Are you an entrepreneur or an SME/SMB owner? Then you should really consider local SEO services for small businesses. The internet flourishes on search engines. With increasing proliferation in fields like mobile technology, digital sophistication, and online review platforms, the significance of creating a local search presence has never been more for small businesses.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of increasing search engine visibility for local businesses. Especially those enterprises that rely on offline brick-and-mortar stores. By following a local SEO strategy for small businesses, brands can improve organic traffic from searches executed by users in nearby locations.

Search engines usually depend on signals such as local content, social pages, citations, and links to gather information for local search and offer the most relevant results to the user. With local SEO services for small businesses, brands can position their services and products to local users who are searching for them.

Local SEO for small businesses – why is it so important?

Local search is extremely important for small businesses. According to recent data, 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. Which means that if your small business is not optimized for local search, you could be missing out on some great opportunities. In simple terms, it is important to plan a local SEO strategy for small businesses if you want your business to stay relevant in the competition.

What are the benefits of local SEO services?

•       Online searches are becoming popular among people to find the best options in their area
•       Local SEO gives better conversion rates by driving targeted traffic and thus increasing conversion rates.
•       Establish your branding strategies with affordable SEO services for small businesses
•       Attain an extension of your business communication via local SEO
•       Build long-term networks in your niche with your local SEO

Tips to achieve the best SEO services for small business

Now that you have understood the importance of local SEO for small businesses, let’s take a look at some simple tips that you can follow to get the maximum out of your local SEO.

• Ensure that your communication details are consistent online

You have to make it easy for search engines to find you online. To do so, first set up your NAP – name, address, and phone number. Make sure that it is included as crawlable HTML text on your website.

• Improve your internal linking 

Internal links within your website have multiple benefits for local SEO services for small businesses. It not only supports website navigation but also assists with information architecture and website hierarchy. Moreover, it distributes page authority and ranking power among web pages.

• Increase participation in the local community

The more you participate in your local community, the more digital PR you will get. Sponsoring an event, having a volunteer day in your company, partnering with a non-profit on a campaign, or appearing in the local media as an authoritative voice in your industry are all local SEO examples that will help you increase brand awareness, and inbound links.

• Optimize site for Google My Business 

Google My Business has become Google’s most trusted tool to help businesses rank higher on SERPs. To ensure that you have optimized your website for Google My Business, you will have to first create and verify a Google My Business page. You can then use Google posts within your account and also encourage your customers to share reviews online. It is one of the most affordable SEO services for small businesses. Make sure that you always respond authentically to your reviews, by specifying your location.

Once Google verifies your business as authentic, the search engine might provide you a sidebar space in Google local search. This is not only beneficial for your Search Engine Marketing, but also for improving the experience for potential customers to find you online.

• Get relevant inbound links

Inbound links are extremely beneficial in boosting local SEO services for small businesses. Every inbound link on your website lets Google know that you are a legitimate company. Also, inbound links can raise your domain authority. Some ways to get inbound links include partnerships, sponsorships, guest blog posting, and scholarships.

• Perform a local SEO audit

SEO is an intuitive and ongoing process. Instead of stopping at one point and simply making irrelevant changes, a useful approach for your search engine optimization would be to perform an extensive audit. This will help you see where your website stands and what you need to work on to achieve your goals. Here’s a local SEO checklist to give you an idea of what you should include in your audit:

Website Audit: Check how well your website is performing.

Google My Business Audit: check how your Google My Business appears in the SERPs and whether the information displayed is correct.

Google Search Console Audit: ensure that your website is crawlable and that it does not have any errors that would hinder the indexing.

Citation Audit: Ensure that all of your citations are correct in the major business directories for local SEO services for small businesses.

On-Page SEO Audit: Analyze whether your website accommodates all the on-page SEO elements that help in ranking higher on SERPs

Competitor Analysis: Check how well your website performs when compared to your competition. Assess how you match up in terms of content production, inbound links, design, and positioning.

•   Create local content

While writing about generic topics will attract a bigger crowd, sometimes it is crucial to shift your focus and write about industry-specific or local news to attract a more local audience. Tweaking your content marketing to include relevant information is one of the most affordable SEO services for small businesses. You can be the local authority for your niche industry by promoting local news, industry gatherings, and other educational content on your blog.

• Engage on social media

Maintain an active presence on social media with local content. But more importantly, add posts to your Google My Business page. This will further align your social and search. Relevant social media marketing is not only beneficial for local SEO strategy for small businesses, but also for your search engine rankings.

• Optimize online citations and directories

If you are a company in the United States, here are some map data aggregators that provide a great amount of the map data for Google, Apple, Bing, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and more – Express Update, Neustar Localeze, Foursquare, and Factual.

Also, make sure that your citations are complete and consistent across these data aggregators, including abbreviations, misspellings, etc. Another factor that brings out the importance of local SEO for small businesses is your Chambers of Commerce membership in your community. This will get you a useful external inbound link as well.

• Optimize title tags, headers, URLs, meta description, and content

Every new blog you post will be a new indexed page for your website – a new page where you can target a geographic search phrase, and therefore a new opportunity for your local SEO services for small businesses to become visible on the SERPs. So, whenever you write some content, you will have to optimize it for search engines with the help of high-volume keywords in the URL, header, title, meta description, and body.

• Include location pages on your website

Create separate location pages for each of your offline stores. Location pages give readers your name, address, store hours, contact info, unique store descriptions, transit/parking information, testimonials, and promotions. Apart from these affordable SEO services for small businesses, you can also add a Google Map to your website on different location pages.

Wrapping Up

Mastering the art of local SEO strategy for small business will considerably increase the visibility and profitability of your SME. Take time to investigate these techniques well and learn how to use them together in ways that will work best for your digital marketing goals. Rest assured, you will bring your business above the competition.

For exceptional results, consider investing in expert help with the website development and SEO services from Get My Sites. Our assistance has helped several brands secure the local demographic they depend on. Contact us today to find out how our digital marketing agency services can help your business as well.