Why Local SEO Is So Important
Do you own a business that has a physical location and serves a certain geographical area, encompassing multiple cities and/or communities? If so, you probably cannot survive in today’s online market without concentrating on improving your Local SEO. It’s an important part of getting found by local customers and dominating the local market.
Let’s begin by differentiating Local SEO from Organic (unpaid) SEO. Local SEO has a geographical component which organic SEO does not necessarily have. It is the practice of building signals of relevance around a specific location; a brick-and-mortar business. Organic SEO is a marketing practice that revolves, more or less, around a website, in general. It’s actually a bit easier to improve Local SEO more quickly, whereas Organic SEO can take some time to see the results.
So, if your business provides a service or product that local customers use or want, Local SEO will improve your ranking in local results. Google can (pretty well, too) pick out search queries that have “local intent,” meaning the searcher wants search engine results with local companies.
How Google Tracks Your Location
If you are in Colorado Springs and search for, say “Asian fusion restaurants”, you’ll get a listing of Asian fusion restaurants located in the area surrounding your location. You don’t have to add “near me” to the search query unless you’re looking for Asian fusion restaurants outside of your area. How does Google know where you are, even if you are using your smart phone or laptop outside of your normal home location? Cellular data and Wifi tracking plays a role, but the fact remains they know where you are and you need to take advantage of it.
Ways You Can Boost your Local SEO
1. Include your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) in the Footer of your Website.
This is a simple step to start—making sure this location information is in the footer on every page of your website. A word of caution, however: It MUST be the exact same NAP that appears on your Google My Business page, Bing Places for Business, and any other online directories where your business is registered. Just one letter and digit difference can negatively impact your Local SEO, so making sure they match can’t be over-emphasized.
If you provide services to certain cities or geographic areas, you may want to add a phrase like, “Serving the cities of….” in the footer as well. Another caveat: Don’t add too many so that you appear spammy to the search engines.
2. Add a Reviews/Testimonials Page.
Consumers pay attention to online reviews, so including them on your website can build trust. It can also improve local SEO if the reviews include the customer first name, first initial of last name and their city. For more advanced local SEO strategies, you can use Review Schema on your website.
3. Create Multiple Locations Pages.
If you have more than one location for your business, it helps to create separate pages on your website for each location. Each page would include the specifics for that particular location, like NAP, business hours, payments accepted, and other relevant information. If the location promotes or sponsors events, mention it on that page.
Creating separate pages also works well if you serve multiple cities or geographic areas. Of course, if you serve an area that encompasses dozens of small cities or towns, creating a couple of pages for the largest or most served cities is advisable.
4. About Us Page.
You can tell your story and feature your team or staff on your About Us page. It can also be a great place to add location-targeted keywords to rank for local SEO. For example, “Our great team serves customers in Colorado Springs, CO.”
5. FAQs
Creating a page with Frequently Asked Questions with answers can boost your local SEO by including questions asked by real customers (not making them up yourself). If you include the customer’s location, this can be a valuable factor for getting found locally.
Colorado Springs SEO for Growth Can Help You in Your Quest for Local SEO
Colorado Springs SEO for Growth has the expertise to fine-tune and optimize your overall marketing plan, as well as your overall SEO strategy. We offer a free SEO Audit that will show you where your business stands in the rankings. Contact us today to learn more!