Local SEO Quick Wins for the Non-Technical

If you manage your own website, and consider yourself non-technical, you can still give yourself an advantage when it comes to quick local SEO wins.

While our team will gladly accept your business, some local small businesses find themselves on a very tight budget when it comes to marketing, and paying monthly for a local SEO campaign just isn’t in the cards at the moment.

No problem! We’ve all been there.

There’s still plenty you can do to give yourself even the slightest edge against your local competition.

After all, there are tons of local businesses that still haven’t claimed their local Google My Business listing!!

>>> How to setup your Google My Business profile in ~10 minutes <<<<

If after reading this post you feel that you’ve got all of these bases covered, why not check out our 2019 Strategies and Best Practices post? You’re sure to find something in there that you can take advantage of.

https://visionisto.com/new/seo-in-2019/

Let’s jump into it!

1. Website structure

Services

While this may seem like an obvious local SEO strategy, I come across MANY websites on a daily basis that do not have the proper site structure. Site structure is essential to the success of your website in search results.

If you offer multiple services, list each service as its own individual page. This will ensure each page is specific to the service, and will allow you to build upon the page moving forward. You can easily add thorough, well researched content, images, data, graphs, infographics, and more. Any information that you can provide that will keep your readers engaged longer will help your SEO.

Locations

Like your Service pages, each of your locations can have their own individual page too. Don’t get spammy though and create locations that don’t exist. Google is getting smarter in identifying which business actually have unique locations by scanning for NAP (name, address, and phone number) listings.

IF you have unique locations and you’ve created those location pages on your website, be sure to have the follow information on each of the pages:

• That location’s name, address, and phone number (NAP)
• Location-specific content (staff information, testimonials, news, etc.)
• An embedded Google Map
• Descriptions of where and how to get to your business – including mentions of local landmarks that Google can connect as entities
• Location-specific comments and reviews from customers
• Location-specific Title Tags and Meta Descriptions
• Images from inside your business and the team members that work there

2. Content

Basic keyword mentions

Again, this may seem like a no-brainer, but many small business websites are still missing the mark.

Ensure your homepage mentions the services that you provide. Think of each of these services as a keyword.

Directions

If you’re a brick-n-mortar store, add a link to your Google listing to make your address and directions easily accessible from a mobile device.

You can even go one step further and add some landmarks and images from the outside or a street view snap shot. Anything you can do to make it REALLY easy for a local or tourist to find your location would be great.

Back to your Service pages

While we mentioned adding unique pages to your website for each of your service pages, it’s a good idea to go back a few days later and review the content on each of these pages and consider the following:

How can I add more thorough content?
Can I explain something about my service in greater detail?
Would adding a few images help the reader make a more informed decision?
What can I do to help the layman that might not be familiar with these products or services?

What makes you a pro in your field?

Why not go ahead and describe your qualifications, certifications, etc.? As we mentioned in our Google Medic Algorithm Recovery post, Google wants to see more comprehensive content and they want to see if the person authoring the content is a professional, specialist, or authority in their respective field. So, if you can prove your authority on the topic, why not mention it? And sure, it’s okay to link to it even if the page is not on your website. Off-page links DO help your SEO!

Go back and review those old blog posts

At one point in time, Google rewarded websites based on the VOLUME of blog posts and not necessarily the quality of the blog post content. Oh how the tides have turned!

Now is a good time to go back a few years and rework some of those posts and update them to today’s standards. A good place to start is within your Google Analytics or Insights tab in Google Search Console to see if any of those pages are getting any traffic. You can organize your posts based on the amount of traffic they’re receiving and start from there.

3. The finer details

NAP

Remember we mentioned “NAP” above? It’s good to ensure you have your name, address, and phone number on each page. You can make this easy for yourself by sticking it in the footer.

Local directories

While on the topic of NAP, it’s a great idea to scan Google for your brand name to confirm your listings in local directories. If you haven’t yet, get the basics under your belt. These are:

Yelp
Google My Business
Apple Maps
LinkedIn Company Directory
MapQuest
Yellow Pages

and the list goes on…

Local directories are the backbone of Local SEO, so be sure to get the basics right.

Keep your NAP consistent for best results!

>>>> Have a look at our Top Local Citation Websites list for a deeper look  <<<<

Reviews

Do you have lots of great reviews for your products or services? It’s not a bad idea to share it with the world.

Go ahead and add a link to popular review websites like Yelp, Angie’s List, and Google Local to let users easily find your happiest customers.

While some of these local SEO suggestions might seem basic to some, small business owners just starting out should see some value and improve their website’s visibility with implementation.

Do you have local SEO questions? Feel free to drop a comment below or contact our team today for immediate local SEO help.

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