Local search has gained significant importance in the recent past. Whether you own a local cake shop or a huge chain of bakeries, you must rank well in local searches so that you can drive more business to your local shops. Google’s hummingbird update was all about giving people personalized and localized results so that they get exactly what they want.
If you haven’t yet optimized your local SEO strategy, here is what you can do to improve your local search ranking.
- If you want to improve your ranking for a specific location, create content that is exclusive to that place. For example, if you own a cake shop in various suburbs of Sydney, you should have a page written for each of your service area, i.e. a page on cake shop in Auburn, one on cake shop in Bondi Beach, cake shop in castle hill, etc.
- Find out the communities and forums that are specific to your location and engage yourself there. This way, you will be perceived as a local business and will be ranked better in local search. Further, by establishing your presence there, you will be able to build your credibility and will therefore, get more business.
- With the rising importance of local search, the importance of directories has also increased. Find out the ones that are relevant to your business and list your business there. Do not restrict yourself to just listing your business. Add the photographs of your business, description of your services, your URL, address, and other details that will help you sound credible and serious. Listing sites usually rank better in local searches. Therefore, by listing your business, you will be able to reach the audience that you would otherwise miss due to poor ranking of your website.
- Optimise and localise your meta information. When someone searches for a local business, he/she will read the meta information before clicking to find out if the search result meets his/her requirement. Therefore, your meta information should have localised text. Further, search engines highlight the keywords in the title as well as in Meta description in order to help users make accurate decision. This is the reason why you must get your meta title and description localised. The title should contain your primary keyword and the location of your business. The description should also include all these information along with a brief summary of the page.
- Have your NAP (name, address, and phone number) on all pages of your website. These details should be mentioned at a place where they can be easily noticed, such as in the header and in the footer. They should be mentioned in a crawlable format and not in the form of an image. Be sure to include important information such as the zip code, the local area code, etc. Search engines use this information while finding out results that are relevant to their users’ location. Avoid using a mobile number or a toll free number, as they are not helpful for making your business sound localised. Prefer having a local phone number with an area code.
- We hope that these tips will help you achieve your local SEO goals. If you need profession help, get in touch with us at 1300 641 849.
