO with a small budget
Submit Your Business Listing to Local Directories
Local directories are online business listings that contain the name, address, and phone number of local businesses. Placing your business on multiple local directories will increase your odds for online visibility. It also improves the online credibility of your business which will boost your ranking.
Be careful about the kind of local directories you put your business details. Listing your business on spam sites would hurt your online reputation and ruin all your hard work.
The top local directories include
- Google My Business app
- Yelp
- Foursquare
- Bing Maps
Optimize your Website for SEO
Search Engine Optimization is the process of enhancing your content with the intent of ranking higher on SERPs. SEO helps you choose and understand your audience so you can deliver quality content to them. SEO also helps you understand how to deliver that content on search engines for high ranking.
Keyword usage is one of the most important aspects of SEO. Do proper keyword research to find keywords that are relevant to your content. Strategically use the keyword to build valuable content for your business.
If you need help with keyword research, working with an SEO copywriting service ensures you get both keywords and content to help you rank.
Create Locally Relevant Content
Sometimes people are not looking for you directly. They may be looking for other content that is related to your location and stumble on your page.
Create content that is relevant to your region to reinforce your authority there. Increased local authority elevates your chances of ranking higher for your location.
Write on events happening in your area. Inform people about local food they absolutely need to try when they visit. Give reviews on local tourist attractions and other fun places to go when they come around.
Locally relevant topics increases your customer base. It also enhances your visibility as a wider range of people in your locality will see notice your brand.
For example, If I run a sandwich store in Abuja I would write a blogpost about the top bakeries in Abuja. Persons looking for where to get quality loaf of bread in Abuja will read that blogpost. They may not necessarily need a sandwich now, but the next time they do, they will remember me and come to my shop.
Fix All Issues with Technical SEO
SEO is actually about your audience. Fashion your website in way that gives your user maximum satisfaction. Make your website, smooth, fast and user friendly.
Good on-page SEO helps you create a website that makes your users happy. Satisfied users will stay on your website for a longer period of time and would be easily converted.
Optimize your GMB Listing
Google My Business is the best tool for putting your small business on the map. It has a range of features that engage and give a potential customer a good idea of your business without even visiting your website.
It is important to understand how to use this tool and take complete advantage of every feature. Listed below are some suggestions on how to fully optimize your Google My Business Listing.
Set Up Your Google Business Listing
Head to Google My Business Listing and click on “start now”. It is very important to fill the details completely and correctly. Make sure your name, address and phone number are consistent with those on your website and other business listings.
Carefully choose the category that describes your business specifically. Do not pick an ambiguous category as it would be very difficult to rank for that category. Picking a specific category reduces the amount of people you compete with.
Use a local phone number for your listing. Using a local phone number reassures google that you truly are in that locality.
Be careful not to stuff your descriptions with keywords in a confusing way. Google can penalize you for this.
Google My Business Post – Let your Customers Keep Up with You
Google My Business Post allows you share brief messages about your business with your audience. It is located at the top left corner of your dashboard.
Google My Business Post is great for advertising snippets of your brand with your audience. You can post about a content you just put up on your website, upcoming sales and so on.
GMB posts also has a feature that schedules your posts. If you are forgetful or simply have a lot to do during the day, GMB can help you post information automatically at specific times.
Post Quality Pictures and Videos
Studies show that 84 percent of communications are visual as at 2019. Even after you have given a good product description, people will still prefer to see a picture or video of what to expect when they patronize you.
People remember what they see faster than what they read. Take your time create beautiful, high resolution images of your product to entice your customers. Posting pictures of your business place and work process is a good way to engage your audience. It also makes your business more relatable.
Do you know what is better than a picture? A video! 96% Online shoppers watch the video about a service or product. 64% are more likely to purchase after viewing. Videos give customers better knowledge about a product.
GMB has a feature that lets you post a 30 second video. Use this opportunity to make creative campaign videos that will have your customers getting in line to buy from you.
Visual content also gets you higher traffic and ranking on google.
According to Amit Gupta of Sagipl, businesses with photos on their listings receive 42 percent more requests for driving directions on Google Maps and 35 percent more click-through to their websites than businesses that without photos. 100% Videos by SEO rank 1st Page on Google, YouTube, Bing, and Yahoo.
Take videos at your place of business and produce content relevant to your business to avoid penalty from Google.
Book Button
The book button feature helps your customer book an appointment with you easily. Earlier, the customer would have to go to your website to book an appointment. Google understands the importance of hitting while the iron is still hot. Google has made it easier by giving them the opportunity to do that without leaving Google.
Author Bio
Chioma Mmeje is an aspiring copywriter and fashion designer. When she’s not creating content for Zenith SEO Content Writing Services, she’s working on a new design and tinkering over her sewing machine.
