SEO For Small Businesses

When you need any local products or services, what do you normally do? You pull out your smartphone or your laptop and look for it. Isn’t it? Your customers are no different. When they need any product or service similar to what you offer, they are going to look for it online.

A local search is a powerful tool for local businesses. Do you know that 97% search online to find a local business? And 88% of consumers who searched local business on their smartphone, visit the store or call the business within a day? This means that f your business is not optimized for local search, you could be missing out on more than 80% of potential customers.

Some more facts: 

97% of people get information about a local business online than from any other source.

More than 75% of the mobile device searchers for local businesses end up buying from local businesses.

85% of local businesses rated Search Engine optimization as the most effective tactic to acquire more customers.

28% of the overall searches become purchases!

Hence, local search is critical if you wish your business stay relevant in the coming time.

Now that it is clear that local search is one of the significant acquisition tactics for local businesses, let’s look at what needs to be done in order to improve visibility in local searches.

1. Create and Optimize your Google My Business listing.

Google My Business page creation is one of the authentic ways that Google can verify your business. Create and optimize Google My Business listings with consistent NAP (Name, Address, and Phone) details and your targeted keywords.

2. Optimize your website with on-page metadata with what local people are searching the most.

Optimize the on-page metadata with the targetted keywords. Use LSI keywords that are relevant to your product or services. 

It is better to consider the user intent when planning content so that you not only have content that is keywords optimized but also provide the information that the users are looking for.

3. Improve internal linking on your website to pass authority to your valued pages.

Links that are pointing to your website from other websites are indeed important for ranking your website. But tactfully planned internal linking is vital for optimizing the site to rank higher.

Why is internal linking important? Internal linking, not only offers smooth user experience, but it also serves the site structure that supports information architecture and website hierarchy.
4. Add location pages to your website if you serve at multiple locations.

If you serve more than one location, it is optimal for your website that you have dedicated pages to specific locations with important information, such as NAP details, opening hours, transit to the store, parking availability and promotions, etc.

However, the content mustn’t be duplicated for different locations. Have unique content for each location page with a descriptive page with local-flavored content.

5. Create content optimized with local intent keywords.

Google continues to evolve and get smarter. This means that now website content could be written with user experience focus and, at the same time, optimizing content for search engines.

Instead of writing around general topics, flavor your content with local events, news, and other relevant intent inspired content on your blog.

6. Ensure that NAP (business name, address, and phone number) is consistent throughout your online presence. 

On your website, local directories, business listing, and Google My Business listings keep your business name, address, and phone number consistent.

Don’t make a mistake of having the NAP details in an image format. For search engines to be able to read the information, make sure to keep these details in HTML format. 

7. Create optimized listings on online directories and local business listings.

Consistency is key. When you register your business across local directories and business listings, keep the NAP details similar. 

Discrepancies like spelling mistakes, different phone numbers, abbreviations, and missing suite numbers can create a problem, as Google can not determine which information about your business is correct. This can create confusion, and your business may not appear in search results.

8. Be consistent on social media and engage with your customers.

Google considers social share more important than ever before. Engaging with users, and consistent posting will encourage the users to engage with you and share your content further. This will, in turn, enhance your online presence in the eyes of search engines. 

Share your Google My Business page on your social media to further align social search.

9. Make sure that your website is mobile friendly and loading time is less than 3 seconds.
People are using mobile phones to search for everything more than ever before. Your website needs to load faster and also look good on mobile. 

The most common ways people use your website on mobile are to navigate to your store, find contact details of your business, and look up reviews about your business.

Make it easy for your clients to use your website by making your site mobile friendly.

10. Optimize URLs of web pages with relevant keywords.

It is important to optimize URLs of your webpages so that it is easy for the search engines to determine what your page is about.

Search engines look at the on-page metadata and URL to determine the topic of the page. So make sure to design the URLs of the site with targeted keywords.