Local SEO: Boost Your Business with Targeted Strategies6 min read

No self respecting local strategy should miss out on leveraging the all important Google My Business (GMB) listing.

This vital component of local SEO will allow you to ensure your business information is not only up to date, but also includes other relevant information to showcase your service. It is the main-stay of successful local search and when done right can give you a significant head-start against your competitors.

Encouraging your customers to leave reviews will help to provide strong social proof signals. A regularly updated page allows you to give potential customers confidence that you are highly relevant in your niche.

Local search terms and keywords are really important to further improve your standing in search results.

You can use tools like the Google Keyword Planner as well as Google suggested searches to dive deeper into the phrases that people are searching with. Incorporating these phrases into your website (in a positive manner) will help to improve your relevancy.

You might not be aware, but most businesses will have tens, if not hundreds of listings across a wide range of online platforms. Many of these are directory type listings that are ‘scraped’ automatically. Sadly, during this process listing data can become inaccurate, leading to incorrect NAP’s.

If this occurs then inconsistencies actually work against your SEO efforts and lead to confusing the search engines. When they lack clarity, they become cautious and tend not to show your website in the search results. All of which leads to a negative impact on your website’s position in local search..

Close to 70% of your visitors are likely to be using their mobile device to search, so it is vital that you have a mobile friendly website. As such, Google places extra importance on mobile and actually prioritises these results.

Thought should also be given as to how much content you share with your mobile visitors. You shouldn’t automatically assume that everything you show on the desktop site should be shown on the mobile site. This can lead to too much scrolling as users struggle to find the important elements of your content. 

Thankfully, modern web design allows for you to choose what is shown to the users of different devices (Desktop / Tablet / Mobile). Just make sure that you are taking advantage of this aspect.

Nothing gives more confidence to potential new customers than the feedback from other customers. You should be soliciting feedback from your customers at every opportunity. Not only for Google purposes, but also to confirm you deliver what the customers want.

Reviews (positive or negative) should be responded to in a professional manner. Sometimes things do go wrong (people expect this), and it is how you deal with them that often shows the measure of your business.

Managing your online reputation can significantly impact local customers’ trust in your business.

Nothing gives more confidence to potential new customers than the feedback from other customers. You should be soliciting feedback from your customers at every opportunity. Not only for Google purposes, but also to confirm you deliver what the customers want.

Reviews (positive or negative) should be responded to in a professional manner. Sometimes things do go wrong (people expect this), and it is how you deal with them that often shows the measure of your business.

Managing your online reputation can significantly impact local customers’ trust in your business.

Local SEO is one of the most important elements of a marketing strategy. When done correctly it allows businesses to connect with their local audience. 

By optimising your website, Google My Business listing as well as engaging in various other local SEO strategies you can ensure that your business is shown to the ‘ready to spend’ searchers. These are the people in your area that are searching for your goods and services.

We hope that this blog post has helped you to further understand the importance of local SEO and some of its most important elements. . 

Stay consistent, monitor and adapt your strategies to grow and indeed thrive in your competitive local market. Invest in local SEO today and watch your business flourish!