7 Effective Strategies to Boost Local SEO

Although many local SEO strategies can impact search results significantly, the ones mentioned below are most practiced. Not just because these strategies to improve local SEO are relatively easy to implement, but they are more impactful as well. 

1. Create Google My Business 

Creating a Google My Business account is perhaps the best way to improve local SEO. After all, once your website is mentioned on Google Maps, it’s bound to generate local traffic with correct keywords. Once you apply for a Google My Business account, your website will gradually start appearing on Google.

When creating a Google My Business account for local SEO, you need to provide all the information required by Google. Sharing all the details about your business, including working hours, will help your customers contact you and buy from you. It will rank your business against local keywords you target in your content. 

If you have doubts about how to start your Google my Business account, we recommend our Google My Business Guide, in which we explain step by step how to do it and why it is a crucial part of local SEO optimization.

2. Get Reviews

Now that you have a Google My Business account, you need to win reviews to improve local SEO. Getting reviews favors SEO and encourages more local customers to buy from your business. On the other hand, Google reviews boost business credibility; after all, 90% of customers read online reviews. However, getting reviews from customers is never easy.

No one wants to review services immediately after using them. However, you can convince your customers to give reviews right after using your service by offering a small discount. Simply ask the customer to be honest about your business in the review and offer them a discount on their next order. This ensures a second sale from the same customer and makes review accumulation easier. 

As we mentioned in our blog about Ways to Generate Google Reviews, Google states that it is okay for companies to ask for reviews, however, it is not possible to alter or modify them, so both positive and negative reviews are seen in the same way. Likewise, there are tools that help you manage everything related to reviews, such as NiceJob.

3. Be Ready for Voice Search

Google searches are becoming more casual with time. Keywords that were once complete words have now turned into phrases. All of these changes in consumer behavior are creating room for voice searches. The technology is here; it’s only a matter of acceptance till the entire SEO industry takes a 360-degree turn. However, you can be on top of all this by optimizing local SEO for voice search.

Optimizing local SEO for voice search is not as difficult as it may seem. It’s pretty straightforward, and the only difference is that short-tail keywords are becoming more valued. For instance, with a typed search, the user might write “Best Shoes in New York” However, with a voice search, the user may say, “New York Shoe Sellers” or “Shoe seller New York.” One thing is for sure: voice search will become local and dominate the market. 3.25 billion people are already using voice-activated search and assistant services worldwide. 

4. Local Citations 

Local citations are the online mention of your business’s name, address, and contact number. Citations can occur on social media, business directories, forums, and even on other websites. A quick and easy way to rank on Google and get discovered by people is by leaving your website link in online citations. These citations can substantially improve your website’s local SEO ranking; that is why many local and small businesses actively hunt for new business directories. 

5. Use Local Keywords 

The most significant aspect of improving local SEO is by targetting local keywords. For instance, if you sell meat in Queens, New York, don’t be shy to add your address alongside your keywords. For example, “best lamb meat in Queens, New York.” Such searches are regularly done on Google because people are always looking for services near them. So, you can also use keywords, such as “best lamb meat near me.” 

6. Create Local Content 

Improving local SEO rankings is easy if you live in the area and familiar with the ups and downs. Because you will have to create local content that targets the readers near your business. This technique significantly boosts local SEO because many people search online for local news. If your website shows up, you will garner plenty of attention. However, your local SEO content shouldn’t just be limited to blog posts or articles. You can make videos and share them on YouTube. Remember, the stronger your backend marketing is, the better chances for you to improve your local SEO. 

7. Optimize Website for Mobile 

Out of 70,000 searches per day on Google, 49% of these are made from mobile devices. Your potential customers are using mobile devices to search for your business. If you don’t have a mobile-optimized website, you will lose a significant portion of sales, and your local SEO efforts will go to waste. Some of the things you should look out for on your website are mentioned below. Make sure these pointers are fixed; otherwise, you will have a hard time ranking for local SEO. 

Concluding Thoughts

Local SEO is crucial for small businesses. This is because national and internal level keywords have tremendous competition, and small businesses won’t rank against huge brands. Another reason to work on local SEO is that most users search for location-specific results. After all, no one wants to buy shoes from Sydney when they are living in New York. Hence, most people are inclined to use their location alongside keywords because the internet will facilitate results based on user searches.

All in all, local SEO is gradually becoming important even for brands and startups. The competition will soon become fierce in local SEO. The best time to mark your presence and dominance in local SEO is now, with the help of Antares Systems.

Antares Systems has a team of experienced social media, messenger marketing, and web design experts to address all your requests. If you are looking for a new website or simply want to improve local SEO, you can contact us now for exceptional services!