Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very convoluted subject, so I am going to break it down to you in a way that anyone can understand.
Please note, this will be a very basic search engine optimization strategy so it is meant to explain the basics and touch on intermediate SEO subjects.
It is aimed at educating local business owners on how to get your business website listed as high as possible on the search engine results pages(SERPS), so that you don’t feel lost when trying to decide how to approach your own SEO strategy.
SEO explained in a nutshell is really just common sense mixed with a bit of competition. The search engines want to know that they are pointing THEIR user to whatever content they were searching for, and that it will be a good experience for them. The search engines use signals to determine the optimization level of a webpage. The following list is a basic set of signals that will get you on the road to page one glory!
Local Search Engine Optimized websites have strong signals including:
- Backlinks: incoming links from highly relevant sites..
- with keyword-rich link anchor text
- mobile-friendly responsive page design
- lightning fast page load time
- more inbound links from relevant posts on your own social media pages…
- with uniform Name Address and Telephone number (NAP) data
- Good Amount of Time spent on the page the user clicked
- User Click-through – the user kept going deeper into your site and
- Citations which are good reviews from sites like Yelp, Local
It should go without saying that your website should have pages of keyword optimized content that your users will be interested in. Each page should be a few paragraphs to a few pages of highly optimized content that will keep the viewer interested and want to keep reading and follow a link deeper into your web content.
That great content should have links coming FROM your Web 2.0 properties such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram etc. That content should educate your visitor along their way to the point of sale for the product or service they are interested in.
The above items are the most basic search engine optimization techniques that are completely within your control. This is just a drop in the bucket of the ecosystem of your SEO strategy.
One of the other 101 local search optimization actions is to get your Google My Business set up. This verifies to Google that your business is registered and confirms the physical address because they send a postcard to you with a code to punch in. Now you can put a Google map on your business website, knowing that they have checked you out so they are more likely to show it to their users.
Conclusion:
If you have well respected websites in your field linking to your local business site, your social media properties all organized with uniform Name Address and Phone number data(NAP), and relevant posts linking to your fast-loading, mobile-friendly website that has lots of great reviews from citation sites such as Yelp, HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List etc., you have a decent foundation for your local search engine optimization strategy.