Opinion holder entrepreneur Contributors are their own.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), like any other industry, is constantly evolving. The struggle to stay at the top of the rankings takes him more than one post a month. To maintain your reputation and relevance, you need to conduct research over time.
For small businesses, being easily searchable, useful and consistent is more important than ever, which is why businesses need local search engine optimization. Mastering local SEO is easier than you think. Here are his five simple techniques to boost your local SEO and help your small business rank above your competitors.
Related: Struggling with Local Search? What You Need for a Local SEO Strategy
1. Ensure NAP Consistency
Name, address, and phone number (NAP). These three simple facts determine the success or failure of a local SEO approach. Display this information prominently on your website.
The footer is the perfect place for a NAP so it appears at the bottom of every page. NAPs can also be displayed in the body of service area pages and contact pages.
Consistency is key. Your key company details should be consistent if potential clients are likely to find you online.
Related: 5 Tips to Improve Your Local SEO in 5 Hours
2. Enhance the content on the page
You can use the content of your site to demonstrate that you are an industry leader in the areas of the services you provide. Include details such as street names and landmarks, in addition to services in your area.
Explain to your customer why they need your service in that particular location. The more you sound like you belong, the better your customer’s user experience will be.
RELATED: This Important Website Feature Is Crucial to Your Business
3. Register in your local directory
Being featured in local directories is a great additional strategy to boost your local SEO. There are many web directories designed specifically for businesses in specific geographies.
Listing in these directories increases your chances of being discovered by potential clients looking for companies like yours.
4. Optimize your header tags
If you haven’t explored the topic yet, check out this resource on best practices for using header tags. Developing localized service pages gave us more space to create targeted header tags with local-based keywords.
A good header tag gives you an overview of the overall structure of your page and what visitors should expect when browsing your content. Simply loading the keyword into the header tag looks strange.
Related: How do I optimize for keywords for my brand?
5. Create relevant backlinks
Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for any website, connections to your website made by other websites. Google considers backlinks as recommendations. The higher the backlink, the higher it appears in search results.
When developing backlinks, it is important to prioritize quality over quantity. Look for opportunities to receive backlinks from reputable websites related to your business.
Related: What are backlinks and why do you need them for SEO?
SEO styling
- Use dashes with spaces on both sides.
- Avoid consecutive commas: cabbage, tomato, potato.
- The closing quotation mark must be within a comma and period, with one space after the period.
- Single quotes should only be used around other single quotes.
- Avoid placing quotes or URLs in brackets below articles, including personal hyperlinks.
- Use one-sentence paragraphs sparingly. The ideal paragraph length is 2-3 sentences.
- Subheadings should be in the same side-by-side format. If the first heading is a full sentence, they all require full sentences. Do not include links in subheadings. Just use them in your text. Do not capitalize the words following the first word of the subheading.
- If you must use “he”, use “she” as well. Pluralizing pronouns helps avoid this formulation, at least occasionally.
- Do not use the pronoun “they” to refer to businesses, organizations, or government agencies.
- Stay consistent: If it starts with the pronoun “you,” don’t change it. Avoid using “we”, “I”, “he/she” and “you” in the same sentence. Use the same verb tense throughout the sentence. Note that the present perfect expresses continuous, habitual action.
- Look for repetition of the same points, words, or themes.
- All numbers less than 10 (except percentages) are exported. 10 and above are represented by numbers.
- Numbers are always used to represent years. For numbers, use “greater than” instead of “greater than or equal to”. Instead of writing “percent”, use the % symbol.
- Verify quotes using reliable sources.
- Acronyms or abbreviations that are unfamiliar to others should be listed in the first reference, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses.
- For the name of the first reference, use the full name. Subsequent references should use the surname only.
final thoughts
To promote your local online business, you need to include local SEO. Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing to increase your visibility in local search results. Attract more clients to your company by being listed in local directories and adding location pages to your website.
