5 Ways to Improve Your Local Search Rankings
With internet marketing booming in the last few years, many businesses have made a transition to digital marketing. Internet marketing is cheaper than traditional methods and caters to a huge audience. However, it is interesting to note that over 46% of the Google searches are local and a staggering 64% of the local customers use search engines as a key tool to find local businesses. So, small and multi-location companies can expand their customer base and hence, boost their revenue using local SEO techniques. Here are 5 ways to improve your local search rankings.
- Local Keywords and On-Site SEO
Keyword research and writing the appropriate title and meta description are an art. An SEO expert gives due importance to include the keywords in the title as well as the meta description. Using local keywords can give you great visibility. For example, a small business may consider using ‘service firms in Mumbai’ as a keyword rather than simply ‘service firms’. However, one should also pay attention to on-site SEO techniques like URL structure, internal links and sitemap.
- Online Directories and Citations
According to a study, over 60% of consumers are more likely to consider or contact a business when an image shows up in local search results. Therefore, it’s crucial that your business is listed consistently on several online directories, like Yelp, YP, Manta and Citysearch. Small businesses which aren’t much interested to get listed miss out a big opportunity. Local search engine optimization also involves getting your business name, email and phone number on several citation data aggregators like Factual and Infogroup.
You can also add your business to Google+ Local listing using ‘Google My Business’. As a business owner, you can boost your presence by adding coupons, video reviews, photos and more. You can also reply to customer concerns and get an insight on who’s viewing your profile and the source of your traffic.
- Online Consumer Reviews
88% of local customers confide in online business reviews. So, you should be serious about getting reviews for your presence in Google maps. Google maps is a great platform to get your business visibility as it contains your clickable website and phone number. If you give a dummy address or a non-functional phone number, it severely affects your business. Google’s algorithm gives weightage to off-site information to account for the legitimacy of your business. Further, you should be prompt in replying to customers. It doesn’t matter whether you get a positive or negative review.
- Accelerated Mobile Views
The user experience of your website has a direct bearing on your web traffic. Creating a great UX is all about providing people with the information in minimum possible time. Confusion due to poor UX and slow loading of your website increases the bounce rate. Ranking in the first 3 positions on the search page matters a lot in the smartphone world due to the small screen space.
- Original Content Creation
Original content is at the heart of local search engine optimization. Google’s algorithm is very dynamic and keeps on changing. For example, Google launched its Soft Panda ranking algorithm followed by Payday Loans algorithm as an update in a short span of few months. One should still focus on optimizing the images for SEO. One should consider a fabricating a mix of contents like video, podcasts and interviews. Different people perceive differently.
Local search marketing is targeted and has the highest conversion rate of all available advertising channels. Looking at the tremendous growth of smartphones and the penetration of internet, it would be wise on part of businesses to invest in local SEO and get a huge return on their investment.
