How to Dominate Search in Smaller UK Towns
Businesses of all sizes today, including those in smaller UK towns, need a strong online presence. Local businesses need to optimise for local search engine optimisation (SEO), ensuring their potential customers can find them in their area.
Local SEO has a major impact on businesses in smaller UK towns, such as Fordwich in East Kent, that has the smallest population in the UK. When you do local SEO correctly, you have the opportunity to show up in front of the right audience at exactly the right time.
Knowing how hard it is for businesses in smaller UK towns to dominate search results, the Genie Crawl team have put together some steps you can follow to dominate search moving forward:
Let's start with one of the most important elements of any effective local SEO strategy, your Google Business Profile (GBP). This powerful tool provided by Google is a free directory listing for local business, ensuring your business can be ranked on Google Search and in Google Maps.
This means creating or claiming your business on Google Business Profile, providing accurate and updated information. Fill out every section, ensuring it is accurate, along with ensuring consistency of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
We recommend setting up for Google reviews, giving your local community the opportunity to leave a review. We also recommend you respond to every review, both positive and negative, in a timely and professional manner to boost credibility and trust.
Conduct keyword research to identify localised keywords you can use in your content. This involves conducting keyword research and then adding your location to the keyword. For example, you are looking for the best SEO agency in Wells, therefore your keywords may be “SEO agency Wells,” or “Best SEO company Wells,” for example. Ensure your keywords are used naturally, they should not be awkward in your content.
The next step is to create content. Content can be your website pages, blogs, articles, even your YouTube videos. Creating valuable content that relates to you business in the UK small town is a great way to connect with your audience.
Your content should provide value to your audience, making them want to share it on their social media page.
Citations are mentions of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites, platforms, or directories. This is a very effective way to improve your local SEO presence.
Ensure when you submit your information to online listings, profiles, and directories that it is consistent, matching the information provided in your Google Business Profile.
Mobile SEO has become an essential part of any effective SEO strategy, including local SEO. Providing your local community with a website that loads quickly and is easy to navigate is essential in keeping your audience engaged, reducing bounce rates, and improving your ranking in local results.
In the UK, a large portion of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore, ensure your website is responsive, loading quickly across all devices, screen sizes, and operating systems.
When it comes to SEO, you cannot set it up once and expect it to continue producing results. SEO needs ongoing monitoring and adjusting to ensure you align with the latest SEO trends and algorithm updates. At Genie Crawl, we recommend using Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These provide valuable insights into your website, along with suggestions for improvement.
Local SEO, when done correctly, can help businesses in smaller UK towns dominate search results. Using less competitive keywords, using localised keywords and creating high quality localised content is only a small part of the process. Don't forget your Google Business Profile! Contact Genie Crawl now for assistance, we are here to help.
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