What to Focus on for Local SEO
Local SEO has evolved over the last several years from a fairly simple proposition to one that is a little more involved. While that may seem “harder” on the surface, what it actually offers is a lot of opportunity for those who are willing to do what’s necessary to get their sites to rank well locally.
Toward that goal, we’ve listed several best practices you’ll want to be aware of when it comes to local SEO. Some might not be new to you, while others will. Bear in mind, it’s a stew, and all of it works together to make it tasty!
Local SEO Best Practices
Increase your site speed – Google loves a speedy page load, and besides, people simply won’t wait for your slow pages to load.
Optimize for Mobile – With half the traffic on the Web these days originating from a mobile device, it’s insane to ignore this any longer. Make a responsive mobile version of your site today.
On-page SEO – Make sure your title tags, descriptions, internal links and website schema are all representing your business the way they should.
Get more Reviews and Citations – Reviews are starting to overtake citations, but for now both are still important.
Acquire high-quality links – Make it your business to get the best links you can, from relevant high authority sites and high traffic sites. This is best if it originates from your content.
Give your content a local flavor – As much for visitors as for anything, ensuring that your content appeals to the local audience is a good idea.
Geotag your images – Geo-tagging your images with local geographic information tells Google what it needs to know, and greatly improves your chances of showing up accurately in Maps.
Encourage social signals – In addition to likely being a search engine signal, social media can become a far-reaching evangelist for your brand.
NAP data – As always, making sure your business information is consistent across ALL your platforms is a must. You should probably start right here!
Local SEO may be a touch more involved than in years past, but the rewards for getting it right are also greater. Don’t let it wait another day!