The Five Core Elements of Local SEO
Local SEO is search engine optimisation which focuses on getting your business ranking highly on searches with “local intent” such as ‘best electrician near me’ or ‘Italian restaurants in Leeds’.
There are five local SEO services which you can take advantage of today to improve your ranking for local SEO.
To “localise” your website, make sure you mention your town/city and county regularly but naturally throughout your content. If your business has multiple locations, you may wish to create separate pages or even perhaps even separate websites for individual locations.
2. Citation Building
A “citation” in SEO refers to any time your business’s NAPW (Name, Address, Phone number, Website URL) is mentioned online, normally this will be in a business listing website or other online directory.
It is important to have your business listed in as many of these as possible. Many directories are free to be listed on if you make an account there. Put aside an afternoon to get listed on as many as possible.
Having your company’s name, address, phone number and website URL (NAPW) listed on these sites not only helps customers who use those directories find you and your services, it sends signals to search engines that you are a legitimate local business. This will in turn improve your ranking.
3. Claiming Your Google My Business Listing
Your Google My Business (GMB) profile is the most important pillar of your local SEO, there are some successful businesses who do not even have a website but make great use of their GMB profile to reach local customers.
If you haven’t done so already, claim your GMB profile. Next, make sure that all the information on there is accurate and up to date, including your website URL, phone number, address and opening hours. This will boost your rankings in local search.
4. Managing Your Reviews
Genuine reviews from real customers demonstrate that you are providing a good service. Reviews have a huge impact on both how potential customers will perceive your business and on your rankings for local search.
Where the review appears also matters. If possible, get your customers to leave reviews directly on your Google My Business profile. Other trusted review sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp will help to boost your search rankings.
5. Gain Relevant, High-Quality Backlinks
As with all forms of SEO, backlinks are very important to local SEO. Gaining backlinks from local sources like local news outlets, local blogs or other local businesses will prove that you are a business trusted by your local community. These backlinks will help to improve your local search ranking and your overall search ranking.
