Optimizing Your Website for Local Search Results

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What’s the point of creating an amazing site if people don’t get to see it? While not everyone is a fan of SEO, it gives businesses the exposure they need to grow.

Today, we will be exploring how to optimize your website for local search results. Let’s get to it.

Why Is Optimizing Your Website for Local Search Results Important?

When someone searches for “best pizza near me” or “plumber in (city),” they’re looking for local businesses that can solve their problem. If you’re a business owner, this is exactly the moment you want your website to pop up.

But how do you make sure your website gets seen in local search results? It’s simple. You need to implement local SEO.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is all about making your website visible to people searching for businesses like yours in a specific area. If you have a store in downtown Seattle, for example, local SEO helps make sure that people in and around Seattle can easily find you online.

When search engines like Google decide which local businesses to show, they look for clues about:

Why Does Local SEO Matter?

Local SEO is important because a lot of people use search engines to find businesses in their area. In fact, WebFX says that 46% of Google searches are looking for information about local businesses, and 80% of local searches result in conversions.

If you’re not showing up in these search results, your competition probably is. By optimizing your website for local SEO, you’re giving your business a chance to be seen by the right people at the right time.

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What Is the Difference Between Local SEO and Traditional SEO?

First of all, local SEO helps you pop up in local search results, not global. Even though the Google algorithm works in a similar way for local SEO as it does for traditional SEO, it does look for different things, so different strategies will help you stand out and make sure your business becomes more visible.

Tips for Optimizing Your Website for Local SEO

Ok, so now that we’ve established why local SEO is important for the success of your brand, let’s get into how to improve it and what strategies to use:

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free tool that can make or break your local SEO game. It’s what shows up when someone googles your business or a keyword related to it.

Here’s how to set it up:

It’s important to use your main keywords naturally in your description. And don’t forget to respond to reviews (both good and bad) to show you care. Always stay professional. If you do get a bad review, someone might just be having a bad day, but if you constantly get them, maybe it’s time to evaluate your approach.

1. Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Plenty of searches happen on mobile devices. If your website isn’t easy to use on a phone or tablet, you might lose potential customers and leave a bad impression.

57% of internet users say they wouldn’t recommend a company with a poorly designed website on mobile, and 61% of internet users have a better opinion of companies with mobile-friendly website designs.

What to Focus On?

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1. Use Local Keywords

Keywords are the words people type into search engines to help them find what they are looking for. Using the right keywords is important because you want people to find your brand when they type in certain words. Now, for local SEO, you’ll want to include keywords that are related to your location.

So, how do you conduct keyword research? Well, for example, you can use tools like Ubersuggest to help you out. First, you need to try to think like your customers. Get into their heads a bit. What would you type if you were looking for your service in your city? Write down everything that comes to mind.

Then, with the help of the SEO tool of your choice, type some of these words out. You are looking for high search volume and low competition. This means you want as many people as possible typing in those words and as little competition for them as possible.

You can use one main keyword and a few extra ones throughout your page. You can also use your keyword of choice in your page title, meta description (the short text that appears under your link in search results), the content on your website, and your image file names and alt text.

1. Create Location-Specific Pages

If your business is located in more than one place, a good idea is to create a page for every location. For example, if you’re a plumber serving Chicago, Milwaukee, and Madison, create a page for each city.

The text should be unique and relevant on every page. Also, you can add images of your business from every place.

You can even create different pages for different types of services you offer and offer a page that’s just for reviews.

Ideas on What to Include on Each Page:

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1. On-Page SEO

On-page SEO means optimizing your website so that search engines understand what your content is about and rank it high. On-page SEO includes things like title tags, headings, keywords, meta descriptions, images, creating quality content, and so on.

All of this helps Google (and other search engines) understand your content and mark it as high-quality.

The title tag is the title of your page that shows up in search results. Keep it short, clear, and engaging, and include your main keyword.

Headings help you organize your content so that both viewers and Google can understand it better. You can use your main keyword in your main heading (H1) and try to use related keywords whenever you can in your subheadings (H2, H3).

The meta description is a short summary of your page (it appears under the title in search results). Try to keep it concise and engaging, and include your keyword. For example, you can write something like: “Are you looking for the best coffee in LA? Visit Joe’s Coffee Shop for some freshly brewed coffee and yummy pastries.”

Using high-quality images is engaging for your audience and great for search engines. And lastly, including relevant, quality information in your content will help you the most. Make sure to write helpful, clear, and original content that answers your audience's questions.

Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, and they help search engines see your content as relevant. Of course, not all websites rank high, so it does matter who is linking to your site.

For local SEO, you want backlinks from websites in your area. It will show search engines that you are respected in the community. Here are a few ideas on how to get backlinks:

1. Encourage Customer Reviews

Reviews are a big deal for local SEO. They build trust and show search engines and customers that your business is worth recommending.

A great and effective way to get more reviews is to just ask. You can even hand out simple flyers to customers when they finish their purchase asking them to leave a review if they were happy with your service.

Always respond sincerely and professionally to all reviews. Thank people for positive feedback and address any concerns politely.

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Ready to Rank High on Google?

We know this was a lot of information, and if you’re not that familiar with the topic, it can really feel overwhelming. But, the more research you do and the more you learn about optimizing your site for SEO, the easier it gets.

This might not be a favorite topic among all business owners, but it really is relevant and makes such a difference in how your brand is perceived (and how much it grows). So, if all of this is a bit much for you, you can always hire professionals who offer local SEO services to help you out. Either way, we are rooting for you on your SEO journey.