February 15, 2019Why should your business pay attention to local SEO rankings?
A Google study revealed that up to 4 in 5 consumers rely on search engines to discover local services, products or events. Consumers are searching for local information to influence their purchasing decisions everywhere.
The local information may include business hours, directions and local store address.
Letting Google know your business location helps you get started with local SEO. Allow the search engine to know your offerings for your business to be seen by the target audience.
To establish a local search presence, you should understand the organic search ranking actors. Also, learn how to use local SEO ranking factors to your advantage.
Avoid the following mistakes for your business to rank high in localized searches.
1. Poor Local SEO On-page Optimization Affecting Your Local SEO Ranking Factors
A weak local SEO on-page optimization strategy affects the way your site dominates local searches.
Set up your site’s structure to allow landing pages to be ranked on the search engines. Do this by creating a city-specific landing web page for one city. Such a strategy can apply to a business serving one area.
Include a “call to action” (CTA) section on each landing page you create. The CTA should guide the visitors on the next steps they should take when they’re on your site.
The steps may include requesting a quote or calling you. Include a phone number or link to a page with your contact details on the CTA section.
Testimonials and reviews can be part of your SEO on-page optimization strategy. Such elements allow consumers to be confident in your business.
Making your site mobile-friendly can improve your local SEO ranking. Ensure that the entire site features display correctly on mobile devices.
2. Your Business Lacks Quality Local Citations
Local citations refer to any online mention of a local company’s name, phone number, and address. The citations can appear on a local SEO blog, local business directory or social media.
Focus on targeting local business directories to improve the quality of your local citations. Ensure that the directories are city-specific and industry-specific.
Consider using keywords with relevance to your location and industry when finding industry-specific platforms. Industry-specific platforms may include websites of guilds or professional association.
Adding company-specific information on these platforms can improve your visibility in local searches.
Publications such as news sites and blogs can feature your local citations. Most of these platforms require you to earn the citations on merit. For a blog or news site, you may have to publish guest blogs for the citations.
Automated software may come handy when filling out your business information on these local directories.
3. Inconsistent Business Information Across the Web
Claim and optimize your Google My Business (GMB) profile to improve your local SEO rankings. Your NAP listings should include your company’s name, address and phone number.
Having inconsistent NAP listings can diminish the confidence Google has in your venture. Your rankings will experience a downfall as a result of this mistake too.
GMB is a Google service that helps business be found on the search engine. The service allows consumers to get valuable information about an enterprise they’re searching.
Use GMB to control how your company information appears across Google’s platforms and products. Google will ask you to provide NAP listings and include posts, insights, and bookings on your GMB profile.
With GMB, your business information will be consistent and accurate online. The service offers you first good impressions to potential customers. GMB offers analytics data, which shows how and when consumers find your business.
4. Customer Reviews
Reviewing signals can help to determine your local search ranking factors. One of the Google mistakes you can make is disregarding the credibility of your reviews.
Most buyers base their purchasing decisions on facts they gather from online reviews. Online review platforms such as Yelp, Facebook, Foursquare, Google My Business provide them with these reviews.
If you don’t have profiles set up for you business on these platforms, you should set them up immediately.
5. Local Business Schema Markup Missing on Your Site
Most website owners don’t understand that structural data markup improves search rankings. Less than a third of websites hosted online use schema.
Install a proper local business schema markup on your site. The schema markup should include your social media pages, Google Maps link, reservations, and menus.
Schema, which plays a big part in web design, helps separate content from presentation. In the past, web pages had structured databases with material published purely in HTML.
Web developers had to use custom extractors for converting HTML code to structured data. The custom extractors led to errors and were difficult to use.
The World Wide Web has developed over the years to include tools that help extract structured content easily. Today, websites appear in various presentation formats making structured data easy to retrieve.
Web and app developers can now share and make use of their structured content. For a CMS (content management system)-powered website, you can find extensions for improving your site’s schema.
6. Missing Photos on Your Local Listing
Photos should be part of your company’s local listing information. Consumers expect to see good-quality pictures of a service provider or product vendor they’re searching online.
Your SEO profile should feature at least ten photos to give the customers a snippet into your operations.
SEO evolved over the years to allow businesses to be found on search engines with their photographs.
Take pictures of the interiors and exteriors of your actual business premises. The photos may include your leadership and professional teams. Use a photo capturing your company’s building as the main photo on your listings.
Update these photos every time your business reaches a particular milestone or rebrands.
Allow Your Business to Rank Top on the Local Searches
Your company’s chances for ranking top on local searches lie on your decisions.
Now that you know the mistakes business make with local SEO ranking factors, put the knowledge into practice. Find the right tools to execute your local SEO strategy without compromising on your credibility.
We can help you achieve great value through SEO, content creation and web design.
Contact us to get a review of your local listing and website today.