More people than ever before are looking for local businesses.
This also means that local searches are not as competitive as they are today.
So how can local businesses stand out and improve their rankings?
How can you make it easier for customers to find and connect with your business?
On June 9th, I moderated a sponsored Search Engine Journal webinar with Jared McKinney and Matt Boyce of Podium.
They shared tips on how to rank higher in search using lesser-known local SEO tips.
Here is a summary of the webinar presentation.
Data from Google and other sources show that local searches consistently lead to actual visits to physical locations.
But all too often, local businesses don’t pay attention to the simple yet impactful tactics that can really make a difference in their SEO.
Here are four tips and how to implement them that can help improve your local SEO strategy and visibility.
Tip 1: Boost your local SEO with Google Reviews
This tip applies to all businesses displayed on the map.
To rank high in local searches, you need ratings and reviews that build trust in your brand.
Competing against Amazon and other big brands in search can be intimidating.
But a local business with a physical location has its advantages. Google shows more local businesses in search results for users looking for things nearby.
These searchers will see a local map pack that shows a map of the business locations and a list of three businesses related to the specific search.
If you think being featured in a map pack is enough, think again.
There are many ways to optimize your Google My Business (GMB) listing. It gives you an edge over the competition, especially when it comes to reviews.
Negative reviews may be inevitable in any business, but the way you deal with them can turn things around or make you look bad.
The 5-star rating is different than it used to be. There’s more to a great online review presence than an average star rating or number of ratings received.
Make sure you track reviews on the GMB list and reply as needed.
People around the world are happy with online reviews and make it a habit to compare, contrast, and read more to decide if they support their business.
At the same time, you should actively solicit reviews from your customers. These days, you can even use tools to automate the process.
Customers are often happy to support local businesses. But the big question is whether you’re giving them that opportunity and making it convenient for them.
Let’s take a look at how map packs are designed.
Depending on where you are positioned on that map pack and how deep a searcher has to dig into that listing to find your business, the amount of traffic and potential customers you get from that GMB listing will vary. determined by the method.
Google considers the following factors when determining local search rankings:
- Relevance: Is your listing matching what consumers are looking for?
- distance: How close is your business to searchers?
- prominence: Does your business stand out in the offline world? Is your business reviewed regularly?
A fully optimized GMB profile is a must if you want to hone your relevance and get found more often.
If Google doesn’t know everything about your business and what you have to offer, we can’t match your searches to your listings.
Additionally, the quantity and quality of your reviews will determine the visibility.
Review signals account for 16% of the search engine decision-making process when it comes to local pack rankings.
How to collect quality reviews
Follow these steps to collect quality reviews.
- Provide quality customer service. A focus on the customer experience will help you build an army of willing ride-or-die supporters for your business.
- Timing is everything. Find the perfect time to send out a review request invitation.
- Set expectations for reviews. The most successful companies incorporate ‘questions’ into multiple steps of the customer visit. Before you leave your customers, you need to let them know when and how they will receive invitations, and why it is important to respond.
- Invite by text. Your customers are already using their phones, so it’s time to start meeting them where they are.
Tip 2: Make your name, address and phone number (NAP) easily visible on all your online profiles
Your name, address, and phone number (NAP) data must be present consistently across all profiles on the web.
Make all phone numbers clickable
Most browsers recognize and highlight phone numbers, but they still often miss them. You can easily and quickly verify your phone number by inserting a very small code wherever your phone number appears on your website.
To make phone numbers clickable, tag and code each number like this:
<a href="https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/tel:+1-801-499-7111">+1 (801) 499-7111</a>
Some people worry that adding a Google Tracking Number will affect their Google Ranking, but as long as the actual number is listed as the second number in Google My Business, another number will be added to the Google Ranking. does not affect
Embed a map of your location
Add a Google Map of your location to your website so you can easily find it.
Tip 3: Make it text-enabled
Most people prefer text. Easy to create with business lines in text format.
SEO professionals are adept at generating demand through organic search rankings, but they aren’t always experienced with the best ways to capture demand.
When you allow your customers to text your business (using either your GMB profile or website chat), a higher percentage of your prospects become customers.
If you rely on forms to generate leads, there’s a better way.
Plus, your internal team can reach 10x more leads by text than by phone or email. This means less work for you and more sales for your business.
What else can you do with text?
- set an appointment
- answer the questions
- Streamlined operations
- Acquisition of leads
- get reviews
- Send survey
- Run promotional campaigns
- payment collection
Using text to collect reviews can be very helpful as people get a much higher response rate. More responses equal more reviews, which equates to more hits and higher rankings.
Additionally, text can be used instead of email for other more standard SEO practices such as asking for links. Text conversations to see more success and faster responses.
Tip 4: Register all business profiles
Let customers and search engines know you’re open for business.
Claim every possible business profile and listing on every possible website and everywhere you operate.
For industry-specific review sites and business listings, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook, and dealer.com, make sure you’ve created an account and make sure they’re up to date.
Review service information, hours of operation, addresses, contact methods, and phone numbers.
Additionally, get your digital storefront in order.
The quantity and quality of local business profiles are increasing exponentially.
For a long time, just posting stock photos or pixelated images of your business on your GMB profile was fine.
No more. Get out your smartphone and step outside to take a high-quality photo of your business. That’s the baseline.
Take a look at our competitors’ GMB profiles. what about your profile?
It’s not just for vanity. A good photo helps search engines know that your listing is authentic, relevant, and well-updated.
Be sure to update as well as upload high quality photos.
Important local SEO tasks made easier
The ultimate goal of search engine optimization is to generate more leads and increase your chances of closing deals.
Getting more reviews, generating website leads, and using your online profile as your digital storefront can be overwhelming for some.
But smart businesses are starting to take advantage of comprehensive tools like Podium to help them turn these efforts into real conversations with their customers.
For example, Podium’s review tools make it easy to directly boost your business’s online presence and ranking in both direct organic search results and local map pack results.
Sending review invitations to customers via text makes reputation management more convenient and the overall review status more representative of all customer experiences.
[Slides] 4 local SEO tips that even the experts miss
Check out SlideShare below.
Join us for our next webinar!
How to enhance your keyword research with powerful topic clustering
Join Dave Snyder, CEO and Founder of CopyPress, on how this method can help you rank higher.
image credit
All screenshots taken by the author in June 2021
