As Search Engine Journal writes, any business still operating out of a brick-and-mortar store needs to take a specialized approach to search engine optimization strategies. Whereas national or universal SEO services can bring companies that are based mostly online or in multiple physical locations around the world increased attention and revenue, for the small business owner looking to generate more foot traffic and compete in an ever more crowded business landscape, local SEO strategies are key.
What is Local SEO?
Effectively, as SEJ points out, local SEO strategies incorporate many of the same tactics as their general counterparts. Content marketing, social media, link building: it all plays into an effective local SEO campaign. However, whereas general SEO is usually focused around a business type or a product without worrying too much about business location, local SEO is all about drawing attention to a business that gets the majority of its revenue from local customers. Any local SEO strategies you use should make you more visible to your local base.
Three Local SEO Strategies You Should Be Using
- Verify and Optimize Your Google Page
- Pictures Drive Customers
- Smart Keyword Research
For Search Engine Watch, the best thing you can do to improve your local SEO is to claim, verify, and optimize your Google+ business pages. Merge your Google+ Business and Google+ Local pages together, optimizing the contact information and including great marketing copy to give yourself a huge leg-up in this ongoing competition.
When consumers are searching for businesses online, one of the biggest deciding factors of them choosing to visit your storefront is appearance. As Forbes suggests, this means you need to include a good variety of pictures on your website and on your local business pages with Google and Yahoo. Take photos of your building and your neighborhood, but be sure to include interior shots, taking special care to show off your displays.
Just as well researched keywords drive consumers to eCommerce websites in generalized SEO, so, too, are smart keywords essential to your local SEO success. Say, for example, you run a sushi shop in the heart of San Francisco. If the best keyword for generating attention for your business is “San Francisco sushi,” you should do what you can to work that into your blog content, your business pages, and your URLs. Doing so, you can generate a lot more business for your company on a local scale, whether you serve sushi or not.
Are there any local SEO strategies we missed that you’d add to the list? Let us know in the comments! More on this topic.
