5 Local SEO Strategies for Your Business

Being found on search engines is essential to the success of both your website and your business. But did you know that you can take it a step further or rather, closer to home? Local SEO helps your business show up in local searches, which drives more customers to your door. In fact, local searches lead half of all mobile users to visit businesses within one day. With summer attracting more tourists and potential customers to your area, you can’t afford to not take advantage of this opportunity.

Here are 5 strategies to help your local SEO this summer and all year long:

1. State your name. The first and most important information you should optimize is your business name. Search engines rank each individual page of your website based on a set of rules, their search algorithm. Therefore, your website’s homepage should use your brand name as your main keyword. This way, you can be easily found by those who are searching specifically for your business. Optimizing your business name also helps your overall SEO.

2. Give them your digits. After your business’ name, the most important information to optimize for your local SEO is your contact information. To help them to be found online and offline, many search engines include business’ locations on maps in their results. Make sure your address, phone number, social media, and other contact information is up-to-date so that you can be found and contacted.

3. Focus on your keywords. Keywords are what Internet users type into search engines to find information. When you choose the right keyword, you increase your chances of being found on these search engines. Ideally, you should have one focus keyword that is used 1-6 times per 300 words of content and use language your customers would use to search for you.

4. Build links. Although optimizing your website for search engines is important, what happens off of your website matters just as much. There are many ways to build links in order to improve your website’s performance. To do this, you can link to other websites, social media profiles, and even different parts of your website. However, link building is only helpful if done right. Link building can actually be harmful if the site is linking to other sites that aren’t relevant or you are using links that you’ve purchased rather than built naturally.

5. Claim your spot. Studies show that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. Make sure that you claim your business both on search engines and on review sites. This way, you can monitor the reviews that customers are leaving, respond to feedback, and use it to inform your customer service strategies. In turn, this may attract more customers to your business because they see that you are listening to them.

With summer travel comes more potential visitors to your business. Your local SEO strategy helps these potential customers find your business both online and offline. Make sure your strategy is up-to-date, so you can be found this summer and beyond.