People look for everything online these days, from restaurants to plumbers. That’s why it’s important for every business to have a strong online presence. However, it’s crucial for locals to see small businesses, especially those with a storefront. That’s where small business local SEO comes in.
Local SEO for small businesses is all about making your website work better so people looking for businesses in your area can find you. It’s like letting everyone in your neighborhood know, “We’re here and we’re awesome!” with a big, bright sign.
Why is it important for small businesses to do local SEO?
Take a look. How often do you look for “[type of business] near me”? If you’re a small business, local SEO can help you get to the top of those searches. This means more people will visit your website, call, and buy from you.
How to Do Local SEO for Small Businesses in 3 Easy Steps
To make your small business’s local SEO better, do these easy things:
It’s free to put your business on Google Maps and Search if you claim your Google Business Profile. Make sure your profile is full and up-to-date. It should have the name of your business, its address, phone number, website, and business hours.
Sign up for local directories.
You can put your business for free in a lot of online directories. Pay attention to good sites that are related to your business.
Include your city and state in your website’s titles, meta descriptions, and all of its material to make it better for local search.
Make pages just for your local goods or services.
Get people to leave good reviews online.
For small businesses, positive reviews are like gold for local SEO. Ask happy customers to write reviews on Google, Yelp, and other sites. Be professional and friendly when you answer both positive and critical reviews.
As a small business, getting other websites to link to yours can help your local SEO.
Get active in your neighborhood and work with other businesses in the area to promote each other.
Always use the same Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) for your business.
Make sure that the name, address, and phone number are the same in all of your online ads. Information that isn’t regular can make search engines confused, which can hurt your ranking.
Focus on your local community when you use social media.
It’s a great way to connect with people in your area. Share events happening in your area, deals, and material from behind the scenes.
Extra Help with Local SEO for Small Businesses
Run Local Ads:
To reach possible customers in your area, you might want to run targeted ads on Google or social media.
Find Out What Happened:
Track the number of people who visit your website with tracking tools to see how well your local SEO for small businesses is working.
Do not rush:
It takes time and consistent work to build a strong local SEO profile. Don’t give up if you don’t see effects right away.
It takes time and work to do local SEO for small businesses, but the benefits are great. Following these easy steps will help you get more local customers and grow your small business.
Remember that every small business needs to have a strong online presence these days. When you spend money on local SEO for small businesses, you make it easy for people in your area to find you and become regular customers.
Your content is king or queen when it comes to small business local SEO.
We’ve talked about the most important parts of local SEO for small businesses so far, but there’s one more important thing to mention: content. A great way to improve your ranking and show that you are an expert is to write high-quality, useful content that speaks directly to people in your area.
Here are some ideas for topics that small businesses can use for local SEO:
Blog posts:
Write about local events, share industry-related tips and tricks, or make lists of the “Top 10 Places to [Activity] in [Your City].” For instance, a bakery could write a blog post about “Easy Cake Decorating Ideas for Kids” or a bicycle shop could make a book about “The Best Bike Trails in [Your City].”
Videos:
Show how your goods or services work, get feedback from customers, or give people a look at how your business works behind the scenes. A plumber could make videos that show how to fix common plumbing issues, and a restaurant could post how-to videos for their recipes.
Images:
Put up high-quality pictures of your goods, your staff, or pleased customers. Update your pictures often to show off seasonal items or new employees.
More than the basics of local SEO for small businesses
Once you know the basics, these more advanced techniques will help you go deeper into local SEO for small businesses:
Structured Data Markup:
This code helps search engines better understand the content of your website, which could help your rank in rich search results. Structured data can help you list things like your business hours, location, and customer reviews.
How mobile-friendly is it?
For small businesses to do well with local SEO, they need to make sure their website is mobile-friendly and easy to use on all devices. Make sure your website instantly changes to fit different screen sizes by following the rules of responsive web design.
Voice Search Optimization:
More and more people are using voice search to find businesses in their area. To get these searches, make sure your content is optimized with long-tail terms and natural language. Instead of “plumber,” you could aim for “emergency plumber near me” or “best drain cleaning services in [your city].”
Local SEO for small businesses: Making connections in your area
A good way for small businesses to improve their local SEO is to work with other nearby companies. These are some ideas:
Co-host events:
Put together training, contests, or other events with businesses that work well together. This lets you reach each other’s customers and get more people to visit your websites.
Blog posting as a guest:
Write a blog post for a local website or magazine. This makes you look like an expert and gets people to link back to your site, which can help your local SEO for small businesses score.
Cross-promotion:
Work with other companies in your area to offer discounts or promotions together. Everyone will benefit from this great way to get new customers and make more money.
How to Tell If Your Local SEO for Small Businesses Is Working
It’s important to keep track of your results after using these local SEO for small businesses tips. To keep an eye on these key metrics:
Site visitors:
Pay attention to how many people visit your site from area searches.
Rank in local search: Use Google My Business Insights or Moz Local to keep an eye on how you’re doing for local terms.
A lot of calls and questions:
Keep track of how many calls and emails you get from people who found you online and want to buy from you.
Customer reviews:
Keep an eye on how many and what kind of reviews people are leaving on Google, Yelp, and other sites.
If you keep an eye on these metrics on a daily basis, you can tell what’s working and what needs work in your local SEO for small businesses.
The main point is that local SEO for small businesses gives you power.
Because of how fierce the market is now, small businesses can’t avoid having a strong online presence. You can take charge of your online story and make it easy for local people to find you by investing in local SEO for small businesses. Take advantage of the power of local SEO for small businesses, and you’ll see your customer base grow!