Up to 98% of people used the internet to find information about a local business by 2022, according to Search BrightLocal. And 87% of consumers used Google to rate a local business.
For local businesses with limited time, money and resources, it can be difficult to know where to focus marketing efforts.
One thing is for sure: the ability for people to find local businesses online is critical.
And SEO is one of the most effective marketing activities for a local business to get exposure online, as it offers some of the best long-term returns on investment.
Given that local businesses may have a limited budget, what SEO factors should they focus on?
Here, I’ll outline six areas that small businesses can reasonably do on their own (or spend a little money on outside help for the tech stuff) and at least get the basics of SEO in place.
What are these foundations?
In order for local businesses to rank in search results, they must consider the following areas:
Google Business Profile Reviews & Ratings Quality Content Internal Linking Website & Website Optimization Inbound Links
6 SEO Tactics Every Local Business Should Be Doing At A Minimum
Local businesses should focus on optimizing two areas of search results:
The Google Local Pack / Local Finder or Maps. Google organic listings.
when classification of local companies in the local package, Google takes into account relevance, distance and prominence.
And there’s another set of countless signals he uses for organic listings, including “blue links.”
Search engine results for “pet store near thousand oaks ca”
While the following is not an exhaustive list, it has some essential SEO tactics to at least help local businesses rank.
For local package rankings
1. Google Business Profile
creating, checking and optimizing a Google Business Profile is one of the most critical tactics for ranking local businesses in the local pack.
Here are three of the most impactful optimization techniques for a business profile:
Choose the most relevant primary category for business, add two or three categories (or just the ones that are most relevant). The main category is the most important factor in helping to rank in the local pack. You may not always get it right the first time, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different categories and test the results. PlePler is a useful tool that can help in this area by providing useful data. Fill out the Google Business Profile as completely as possible. Take your time to fill out all available information in a profile. Create a compelling description of the company and its offerings, using rich keywords as often as possible naturally. Make sure your business name, address, phone and website (NAP+W) are correct. A physical address will be a key signal to Google for ranking, as it looks at businesses that are closest to the search point (where the searcher is located). NAP+W data should be consistent across all online sources, not just a Google Business Profile, because it improves search engine confidence in the accuracy of a business listing. Remember to use a local phone number (not a toll-free number).
2. Ratings and reviews
A local business’s ratings and reviews can affect its ranking, including how many reviews (text-based and numerical star ratings) and actual ratings. This is straight from Google’s mouth. So please take feedback and ratings seriously.
Here are some tips:
Encourage customers to leave feedback. Google explains how to share a link with customers to leave feedback. Doing this on an ongoing basis helps ensure reviews are fresh, which can be a positive sign for Google. Remember: Google doesn’t want businesses to offer incentives to leave reviews. However, many local businesses do. It’s about making sure that a company’s review profile represents an honest image of the company. If all reviews are positive with no negative reviews, a user may not trust the company as much. consider showingg third-party reviews to add value to the listing. This can further help users decide on a business.
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For organic rankings
3. Quality contents
Quality content is probably one of, if not the most important – on-page ranking factor in most cases.
There are many ways to define quality, but here are some ways to ensure it in one place:
Make sure that key site pages, such as service pages, have enough content to be useful and useful to website visitors. Spy on the top ranking competitors for the keyword on that service page to see how much content you need to create. Outside of service or location pages, consider how the business will contribute to the community with content. You can establish the company as a local authority by talking about the topics the company is an expert in, telling local stories or acting as a guide. Also: Good local content can attract good local links. You have a variety of content for more opportunities to rank and be found, for example, YouTube videos, images or anything else.
And remember, if you’re using AI content for a website, you need to have a system in place for a human to review and edit it to ensure quality.
For more information, see my article on Search Engine Land: ChatGPT and Content SEO: Where do we go from here?
4. Internal link
Having a good volume of useful content throughout the site that is well organized helps make a website more relevant to a search.
SEO positioning is a technique I invented over 20 years ago. It structures the content of a website by grouping related web pages into hierarchical categories using their directory and links.
In other words, how you set up directories and navigation on a website matters.
Siloing streamlines the internal linking system to connect similar pages and helps search engines discover more related content to better understand what the site is about.
It also helps users navigate easily to find the information they need.
Remember that sometimes Google considers the entire website and not just one webpage when determining which sites to rank for:
“Browsing a website is important for helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the website owner thinks is important. Although search results are provided at the page level, Google also likes to get an idea of the role a page plays in the overall image of the site.
– Google, Beginner’s Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Practically, for a local business website, the site would probably be organized by things like:
A section with individual service pages. A section with location pages, as appropriate.
For example: When a business has more than one location, create one or more pages dedicated to each location where the business is located.
An example would be the split strategy for a keyword like “engineering company”.
You would create a section for locations by having a landing page for that term linked from the top navigation. You would then add sub-pages below that detail each location and the services it offers.
Location sections in the navigation of a local business website
This would apply to every location of a business. Avoid duplicate content issues by making each location section unique.
5. Optimization of web pages and web
There are countless ways to optimize a site, but for local businesses just starting out, here are a handful of things they can and should do to boost SEO:
Optimize local web pages by including city, neighborhood, relevant geographic terms and other key terms in places like meta tags and web page content, including heading tags and anchor text. implement local business type scheme on web pages to further clarify to search engines what the company is about and present this information to searchers. Name, address, phone, number and website would be the minimum goal. This is a bit more technical and local businesses may want to use things like this Structured data markup helper to take this forward. Google also has a help file on this here. Optimize website performance. Since most local searches are done on a mobile device, local businesses need to have a mobile-friendly website. This is another tech company, but Google is tools i help files to get people started. Also, make sure the site is safe for enabling HTTPS is key
The last two bullets can be areas where a local business spends a little money to help out the experts.
6. Links
Local businesses need to have quality local links to show they are a trusted local business. Here are some ideas for earning links:
As mentioned above, useful and quality content aimed at a community can naturally earn links. Only links from unique IP addresses, domains and WHOIS within a geographic area will help. Some more ideas to help get local links include: join a local organization, be listed in a local directory, host a local event and drive your audience to the site, sponsor a local event, start a blog, or be interviewed by local press
Focus on what matters
Countless SEO tactics can help local websites rank in search results. However, there are a handful of methods that local businesses can make the most of, whether by implementing them themselves or spending a marketing budget to hire outside expertise.
Focus on the hierarchy of local SEO needs and get the SEO basics right to have a chance to compete.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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