How To Do Local SEO The Easy Way: Part 1

If you know a little about SEO already, you know the rules change constantly thanks to Google and the people trying to cheat the system. When it comes to local SEO, especially for a small business that can only serve the local area, it’s imperative that you show up on the top few search results to keep your business alive and growing. And because the know-how of these online tactics is becoming more and more well understood, your local competition online is already or will become very steep, so it’s better to be ahead of the crowd if you can, or at least start fighting the good fight now before it becomes impossible.

Here are 3 easy steps to get your local SEO strategy moving in the right direction.

Make your title tags and meta descriptions relevant

These two things, what shows up on Google for people to see, still matter a great deal – not only for ranking purposes, but for selling those prospective clients to click on your website and not your competitor.

Every letter counts in search results

Google has increased the size of the description and title, so these can usually fit 50-60 characters and 160-200 characters respectfully. While it may not seem important, make sure these aren’t getting cut off with the beloved “…” at the ends. It looks and sounds far better if you can fit a complete thought out there.

To get a preview of what these are going to look like in search results, you can use tools like Yoast’s SEO Plugin in WordPress and see exactly how your business is being presented to the world, and edit it right there to be the best length.

Good content for search results

• Include the name of your city and/or service area.
• Focus in on one great keyword or phrase, and put that as close to the front of the title as you can.

Claim your Google My Business

This step is so incredibly important to local SEO that if you haven’t already done it, do it yesterday… or now. Not only will people see a map of your location, but a link to your website, reviews, a description of what your business is, phone number, etc.

To do this, go to google.com/business. Go through the process they instruct you on, and you’ll come to a verification step which usually results in either a phone call to your business phone number or a mailed postcard to your business address, with a code. Type this code into the verification area, and you’ll be all set to appear on search results in a nice informative box.

Online Directories

While Google doesn’t give as much credit to tons of these like they used to, they still look at a few key big ones like the BBB, Yelp, YP, social media, other review sites, blogs, local newspapers, and local directories that you’ll have to research.

Google also pulls and compares data from places called data aggregators. There are a few big players out there, like Acxiom, Superpages, Infogroup, and Localeze. Factual seems to be pulling ahead of the crowd and you can update your business’s data there yourself so you can be confident that everything is accurate.

Pro tip: make sure your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) all show up exactly the same, punctuation and all, for every listing you claim and publish.

 

If you’re ready to boost your local SEO strategy to the next level, please contact our local SEO experts at K-Kom Marketing today. We’ll be glad to give some more insight into how to beat your local competition.

We work mainly to create SEO strategies for local Milwaukee companies and others around Wisconsin, and work with small to medium-sized businesses across the United States, boosting their local search engine rankings wherever they’re located!

 

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