If your company is trying to market online, then using local SEO to have a big impact on your company. Local SEO is a method of connecting your content with keywords that appear in local customers' searches. If they are trying to find a product or service that you offer, you want to be at the top of their search results. This will help drive traffic to your website or to your store.
While many companies try to implement local SEO, they may miss several key parts of the process. This can reduce the effectiveness of their local SEO efforts. There are several things that you can do to ensure that your content has the greatest impact on your local community as possible. Here is how to dominate local SEO.
Maximize Your Visibility
The first step to take when trying to develop local SEO for small businesses is to maximize your visibility. This means making sure that your business is seen in as many valid searches as possible. The easier you can make it for interested customers to find you, the more likely you are to have an increase in customers.
You can do this by implementing basic local SEO practices so that you will show up in search results. You want to find ways of ranking highly in general search results that use nonspecific terms. Many customers use nonspecific terms to start their search process. Include keywords naturally and make sure you are using keywords that your target audience is likely to use. This will bring up your company in customer searches from the beginning of the process.
Identify Your Area of Influence
To measure your impact, you have to know where you want to have an impact. In local SEO, your efforts are focused on a specific area. Start by identifying the area that you want to focus on so that you can maximize your local SEO for that area.
When customers search for products or services online, they tend to search using teams that highlight the area that they are in. For example, a typical search is “[insert product or service] near me” or “[product or service] near my location”. Near me and my location are built-in search features for Google and other search engines that automatically focus on the local SEO leaders for a topic in the customers’ current area. These are the types of searches that you want to rank highly for.
Customers also search by area names. If you can associate your products and services with a specific location name, you have a higher chance of being high in area-specific search results. To do this, you must define your area and focus on the keywords for that area. There are specific keywords that customers will use, like the location’s name or other defining terms for that area. Make these your keywords and include them in your content.
Focus on Specific Area Search Terms
Search engines look for keywords in content, which is how that content is cataloged and identified during searches. To have the maximum impact with your local SEO focus on specific area search terms. These terms will likely include:
- The name of the area or a location reference
- The name or type of a product or service
- The need that the customer wants to fill
- A possible solution for the problem they want to solve
Use free keyword finding tools to identify the keywords that you need. Most keyword services offer free options in an effort to make it easier to use their site. You can take advantage of these tools to mine the keywords that you need.
Use Keywords Effectively, Not Often
When you have the right keywords for your area, begin using them in your online content. This includes listings, blog posts, your website’s content, and anywhere else you can include them appropriately. However, be careful about overusing your keywords. You want to use them naturally rather than stuffing them in. This is a more acceptable way of maximizing your SEO while still providing a lot of value to your customers.
Stuffing keywords into places where they don’t belong will become a problem for search engines. Many search engines can detect a high rate of keyword use when it does not provide value to readers. Focus on incorporating the keywords naturally so that they appear at an appropriate rate and work well in context.
Partner with KitelyTech for Help
At KitelyTech, we have extensive experience helping organizations better understand how SEO works and how they can use it for their own purposes. If you are struggling with getting the most out of your local SEO, call KitelyTech at (800) 274 2908. A consultation with our team can get you started on your project with plenty of help finding and identify the best SEO practices for your company.
