As the name suggests, local SEO techniques aim to make your business available online to the searchers in your geographical locality. It can be seen as similar to a listing in your local yellow pages. For example, if your florist shop is located in Essex, potential customers should be able to find your shops by running a search locally.
There are certain things you need to consider when trying local SEO for your business:
Include your physical address: You need to include your business’s physical address on the website. You should add your postcode, city and county on your page titles. Search engines will index this information and make it available to the searchers for relevant keywords. This should be your first step toward local search engine optimisation.
Register for Map Programs: One of the ways to locally optimise your website would be to map programmes like Google Maps. You can register your site with them and these registered sites get priority for searchers.
Use Local Keywords: Incorporate local keywords to your current SEO programme. For example, when optimising the website for your Essex florist shop, incorporate Essex into the keyword list, since florists Essex is a local keyword phrase likely to be used by a searcher.
More and more local directories are appearing on the web. These directories specialise in business that is located in a particular geographic area. It is important that your website is registered with each local directory that covers your area. This way you can witness an increase in both traffic and sales.
How to find a professional Local SEO Expert
It is better to hire a local SEO expert to implement your search engine optimisation tactics effectively. Run an internet search to find out an expert in your locality. Make sure that the firm you are choosing is ranking well for local search terms themselves. Once you identify the right local SEO resource, share your goals and ideas with them.
A good SEO expert will tell you how they are going to go about improving your rankings. When hiring a person, you need to make sure that they are transparent about the methodology. You need to ensure that they are not using any spamming techniques that could potentially harm your business.
A professional firm will have a list of local SEO tactics they will deploy. To implement the strategies effectively, they will need some input from your side. It is therefore important for you to understand their requirements. An expert will be able to tell you how much time, money and human resources you will need to spend in order to make your local SEO efforts a success.
