How To Improve Local SEO?

Improving the local SEO of your business is a long-distance race and involves different keys that you must work on continuously. These are some of the most important ones.

Mobile Optimization

It is key that your website is optimized for mobile devices, that it is viewed ideally from any device, and that web usability is guaranteed.

94% of Spaniards use their smartphone to browse the Internet, which is their preferred device for this, according to the We Are Social 2020 report. You will lose sales opportunities if your business’s virtual home does not look good from these devices.

Optimization for voice searches

Related to the previous point is optimizing your corporate website for voice searches. We do not speak the same way we write, and the reality is that we increasingly relate to devices through voice.

Does Siri, Google Assistant or Alexa sound familiar to you? They are voice assistants that, among other functions, allow you to search for information by speaking directly to them. Adapting your content to a more conversational tone will help your business appear in local searches.

Getting customer reviews

Encourage customer reviews, reviews, and comments. These social signals are valuable to users and, therefore, to Google. You can start by inviting your customers to leave their reviews on your Google My Business listing.

You must also respond professionally to these opinions, thanking the positive ones and resolving complaints about the negative ones.

Local keywords

Keywords are the basis for structuring a good SEO strategy. To focus your efforts on geolocated searches, you must find those popular keywords in a specific region.

You can use different tools, such as Google’s keyword planner, to filter searches by location. Once you have your list of keywords, generate content on your website that responds to those searches.

Create an “about” or “about us” page with your location.

If a potential client wants to visit your business in person, they need data. To promote your company on the Internet, at a minimum, you must indicate your name, address, hours, exterior photographs, and map.

You should include all this information on your website’s “About Us” or “About” page.

Local SEO and Google My Business

Google My Business is the right eye of local SEO. It is one of the most effective ways to rank in geolocated results.

Therefore, we recommend that you open a business account on Google My Business immediately if you still need to create it.

It is a free service from Google where you can create your business profile. In this tab, you will add all the relevant data about your business to make it available to your customers, from opening hours to contact information or location. Of course, you must include images and a description of your services or products.

A good idea is to include in that description the keywords for which you want your company to be visible on Google, naturally and without overthinking about positioning.

The more complete your Google My Business listing is, the better. The user will first see this profile when Google shows them the results.

One of the significant advantages of My Business is that you are the one who decides what information you want to display. So, work hard on your file and update it to make a difference.

If you carry out your work in a specific geographical area but do not have a physical location, you should also create a profile on Google My Business since you can hide your address from users. You will only have to indicate an address internally so that Google can verify your business.

Some directories to register your business and do local SEO

You can create an appointment or summons through Google My Business, that is, online information about your company that usually shows the name, address and telephone number.

This is known as NAP ( name, address, phone ), and some SEO professionals transform it into NAPW by including the website (the URL of your website).

Citations are essential for local SEO since they work similarly to links in an SEO strategy. The more external links point to a website, the higher its ranking by Google.

Therefore, the more citations refer to your company, the more opportunities you can improve your local SEO. One way to generate them is in business directories. It stands to reason that if you don’t appear in those directories where people are searching for businesses like yours, the competition that does will surpass you.

We have already seen that Google My Business is one of those directories where you must register your company, but there are many more.

Here, we leave you a list of local SEO directories so you can start deploying your strategy:

• Bing places: Bing (owned by Microsoft) is Google’s alter ego, although the number of users who use this search engine is much smaller. However, its Bing Places service, equivalent to Google Maps, is very interesting for local SEO.
• Yelp: The Yelp platform helps users find the best businesses in their area in real-time. Its content is based on contributions from the community that create a network of recommendations. It is a directory with great potential for local SEO.
• Yellow Pages: A well-known directory that went from the paper version to the digital one. You must register with them if you want to boost the visibility of your business.
• QDQ: A free directory where companies and professionals from any sector can be found.
• Universia: Collect a list of companies, organized by location, in which you can register.
• Hotfrog: Also a free online business directory that helps you attract clients through it and reinforces your local SEO strategy.
• Axesor: A portal that allows you to consult general information about the registered companies.
• Yalwa: Another free business directory we recommend you review to register your business.

Local SEO: an essential nowadays

Local SEO is more important than ever. The sociopolitical events experienced in recent months have triggered the need for business digitalization like never before.

Working on this strategy translates into more potential clients, but you must remember that it takes time. Like any organic tactic, it requires constant work. We advise you to start now to see results in the medium term.

Also Read : Dictionary Of Basic SEO Concepts. Definitions Worth Knowing.