Dominate Local Search Marketing while Stepping-Up Social Media Efforts & Improving Your Website’s Overall Visibility

What if you could kill a few birds with one stone by stepping-up your local search marketing efforts? I don’t know many local businesses who aren’t interested in saving time and/or money, and the following shows you how to take care of three search marketing tasks in an efficient and effective manner. Take note of these local search marketing tips, implement them and position yourself to be the local business customers find first.

Start by Optimising Your Website for Local Search Marketing

While moving your site up the search rankings for any search terms may give you the visibility you think you want, ranking well for local search is what you need. After all, it’s those local people who are searching for the goods and services your business sells who will be the most likely to visit your location and buy.

Start by targeting the right list of keyword terms, some of which include the names of the places in your local service area, and optimising your site’s title tags, meta descriptions and content with those terms. It’s not enough to slap ‘Brisbane’ on the end of a long-tail keyword term and call it a day, either. You need to target location-specific keyword terms that have buyer’s intent. When you write about your local area, you’ll not only be providing content that resonates with your local customers, but the keyword optimisation will give your local search marketing efforts a boost, as well.

Don’t forget to include your local address and phone number on every page of your site; the easier it is for people to find you, the more likely they are to visit. Plus, it conveys to Google that you are one of the local businesses their customers want to find through search.

Local Businesses with Profiles in Local Directories Get Found

I know, this is a dead horse I’ve flogged repeatedly, but I can’t stress it enough: Local businesses that want to do wonders for their local search marketing need to create and claim listings for their companies in local directories. To rank well in these directories, complete your profiles, use your keyword terms and ensure your business’ address and phone number are consistent with the information provided on your website and across every other listing on the web. Share pictures and videos and encourage people to write reviews of your goods and services. Just like social media, this local search strategy gives your business the credibility it needs to succeed online.

Don’t Underestimate the Good Social Media Signalling Can Do for Your Local Search Marketing

Having a strong presence in social media goes hand in hand with great rankings in local search. The more content you share, questions you answer, followers you have and buzz you create around your business in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the like, the more likely yours will be the business Google chooses to display up top in search results. Be sure to share any business news or updates your local followers may find interesting, especially information on the in-store promotions and sales local customers will want to get in on.

Other Local Search Marketing Tips for Local Businesses

• Responding to good and negative reviews in local directories gives your business more credibility
• Search results for media sites almost always rank at the top. Create some business buzz the local media will want to cover and get a leg-up in the rankings. Invite food critics to your restaurant, host a special event for charity or anything else that will get your business a media mention
• Quality link-building from the content you share with your followers in social media sites to your website will also help catch Google’s attention

With the popularity of mobile search growing by leaps and bounds every day, local businesses have really got to step-up their game on the local search marketing front or get left in the dust. Attract and convert more of the local business you need with a web presence that’s optimised and properly executed for local search.

To learn more about becoming an authority in your local market, call The SEO Company on 1300 885 557 or email us here.