Local SEO: How to Reach Your Audience

For companies who do a large portion, or all of their sales within a specified area, it makes more sense to keep the marketing efforts close to home.  Consider the local businesses near you – doctors, attorneys, grocery stores, martial arts studios, hair salons, and libraries, for instance.  It would not make sense for organizations like these to compete for the attention of consumers hundreds of miles away.  Their niche is greatly defined by proximity.  This is where local SEO comes into play.

Successful local SEO depends on a few factors:

Local Profiles Google is just one of the many sites that offers businesses competing on a local scale to create special, destination-specific profiles.  These make it easier for users searching for that type of business in that area to find the right businesses.  It is essential to keep all business information consistent throughout the many online platforms.  This will help the search engines make the appropriate connections.  So, for instance, if you include LLC in one place, be sure you include it everywhere.  If you ‘Attorney at Law’ on the Google local page, then be sure you write it out on your website as well. This also extends to phone numbers and addresses.  Be sure they are written in exactly the same way on every platform.

Keywords Selection The choice of appropriate keywords for a national company is going to differ from that of a local company.  Generally, the best long tailed keywords will include the name of the local town or city in which the business operates.  For instance, instead of the keyword ‘shoes for kids’, a local company might choose to use ‘shoes for kids in Panama, FL’.  The city and state will also be used in Meta descriptions and title tags.

Name and Address Saturation With each new page you add to the website, you should type the name of your local company and its address at least once.  Every page should include this information, whether it is in the header, the footer, side panel, or in the main body of the text.

Reviews This seems to be even more important for local companies than it is for those competing on a larger scale.  Positive reviews establish a sense of trustworthiness that can encourage potential customers to take the plunge.  Don’t be afraid to ask past customers and clients to leave reviews, especially on your Google local page, as this will also impress the search engine bots.

Local SEO, aside from a few things listed above, relies on the same principles as national SEO.  So, keep building a library of meaningful content and keep earning links from respectable sources.