If you’re a local business, optimizing your SEO is a must. After all, your potential customers are searching for local services, so you want to make sure that you show up in their search results.
Here are some tips on how to optimize your local SEO:
1. Optimize Your Google My Business Listing
A Google My Business (GMB) listing is a free business listing that appears in Google’s Local Pack, Map, and organic search results.
To optimize your GMB listing, make sure that you:
- Claim and verify your listing
- Add your business name, address, and phone number (NAP)
- Add categories that describe your business
- Add a description of your business
- Add photos and videos
- Add your business hours
- Add your website URL
- Add your business’s service area
2. Optimize Your Website
Make sure that your website is optimized for local SEO by doing the following:
- Add your NAP to your website
- Add your NAP to your website’s header or footer
- Add local keywords to your website’s content
- Add a Google Map to your website
- Add customer testimonials and reviews to your website
3. Build Local Citations
Local citations are online mentions of your NAP. They help search engines verify your business’s location and improve your local SEO.
To build local citations, list your business on local directories and review sites, such as Yelp, Foursquare, and Angie’s List.
4. Build Local Links
Local links are links from other websites that are local to your business. They help improve your local SEO by increasing your website’s authority.
To build local links, reach out to local businesses and ask them to link to your website. You can also list your business on local directories and review sites (as mentioned above).
5. Monitor Your Online Reviews
Online reviews can have a big impact on your local SEO. Positive reviews can improve your rankings, while negative reviews can hurt your rankings.
To monitor your online reviews, set up Google Alerts for your business name and track your reviews on review sites, such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook. Respond to both positive and negative reviews to show potential customers that you care about their experience.
6. Use Schema Markup
Schema markup is code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content. It can help improve your click-through rate (CTR) and organic traffic.
To add schema markup to your website, you can use a plugin, such as WP SEO Structured Data Schema.
7. Monitor Your Competitors
Monitoring your competitors can help you stay ahead of the curve and improve your local SEO.
To monitor your competitors, most of the best SEO company USA use a tool, such as Moz Local, to track their NAP and online reviews. You can also use a tool, such as Google Alerts, to track their mention online.
