Propelling a business online can be a daunting task for any entrepreneur. Luckily, any business can profit from search engine optimization (SEO), which can make a small investment go a long way with the help of best SEO and keyword research tools. Keeping in mind that local buyers find your sites easily, entrepreneurs should be more engaged in local SEO but should stay away from various SEO myths and misconceptions spread on the internet.
Therefore, local SEO is an undeniable decision to promote and market your business on the internet. It is a technique used by experts, which aims at making your business name and website visible to maximum people who are locally situated.
You can also read: 15 Questions to Ask Before Hiring An Seo Agency In Singapore
So let’s study more clearly that what is Local SEO, why it is needed, and the ways to promote your business locally…
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO refers to improving a site or pages on your site to appear for organic searches in the search engines where the purpose of the searcher is to discover local information.
Local SEO is centered around giving results that are significant to a searcher based on their current location. For instance, If I hunt down ‘best health care centre’ on my desktop right now, Google would give me results that are closest to me.
Why Local SEO is Needed?
Here are the reasons why local SEO is needed;
- To get a great return on investment
- Perk up your SEO ranking
- Make your online business visibility and easy-to-get
- Target the right audience for your product and services
- It helps in attracting new local customers to your business
- Highest conversion levels of all local advertising channels
- Local customers are switching to the internet to find local businesses
- With online business reviews, one can boost his business before your competitors boost theirs
- Local search marketing is highly targeted as it is easy to target smaller areas rather than bigger ones
Above we discussed the reasons why local SEO is important for your business, but the question arises here that how to promote your business locally. To know that, we brought to you the 7 Successful Ways of Local SEO for business;
#1 Submit Your Website to Search Engines
After launching the website, all you need to do is submit the site to search engines either to Google or Bing. These are the major search engines to focus on. This is the easiest, but one of the most important ways.
To manage your business locally, the URL submission to Google is very sudden and easy.
- Just go to Google’s web page for URL submitting
- Type in your URL
- Type in the message that guarantees Google that you are an individual not a software robot and click “add URL”
We create a business page in “Google my business” because almost 50% of the people looking at your business online will be situated within your direct geographical area. To guarantee that prospects discover your business, it is a must to be active on Google My Business.
#2 Add Up Your Business to Google+ Local
Another important way is to add up your business to Google+ Local. As half of the populace is using the internet for everything, more people search for businesses online than anywhere else. So, adding your website and business information to the Google local business listing can help. It’s free and easy.
Moreover, you can deal with your listing information as per your niche, including business description, product/service details, videos, photographs, and offers. Try hard to score 100% in the Google listing as most local business doesn’t reach to that level.
#3 Create Social Network Business Profiles
Social networks are an awesome approach to get the message out about your site launch. All you need is to sign up with all the business pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare, or Google+ to promote your business among your friends and other network. Ensure you claim your business URL. For instance, facebook.com/mylocalbuisnes.
These social networking sites are free of cost and one can get reliable links to boost up your business. The more trustworthy links you get to your website, the top you will appear on Google. Make sure to create your social media existence naturally by letting your friends, and family to be the first one to “like” or “follow” your business. Keep in mind to avoid buying friends from third-parties. More social media engagements can boost up your business.
#4 Get Listed in Local Citations
Another important area that can’t be neglected is the power of citations and directories. The main benefit is that business directory like insiderpages, yellow pages, and so on, generate lots of traffic on the website itself. This can lead to more referring traffic to your site and better opportunities to produce leads.
The next main benefit of setting up citations and directory submissions is the way that it can enhance your ranking in the local results. Remember to be cautious with your business name, address and telephone number else it can have a negative effect!
#5 Get Involved in Your Local Community Discussions
One must get involved in community discussions like, forums or websites, in order to Google the importance of your business to a particular area, especially if you’re capable to include links to your website. Be careful not to spam social groups with links to your online business as this will just get you banned.
If there are local forums in your field, then it’s an incredible idea to get your business effectively taking an interest in them. By making a profile and enhancing the discussions, this keeps on adding the importance of your business to Google.
#6 Add your Business in Review Sites
Reviews are one of the important things on which local businesses need to focus on. Getting listed on the top of the Google page is a thing, however, being at the top with the best review is a whole other playing field. Most important! You need to list your business website in top review submission sites so that people can review your site, and others can take decisions based on that.
Reviews are the thing which people actually adore. In a Yelp survey, 72% of people said that they trust online reviews as much as individual suggestions. Online reviews get a normal rating that will figure out whether a business is great or terrible.
Research shows that having no less than five reviews in Google+ Local is the magic number, where the surveys may begin to help with rankings. Use your site, thank you pages, invoices, and email communication to ask your clients to review your business.
#7 Don’t Forget Mobile SEO
Last, but not the least, is the mobile optimization. Google is now focusing more on mobile versions as it has recently started testing its mobile first Index. And when it comes to doing local SEO in order to grow your business, mobile optimization is a must.
Local business increases on mobile searches as conversion rates searching on local terms tend to be superior. Ensure your site is optimized for mobile and is simple to use. If your site seems jumbled and loads slow to a searcher, they will doubtlessly move on to your competitor.
Conclusion
So, what are you waiting for? Adapt these above discussed 7 ways in order to boost up your local SEO for business. For any queries or advise, do write to us in a below given comment box!