We know that local search is considered to be the most powerful for small and medium-scale businesses. Did you know that 4 out of 5 consumers on the internet use the internet to search for local information? This implies that if your business brand is not well-optimized for local SEO, you are truly missing out on a big chunk of potential customers? That's right, local SEO is vital if you want your business brand to be relevant.
In this profound article, we’ve managed to compile a local business SEO checklist that is imperative for 2020. So, by the time you are done reading this article, you’ll have a strong idea as to how you need to optimize your business in order to reach your prospective customers who intend to use local search for finding information about businesses, products, and services around them.
That’s not all that you are going to find in this article, we’ve also listed what is local SEO. So, for the people who do not know the difference between traditional SEO and local SEO, we’ll make things clear for them too.
What Is Local SEO?
Let’s suppose that you’ve recently moved to a new town. You’re living in a new house and it’s getting dark outside. You’re hungry and there is literally nothing in the fridge that you can use to make dinner. Well, at this time, you’ll take out your phone and search for a restaurant near you, right? The results you get are all because of the local SEO.
Local SEO helps small and medium scaled businesses to promote their services or products for local customers. In order to gather information for the local search, search engines such as Google and Bing rely on local content, social profile pages, backlinks, and local citations to provide the most relevant local results to prospective customers.
Local Business SEO Checklist
Now that you know what local SEO is all about, it’s time for you to learn the simple local SEO strategy. From the start until the end, you will get to know all the processes that you need to go through in order to rank your business brand higher among your competitors.
#1: Google My Business
If you want to make sure that you are optimized for Google My Business, then you need to keep in mind that you’ve created a verified page on Google My Business. Once you’ve done that you need to use Google post within your account to compel the customers to share reviews. Then you need to respond to their reviews as well.
There are other business listing websites just like GMB which include Yelp, Thumbtack, Facebook, Foursquare, and etc.
#2: Improve The Structure On Internal Links
It is known that the external links are used for pointing to your sites. And trust us, it is an ideal choice as well.
Whereas, the internal linking structure will aid to boost your local SEO ranking by a lot. If you are wondering that how internal linking matter, then you should know that:
- They Support Website Navigation
- Assist With The Information Architecture
- Distribute Page Authority
#3: Optimize The URL and Meta Tags
Well, when it comes to content, keep in mind that every blog is a new indexed page for your site. So, every time you write new content, you will need to optimize it for the search engine. Try using keywords in the URL, title, header area, in the Meta description, and also in the body of the content.
#4: Add Location
If your business brand has one or more locations, then you need to create pages for each location. The location-based pages will provide the reader with your company's name, address, phone number, and also working hours.
Just make sure that you do not use the same content on every page of the website. This will lead to Google penalizing your website.
#5: Create Content
Without content, your site is just a piece of images and effects. We’ve seen that Google has continued to grow smarter. This implies that the content created on the internet is not only for the search engines but also for the users.
Make sure that you write content that is informative and relevant to your business brand. This will help you in gaining and retaining customer’s attention.
#6: Mobile Optimized Website
In the past couple of years, users have started to use their mobile phones for conducting research for business brands, products, and even services. So, if you have not yet optimized your website for mobile end users then you're making a big mistake.
More than 80% of people use their phones for local searches. Mobile optimized websites will increase traffic because they provide a good user experience.
#7: NAP Consistency
Want to make it easy for people to find you on the internet? If yes, then you need to set up your name, address, and phone number with area code.
Do not make the mistake of including the NAP with a single image. And also make sure that the same format of NAP is put on each and every page.
#8: Optimize Online Citation
Keep in mind that consistency is the key. That’s true, you should take time out and verify that the citations are always consistent and complete.
Try to avoid as much as misspellings or phone numbers. Trust us, such things can be very problematic. This is because if Google and Bing can't determine the correct information about your business brand, they'll make sure that it doesn't get seen in the search results either.
#9: Get Inbound Links
Did you know that inbound links have an incredible capability to boost local SEO? So, try getting inbound links from partnerships, guest posts, scholarships, and event sponsors.
#10: Engage On Social Media
Almost every person who has a personal computer and an active internet connection has a social media account. So, it is in your best interest that you convey business messages on social media platforms as well.
Conclusion
The above local business SEO checklist for 2020 will for sure help you in driving organic traffic to your website. Just don’t expect local SEO to bring prompt results. It’s like sowing a seed in the ground; you have to wait for some time to reap benefits.
Leave a comment