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By: Jacob Robinson
Businesses are constantly looking for ways to drive sales and grow their business. One of the best ways to do this is through search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO is defined as the set of processes followed to achieve higher ranking within organic search for a business’s products or services. When we talk about ‘local SEO’, we are talking about the previous definition of SEO, but within a geographical area. Fort Collins, CO for example.
Now that we understand what local SEO is, let’s cover why it’s the one of the most important things you can do to help your business succeed. It’s simple:
97% of All Consumers Use Online Media to Shop Locally (BIA/Kelsey) Tweet This!
Need I say more?
Here’s the question. What local SEO tactics can we implement to get us in front of those households, and grow your business? Let’s take a look.
The 5 Components of a Successful Local SEO Campaign
Local Business Listings
More and more often business listings are showing up in search. There are hundreds of these types of websites, but some include Yelp, Google +, Yahoo! Whitepages, and Foursquare. These listings show up in search because they provide valuable information to consumers about your business. For example, consumers can read testimonials on Google + about your business.
Besides showing up in search results, local business listings also provide NAPW (Name, Address, Phone, Website) citations and backlinks to your website. NAPW consistency is important, as it gives search engines the confidence that you are who you say you are. Citations and backlinks are also important, as they are essentially a vote of confidence to search engines towards your brand or business.
Don’t forget your Map Listings. Map listings are also a vital component of local SEO.
Related: What Online Directory Listings Are Doing for You
High Quality Content
In the world of digital marketing, content is king. Content is the bread and butter of any website, as it should be. It’s the reason people come to your website in the first place. Content is meant to answer visitor’s questions and provide information about your business and industry.
Search engines crawl through websites on a daily basis. Their goal is to understand what information is being provided to users. Creating quality, structured, and targeted content makes this task easier for search engines. When search engines see that you provide high quality, topical content – that’s valuable to searchers, they’re more likely to include that content higher in search results.
Online Reviews
There are a multitude of websites including Yelp, Open Table and Trip Advisor (there are many more) that provide customers a platform to leave reviews about their experiences with specific businesses. These votes of satisfaction (or lack there-of) are signals that search engines take into account when deciding who should rank higher for specific products or services.
Remember, the goal of a search engine is to provide the best information to a searcher. In theory (and more importantly, in search engine logic), someone with higher reviews will provide better products and services than those with lower ratings.
Related: Capitalize on Happy Customers – Ask for Online Reviews
Social Engagement
No longer is SEO only about following a set of technical practices and procedures. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithm to utilize more relevant signals to rank businesss’ websites.
Social signals now help in the ranking process. Having a Google +, Facebook, and Twitter account are essential! Search engines have their finger on the pulse of your social media profiles and use that to determine ranking.
Mobile Optimization
Google now ranks mobile-friendly websites higher in mobile search results than those that are not mobile-friendly. What this means is that if you have a website that is not mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a large number of potential website visitors. More than 50% of search traffic occurs on a mobile device!
It is critical to find out if you have a mobile-friendly website. You can check here! If you don’t, make a mobile-friendly website your highest priority.
Find Success with Local SEO
Local SEO is critical to the success of any business. A successful local SEO campaign will allow you to drive more traffic to your website. If you have a functional website, you will then be able to convert those visitors into paying customers.
By implementing the above tactics you will be setting yourself up for long term local SEO success.
Interested in starting your local SEO campaign? We are here to analyze your business and answer your questions.