Local SEO is a set of ever-evolving techniques that are used to rank a local business or organization higher on the search engine’s results page when it is searched for by someone with local intent. Local intent is typically shown by the kind of phrase someone puts into the search engine’s search field box. Other factors that give the search engines an idea that you are searching for a location-specific result could be your browser’s language or your geolocation.
If that sounds a bit wordy, it is because the activities that make up local SEO can be quite specific, and to give you an idea of what you will be looking to improve, it is important that we be pretty specific in our definition too.
And just what are those specific activities? The most important are:
- Gaining atribution from authoritative sites
- Making sure that sites that mention your busines are consistent across all of your marketing channels
- That your site is really targeted to a specific location
The first activity is something you need to encourage from your customers. Reviews are the fuel that drives your reputation and a good number of authentic reviews can improve the search engine’s opinion of your business.
The second task can be quite the snipe hunt as different places across the internet can scrape and guess at your address and build up inconsistency across the internet. Decide on one way that your business should be represented (address format, etc.) and make sure it’s consistent everywhere your business is mentioned be it online or print.
Finally, you want your business to be an actual, physical place and you want your marketing efforts to take that into consideration. Search engines don’t give as much credence to a virtual location and P.O. Boxes are frowned upon. This is especially true for search engine-related pages like Google Plus pages. Make sure you use a real physical address or risk getting your page taken down.
To create a comprehensive plan, give SDM a call or contact us via our form. We can arrange an audit to see just where you can improve.