How do you optimise a website for local search?
When you own a local business, you will struggle to be noticed by your audience, if you are not optimising your website for local search. Without optimising your website, you will struggle to compete in search engine results pages (SERPs). For local businesses, this is a massive loss, as you lose out on reaching your audience and converting them into loyal customers.
The local algorithm works very similar to the traditional search algorithm, in terms of how the search engine crawls and indexes your pages, deciding which content to display based on the users search query.
By understanding your local competitors, you can improve your own local search ranking. It provides you with valuable insights to push your forward in local search results, helping you improve brand visibility, driving organic local traffic to your website.
Having a proven local SEO strategy starts by understanding your websites current standing, before you do any improvements or changes. It is advisable to carry out a local SEO audit, along with a Google Business Profile audit, helping you identify where your site is lacking and what you need to do to improve your ranking in local SERPs.
Your Google Business Profile should be your first step in improving your ranking in local searches. This should be done before you start optimising your website. Ensure you complete all the required information correctly, remember consistency is key. For many potential customers, your Google Business Profile is their first impression of your business. Offer high quality images, an optimised description, and ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is accurate.
Reviews are an important part of your local SEO strategy and is not something that should be taken lightly. In order to improve your ranking in local results, you need to start focusing on reviews, encouraging happy customers to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile, independent review sites, and on your social media pages. Over seventy percent of consumers rely on online reviews when choosing a company to approach, while it is one of Google's ranking factors.
Receiving reviews is great, but take the time to reply to them, whether they are positive or negative. This is a great opportunity to engage with your audience.
Links have been an important part of any SEO strategy, seen as votes of confidence. They are not an important ranking factor, but they are valuable. You want to focus on acquiring links from local businesses in your area, driving traffic to your website. Remember links must come from authoritative websites that are relevant to your industry.
Optimising your website for local search means having to optimise your website using local keywords and phrases. Optimise your headers, meta descriptions, and titles. A well-optimised title can grab the attention of your audience, while telling the search engines the context of your web page.
You must create high quality, unique, and relevant content for your website. This is more than simply adding local keywords to your content, you need to prove to the search engines you are an authority in your local area. You can publish relevant news or expert guides for your area, showing you are an expert in your local area. Follow Google's E-E-A-T principle when creating your local content. E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust.
There is so much to learn when it comes to optimising your website for local searches, helping to boost your business, increasing brand visibility, and driving organic traffic to your website. With a proven local SEO strategy, you can work your way to the first page of SERPs, improving your click-through rate, reducing bounce rates, and increasing conversions. Do you want to know how? Contact the Genie Crawl team now.
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