Local SEO works as SEO. You make a search and Google scans through its index and gives you the best results. These results depend on the keywords you used. Besides knowing which keywords your website should feature that can improve your SEO, there are many other things you can do that can and will improve your local SEO
Where you are from
So if you want to be featured in Kuopio, Finland, your business needs to be listed in Kuopio, otherwise, you are sending mixed signals to Google and you might end up never being featured
Is the business listed on Google business?
The more you improve your SEO, the more you improve the long-tail keywords you use, more chances you have to get in front of the competition but you also should keep your Local Pack spotless.
Local Pack is a set of results that comes from the information that you put on your Google business.
The local pack consists of the map, that shows the businesses related to your query, a 3 point list of local businesses with their name and address. And then in the end organic results from the search you did.
If you want to be featured on this search the first thing you need to do is fill up all information on google business.
Steps to achieve it:
- Create a page of google business
- Verify the address
- Fill up the information related to your company
- Optimize your website and SEO for local search
Reviews online of your business. Especially reviews that use keywords related to the search
As much we fight against it, online reviews are important and they count a lot for local SEO. The good and the bad ones. It’s almost impossible to have a clean sheet when it comes to reviews but you know now that giving your best to every customer is a good way for Local SEO. Also, and this counts even for negative reviews, answering them can help your SEO ranking
Shares in Social Media
The same as the reviews, the more shares you business as along the media, the more changes have to be “featured” by Google. So without being intrusive asking for your customer to share your business online can go a long way
“Check-in” at that location
You know when you search for something in Google and you can “check-in”? Well that is also important for Google as it counts that if someone is using that service it means that the service is alive, open and the more check-in, it means that it should be good
Normal SEO
No matter if it’s local SEO or just SEO, there are basics that you can feature. I will go back to them on a different topic but here are the main points
- Optimize title and description tags
- Optimized website for mobile
- Content optimized for SEO
- Fill Meta descriptions ( focused on local results)
Google helps
There are many keywords tools( more on that after) but one easy way to start is to ask…Google.
By start typing something, Google suggests keywords. With that, you can have a point where to start.
Different City – Different content
So let’s say your business operates in two cities. Don’t try to push the same content on one page and wait for results.
A better solution is each city deserves a page with content that is focused on that city. So that means two different unique contents.
Different Product – Different page
The same goes for the products/services. You have to have a different page for the number of services you have. Then by knowing what are the keywords that are popular for each service you can create better content for it
Backlinks
Backlinks are important for Seo and in my opinion really important for local Seo. They give the credibility that Google searches for. Unfortunately, backlinks are used as a scheme where people buy and sell the service of using your website link to other pages. Luckily in many cases, Google can find if the backlink is not real.
So avoiding this a great way to have honest backlinks is to go to the list of your producers and suppliers and check their web pages. Maybe they have some page there that a link for your website would look great. For example, you have a catering event company. Maybe asking for your food suppliers to put in one page that your company uses their products? Can be a win-win situation.
Events and Newspapers
Supporting a local event or trying to fit your company inside a newspaper article can be a great way to create awareness about your business. Basically networking is a great way to improve your local SEO.
Talk with people, present your company, tell them about your services( without pushing them), create connections, and slowly but steadily your company starts to be remembered and talked about. Then you start getting more hits on your website and without you realizing you have your company featuring on the first page of Google for some keyword. With this, you might start also winning some backlinks as many associations or events you participate in start adding your website to their info.
Local Content
Another great way to improve local SEO is to create content about your city but still somehow relevant for your business.
With that, your website starts building authority about topics related to the city where your services are.
Long-tail keyword
A short explanation about what is this. First, let’s define the short tail keyword.
Let’s say you have a marketing and digital agency. A short keyword could be “digital agency”. The chances that you be featured on the first page of google for this search are really few.
But if you target long keywords for a search term like “ digital agency for solopreneurs in Oulu” you have much bigger chances to reach number one in Google for this search.
So short tail keywords get a higher volume of results but are difficult to be featured while long-tail keywords, the volume might not be big but you can get better results, hence the importance of long-tail keywords
I know that many people want to focus on the keywords that have big volume but start focusing on long-tail keywords that focused on your business and you be surprised in the long run:)
Other points
More and more people are using voices to make local searches. Because is voice, people tend to use longer keywords. So instead of “bakery wales”, they might say “bakery wales gluten-free”. You can also play with that.
Be consistent. Having one address in one place and the other in another place is a big no and your SEO will suffer for it.
Now that you know the best way to improve your local SEO, let's talk about the best tools to achieve it on the next post.