What do you do when you need to find a service professional?
Likely, when you’re looking for a plumber for your home or a tax consultant, most of us search for “plumbers near me” or “tax consultant near me”. The search engine then pulls up and displays relevant results based on several factors, and if you’re connected to the local business.
Right?
According to this report, 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours. These statistics should be enough to convince that if you want to grow your local business, you must implement the right local SEO strategies.
Why Should You Focus on Local SEO?
Being a small business, if there’s just one marketing strategy you can implement, it has to be Local SEO. Here are 4 reasons why every small business owners must focus on local SEO:
- It helps you target people who are actually looking for information on services you provide, so it will not take a lot of effort on your part to convert them to a lead.
- With local SEO, you will usually have a better ROI than other forms of marketing.
- When your business appears in a Google search or on Google maps, it looks more authentic, and you are likely to gain more customers.
- When it comes to mobile searches, local SEO is crucial.
SEO doesn’t have to be complicated; the 6 strategies we are going to discuss are non-technical.
One of the common mistakes many people make is, they don’t know how to differentiate between SEO and Local SEO.
As the name suggests, Local SEO is optimizing your business website, so it appears when people search for the product or service you offer. Simply put; local SEO shows users’ results based on their current location.
Suppose Bill is a business attorney in Long Beach, CA. Someone who wants to start a business and form a company searches Google for “business attorney near me.” If Bill’s website is optimized correctly, it will feature in the search results. If he has an excellent rating, there are high chances the prospect may end up calling his business.
Now that we know how local SEO is crucial for every local business let’s talk about the 5 proven ways to improve your local SEO.
#1 Optimize your Google My Business Profile
It is free and easy to set up a Google My Business listing. Simply visit Google My Business, the process is self-explanatory and easy to navigate.
Keep in mind that you should fill in all of the information that is requested, even if it isn’t marked as essential. The information that should be included is below:
- Choose a relevant, specific category
- Load quality, high-resolution images.
- Make sure your information is consistent.
- Use a local number.
- Your business hours.
Learn more about Google My Business in one of our previous blogs here.
#2 Get More Reviews
This is a no-brainer. We all look for reviews of whatever product or service we are considering. According to BrightLocal’s 2019 Local Consumer Review Survey, 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
Your GMB profile shows the reviews your business has. Needless to say, the higher the number of reviews and the higher the rating you have in Google will determine if you will get featured in the top 3 pack. If you offer an excellent product or service, your customers will be happy to review your business.
When you close a sale, go ahead and ask for a Google review.
If you are doing email marketing, you may want to send a Thank You note a few days after the transaction and drop the link to your Google Review page..
#3 Optimize your pages for On-Page SEO
To get better results from local search, your pages need to have proper on-page SEO done.
The 2 main factors that determine your on-page SEO are:
- The location you serve
- What products or services you offer
Google needs to know what products or services you offer and the locations you serve. Here are some essential on-page SEO factors you should keep in mind:
- Title tags
- Images
- Header tags
- Meta tags
- Page content
- Images
- Name, address, and phone (NAP) on every page (with schema markup). You should ensure that the NAP is consistent throughout all pages.
#4 Embed Google Maps on Your Website
Google Maps Embed API allows you to use an interactive map or a street view panorama, on your website. This is very simple to do; this Google article explains the steps needed.
#5 Optimize Your Website for Mobile
If your website is not optimized for mobile, you’re losing out on a lot of business.
Most of the searches happen on mobile, so your website must be optimized for mobile. In fact, in 2019 Google officially launched the mobile-only index, meaning you will rank differently on mobile searches than on desktop searches. It’s kind of like needing 2 different websites (not literally, but figuratively). {source} In addition,, you should also optimize your website for speed, so it loads fast.
#6 One Product or Service Per Page
You may feel to list all your products or services in one gigantic page, but avoid doing that. It is recommended to dedicate one page to each unique service or product you offer. You don’t want to end up confusing your prospects by lumping everything into one page.
By implementing these 6 actionable items, you will ensure that your business is optimized for local search, which in turn will generate more customers, leads, and sales.
If you are confused by anything mentioned above, feel free to schedule a free consultation with our CEO, Maggie Benson. She’ll help answer your questions and steer you onto the right page for your personal circumstances.
