Getting your local business noticed online is one of the most challenging tasks. It’s a combination of users, search engines, and ranking factors that are far more complicated than anything else in SEO. Here are seven tips to get your local SEO right.
1. Treat your local like a separate site
When you’re working on your website with local SEO services in Melbourne, you need to remember that not everyone who visits your site lives in the same area as you do. Even if they’re coming from a city or state nearby (or even just across the street), there could be slight differences in their experience. For example, if you have a restaurant in New York City and some people visit from the West Coast, they may be looking for addresses and phone numbers, while others might want to know if there’s seating available. While this may seem like extra work, it’s important to remember that even minor changes can make major differences in the way people react to your content.
2. Do Your Homework and Know Your Local Market?
If you don’t know who your local competitors are, you won’t be able to rank for your target keywords. You also need to know what is already working for them and what their strengths are. Is it their content? Is it their link profile? Is it their social media activity? Whatever it is, you need to find out.
3. Start Small and Work Your Way Up
This can be a very effective method of ranking in local search if done correctly. It’s best to start with the most localized keyword first and then move on from there. That way you will have more control over ranking for that particular keyword and less risk of getting penalized by Google for having too many keyword variations in your title tags or URLs.
4. Use relevant keywords
Most people start doing their keyword research based on the location of their business. That’s not very smart because you’re limited by parameters like zip codes and cities/towns. At first sight, it’s easier to target keywords with a local focus, but if you don’t choose them carefully, they can be useless or even hurt your ranking in search results. You should always try to find a balance between the relevance of keywords and their popularity in search results (competition).
5. Start with a Comprehensive Local SEO Strategy
You need to have a comprehensive plan of action if you want your local SEO campaign to be successful. Just diving into promoting your business online without taking the time to define a strategy is going to leave you with little or no results. This is because, without a strategy, you will end up spending time on activities that do not bring value or return on investment. So, before you start any local SEO strategy, think about what kind of results you expect from it and which tools and channels will produce those results for your business.
6. Treat local business listings as content
The days when you could just build links to your site and expect it to rank well is over. Now, Google wants to know who you are and why you’re the best choice for your customers. This is why having at least one review from a real person is so important — it shows that people trust and like you. Make sure your business information is accurate online: If people search for your business online and find inaccurate information, they may think twice about doing business with you.
7. Be aware of your competition
It is very easy for someone to enter your market and beat you when you don’t even know they’re there. If you want to be successful, then you need to know who your competition is and what they’re doing in order to stay ahead of the game. The idea here is that if you are aware of them, then they will not be aware of you and what you’re doing locally. You need to find out where they are succeeding and where they aren’t so that you can take over their market with an effective strategy that actually works.
