Local SEO Strategies That Will Help Your Business Stand Out in the Crowd
What is SEO Local? When you hear the term Local you may be thinking of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Both are related, but they work in different ways. Organic search engine optimization is the practice of increasing a site or a page’s ranking in the results of an unpaid search query (hence the name “organic”). Organic search results are the ones that show up on the first page of results for a given keyword or key phrase.
SEO Local is a more targeted approach to optimize your website and its listings in search results pages of local search engines. This is achieved through Local SEO, which has the goal of getting your website to rank better in local searches for particular keywords and key phrases relative to location. In layman’s terms, Local SEO targets those searching in your geographic area. While organic SEO targets search engines like Google that provide search results based on keyword tags and data from websites like local businesses, Local SEO seeks to target search results where searchers will be looking for a particular type of information. For example, if a searcher is looking for a pizza place in New York, then a Local SEO optimization strategy would focus on the search words city, place, or town in order to direct the user to your website.
While the above explanation seems pretty simple, there are a few things to consider before diving headfirst into a Local SEO campaign. The first thing you need to consider is how you intend to use the keywords you choose for your website. While the aim of Organic SEO is to increase the site’s ranking in the organic search results, Local SEO will target specific keywords in your local geographic area. Therefore, if you live in the city of Boston and want to rank for the words “pizza” and “baked chicken” in your local search, then the targeted keyword phrases will be “pizza”, “cheese”, or “chicken” respectively. In this case, instead of targeting the search term “Pizza” in the overall organic category, you would target “Pizza in Boston” or “Cheese Pizza in Boston” and so on.
Once you have chosen the targeted keywords and place them in your optimization plan, the next step is selecting the best optimization approach for your site. Generally, when you begin your Local SEO optimization, it is best to stick to one technique. This will help you keep your site relevant by staying local. In addition, you will not have to learn several different techniques in order to maintain the rankings in all of the major search engines. Local SEO will also ensure that your website is included in all of the other websites that link back to your main page, which will bring additional traffic.
On your Local SEO optimization website, you will need to provide your visitors with a list of businesses in your area. These pages should be easy to find and informative. Many people are more likely to click on a business in their immediate geographical location if they feel that the website is well-designed and relevant to their needs. On your business website, use a professional template or an affordable one, but stay away from the free ones as they often end up being riddled with errors that can damage your ranking. Local SEO is one of the most effective strategies you can take to increase your page rank and increase your visitors to your site.
The number one way that your local SEO strategy is going to help your website is through the various search results that it will appear in. When people search for items in your particular industry, your business will be one of the first results displayed. Your website will also appear in sponsored links, which can bring additional organic traffic to your website. You can further increase your chances of appearing in search results by using keywords in your content that are highly related to your company and your products or services. The more tightly your content is woven together with relevant keywords, the better chance it has of appearing at the top of search results and the higher up in the listings it will be listed. You will likely need to do some research on your own to find out what terms will rank well for your business in order to make sure you are targeting them effectively.
When a potential customer types in a search term that is descriptive of your company and your products or services, your website will come up in the search results. However, you must be careful with how you are wording on your web pages in order to make sure that you aren’t actually promoting your business instead of yourself. For example, if you are selling carpets as a business, you don’t want to accidentally advertise your carpet store when someone searches for “carpets”. Likewise, if you are selling window blinds as a business, you don’t want to have advertising on your main webpage for your store as that can also be seen as spamming. The more carefully you target your keywords in your web content and on your business website the better chance you will have of increasing your search engine rankings and increasing your website traffic.
There are several different local SEO strategies that you can implement that include tracking your keywords and monitoring any back links that you have that point back to your business website. You can also use social media monitoring to track the amount of people that are mentioning your business online. These are just a few of the local SEO strategies that you can implement to help you get ahead in the online world. There is no reason for your online business to not be top ranked by the major search engines and there is no reason for your customers to not find you easily.