Are you are a local retailer or business owner looking for ways to optimize your web presence?
Perhaps you’re even ready to invest in SEO? If you said yes to any of these questions then you need to be aware of some essentials to make the most of this partnership.
So much has changed and improved in 2019, as far as local SEO is concerned.
Here’s what you need to include in your local SEO strategy:
1. Setting up Google My Business
2. Optimizing your Google My Business Account
3. Building Location Specific pages
4. Customer Reviews
5. Build Local Content
6. Get Backlinks from Partners and Your Network
7. Use Social Media
While you can achieve some of the above tactics on your own, it really pays off in dividends to invest in Local SEO. Here’s why:
1. Process and Tools
Local SEO involves a fair bit of strategizing as well as trying out various techniques to understand which elements of your organic strategy are bringing in results.
This requires skilled resources and tools. You may not have the time or dedicated resources needed to carry this out.
2. Credibility
Investing in local SEO not only brings in leads and traffic, but it also helps you build business credibility.
When your business ranks higher in Google, there is an instant validation of your authenticity as a business or service.
Many studies have pointed out that a large percentage of Google clicks occur using organic and non-paid links as opposed to PPC. This is because organic results show the user that the company is credible and hasn’t used paid media to be on the first page or the 3-pack.
3. Your audience is online
Remember the good old days of Yellow Pages? When someone needed a service, they would look under the categories in the directory and call up.
Mobile and internet have changed the game. All the customer needs to do is either type in or use a voice search to look up a business need and Google pulls up the most relevant and nearest locations.
The internet has leveled the playing field in many ways. You can tap into a large, search-happy customer base just by being available online.
If you are a London-based business, you know how competitive space is. You can consult with an SEO agency in London to understand how best you can optimize your business for local search.
4. Sustainability
SEO helps in the long run. As opposed to paid media traffic, organic traffic doesn’t die down the minute you stop investing in it. When you invest in SEO, you are investing in a process that has a rich pay off over a period of time. It also gives you higher ROI as compared to PPC or paid media.
5. Using Schema for Local SEO
A local SEO agency like Pearl Lemon will help you set up your website through Google Search Console and help you take advantage of Schema.org to mark up your site with structured data.
This helps the engine spiders to crawl your data and get to know it better so that it obtains more accurate data about your business, service, products, and reviews.
Schema is not easy to master because it needs coding and the right tech with customized plugins. If you don’t have past experience with this, you are likely to falter. Many local SEO agencies in London help implement structured data using Schema.org.
If you still want to do it yourself, you can use Google’s free Structured Data Testing Tool to make sure it is added correctly.
6. Mobile search optimization
Mobile is increasingly becoming the key factor in SEO, especially with people using their smartphones to search local businesses, call up, read reviews and get directions.
Investing in local SEO can help you make the most of your business’s mobile presence. Your ranks and discoverability will shoot up and you will attract a wider user base.
Local SEO is now a vital element in your digital marketing strategy. Google statistics show that over 51% of smartphone users have found a new company or service using their smartphone search. If you haven’t optimized your business for local SEO search, then now is a good time to do it yourself or hire a professional SEO agency like Pearl Lemon in London.
