December 14, 2016 •Claire Archer-Davis
Local SEO, search engine optimisation, focuses on getting your business listed as high as possible in the local search results pages and helping you to stand out from the crowd.
Running a business can be challenging at the best of times, especially when you’re trying to get your name out there which is why we have put together our top tips for ensuring that your potential customers can find you easily and quickly online.
Google My Business
Optimising your Google business page is a good starting point for anyone trying to improve their local SEO. Formally known as Google Places, it is vital to fully and accurately complete your profile as much as possible as missing information or errors could have an adverse impact on your local rankings. First things first, you need to ensure that there are no duplicate business pages as it is important just to work from one to optimise results. After notifying Google to destroy any duplicates you find, you will need to verify your business before you can make any further page improvements. Once your business is verified with Google, you can start to personalise it further by adding contact details, opening hours, product descriptions and images. The more relevant information you add, the more useful your page will be to the user and, as a result, the more likely Google is to display it higher up the results pages.
Have a NAP
Although it may seem glaringly obvious, it’s amazing how often people get this wrong. Ensuring your NAP – Name, Address and Phone number – is correct and consistent across your website, social media accounts and business directory listings not only increases customer confidence but also allows them to engage with you more quickly.
Furthermore, liaising with other local sites in your industry to put your NAP on their websites can be another great way of getting more click-throughs.
Get people talking
Local reviews are an excellent way to get your business ranking higher and improve your conversion rate. After all, you could be the top-ranked local page on Google, but if you have negative reviews, then customers will be reluctant to use you.
An easy way to collect reviews is getting into contact with existing customers; often they will be more than happy to leave some feedback, and this can be a useful tool when trying to climb the local search results.
Look professional
Local SEO is very much about making sure that you look the part. A lot of people are wary of scams and rip-offs, so it’s important that you make your online presence as smart as possible. For example, if you run a local business, it wouldn’t look professional to have your listed e-mail address as claire@gmail.co.uk. The format should always be you@yourdomain – claire@thebrightclick.co.uk.
Furthermore, having detailed and more importantly, correct information on your opening hours will let customers know when they can visit or contact you – and make sure that you keep them updated to include any seasonal or unexpected changes.
Make sure your title is optimised
The title of your page, particularly your landing page, is vital when you want to move up the SERPS. Focus on the most relevant keywords (without being too spammy) to direct the right kind of traffic to your website and maximise your online presence.
Ideally, your page title should be between 10-70 characters and if possible contain your location, service and preferably your company name! You should also try to write individual meta descriptions for each of your pages. A meta description should be between 70-160 characters and gives you the perfect opportunity to sell yourself/ your product to anyone that has found your site by searching for a particular keyword or phrase. If you include contact details within your meta description, you give people the option to communicate with you without even having to visit your site!
Compress your images
There is nothing worse than staring at a blank screen waiting for pictures to slowly load. In fact, how many of us have abandoned a website in frustration at this situation?
Compress your images so that they are under 1mb each. If they are any larger, it will slow your page loading times significantly. Google takes into account the loading speed of your site, so it is vital that you make it as user-friendly as possible. Additionally, you should make sure that all of your images have been appropriately ALT tagged. ALT tags not only improve the overall user experience but also allow the search engines to index your images correctly. Search engines don’t physically see your images the way people do so doing this lets you describe them precisely to them instead.
Think mobile
In this day and age, the vast majority of us are using smartphones and tablets. In fact, according to Google, 54% of local searches come from a smartphone. Therefore it is essential to have a website that is fully responsive. Make sure that your pages load quickly on these devices and that they look aesthetically pleasing too. This year Google officially confirmed that mobile/tablet responsiveness is a significant ranking factor so, as a business, you can not afford to ignore it or to get it wrong.
In terms of local SEO, getting things right from the start can make a huge difference to the online presence of your business and consistency on your part is the key! Proactively follow the advice we have given here, and you can be confident that you have already put yourself and your business ahead of the game.