Small businesses mainly target their local areas to get customers first. Understanding local SEO best practices is one of the keys to attracting more local customers through search engines like Google. Since Google ads are focused on referring particular products or services to their users, businesses can leverage search engine results pages to bring potential customers to your door.

Having a great local SEO strategy can help ensure you reach a wider local audience that can turn into loyal, paying customers.

Here are six tips to boost your local SEO strategy and easily promote your small business.

Content marketing is a powerful technique that can absolutely improve your local SEO performance. When you create more content that is targeted towards a local angle, search engines will have a better idea of where your business is located and where they should advertise it. 

You do not have to create focused content about your business in the area—you can just make generic guides, articles, or videos about the place. However, if you can, take advantage of your landscape that can attract more customers. Going with focused content makes it very clear where your business is based and who you cater to!

For example, suppose your business is located in Florida. In that case, you should design your content to be more appropriate for the lifestyle in the state, the climate, the culture, and the particular interests that appeal to the locals. Aligning your content to their preferences will make them appreciate its value and the products or services you offer.

Optimizing your website images to become SEO-friendly is a great tactic to boost your local SEO. If you have photos of the local area, those are the great ones that you put on your website so that search engines can easily pick up the location.

In addition to that, a descriptive image alternative text is needed because this lets search engines better understand your images. Also, remember to ensure that you are using a clear picture that is not too big so that it will load much more quickly on the site. You can opt between  PNG or JPEG format depending on what you need on your website.

As you promote your business, your focus must be on making sure you are easily accessible and reachable by your customers. That’s possible by making sure your Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are consistent in all of your platforms on the internet.

Admittedly, these small details might be minor, but 100% accurate contact information will benefit your SEO performance. Search engines will see your accuracy as a good thing about your brand, and it contributes well to a higher rank. So, make sure you write your NAP details the same way on your company website, available directors, and your social media accounts.

If you want to make sure that your NAP is accurate, you have to ensure that you triple-check everything before you submit it to any directory. Additionally, when you change your details, make sure that the changes are applied on all of your online platforms.

When you design your website, you have to make sure that you prioritize accessibility, which means that everyone will be able to access your site, even if they are visually impaired or have visual difficulties.

Aside from disabilities, more and more people are reliant on virtual assistant AI technology and smart devices to perform their searches for them. As most people utilize these technologies while they work, drive, or do household chores, your content must read well when it comes to snippets for voice search—phrasing is vastly different from traditional keywords. Make sure that the content of your page, particularly your location, is optimized for voice search.

Additionally, with GPS enabled in most phones, more users are inclined to enter “near me” inquiries on search engines. So, ensure that you have a Google My Business listing so you will be visible to searches, including voice ones, and it will be able to capture accurate information about your business.

Another thing that can help your business conquer local SEO is to create and maintain separate location pages. This opportunity is excellent for those who have multiple branches across the state or even the country. By doing so, search engines can help you rank well in your particular locations.

However, you must not forget to include the following on your location page:

• A Google Map of your business location
• The NAP of your business location
• Content that is specific to your location
• Title tags and subheadings optimized for your location

Though you are designing various detailed pages, you should not make identical pieces of content with different location names. Instead, you should create original content for each page so the search engine algorithms will take the pages seriously. Not only will adding more content improve your site’s authority and credibility, but it will also achieve local optimization targets.

Leverage Local SEO Strategies to Grow Your Business

Improving local SEO really is an excellent tactic for small businesses to promote themselves and their products or services. It is an opportunity to provide value and introduce your brand to the people you want to remember you. If your local SEO strategies are executed well, you can expect to have more customers, particularly those who you can entice to be loyal to your brand in the long run.

About The Stack Group

The Stack Group is a digital marketing and design company specializing in local SEO, web design, graphic design, and copywriting services.  For more information on SEO, check out our affordable SEO services.