So, what does a local SEO Company do? SEO, or search engine optimization, will boost the exposure of a local business online by enhancing a website’s visibility on search engines.
Don’t Complicate Local SEO
SEO means that people will see you on the first page of a Google search when they search for your local industry (if your SEO company knows what they’re doing).
Online businesses, small local businesses, and national multi-location businesses greatly benefit from SEO. In fact, 46% of Google searches have local intent, which means the user was searching for a local service – such as a restaurant or a retail store.
Brand image, customer retention, and lead acquisition are dependent on your company’s ranking on Google. In other words, the closer the site is to the top, the more engagement it will have.
Sam just moved to Boca Raton, Florida and she is long overdue for a haircut and color. So, she Googles salons. A pool of highly-ranked businesses, which earn their rankings from local SEO efforts, are what she will choose from. Depending on how much research and time she puts into deciding where to take her business, she’ll almost always choose from Google’s first page. It’s important to understand that increasing your local rankings via SEO takes time – anywhere from 4 months to a year depending on how competitive your industry is.
Schedule A Free Strategy Session!
What is SEO Anyway?
Think of climbing Google’s ranking ladder. When a google user searches for anything, with purchase intent or not, sites rank for the keywords used in a person’s search.
SEO is not as simple as embedding a few keywords into the content of a website in order to show up on the first page of google during a related search.
In order for your website to navigate the unknown trenches of a search engine’s algorithm – and rank for that matter – you have to use a wide combination of techniques.
Google crawlers explore new site pages, verify links, and cruise across site maps (maps that layout the page design in a website). From keywords and website speed, to the names of images and the header tag text… everything is indexed and/or analyzed by these crawlers. Google uses this information to try and make the web an easier and more helpful place to navigate.
SEO is the attempt to make you the #1 search results, which usually means making your site the most helpful website in your local industry or niche.
This is how you drive SEO:
Local SEO Trends in Ranking Your Website
There are hundreds of factors that go into ranking your website against competitors. Because of this, there are many different methods that can be used to achieve the same end goal. The way to rank a website will not always rank your Google My Business, and vice versa. This is why it’s not just enough to optimize header tags on your site and be done with it. Here are just a few of the local SEO factors:
Secure Website
Security is everything. User safety and security should be the priority, especially if transactions occur on the site.
For a website to be safe and secure, the bots have to explore it. Clean code and a sitemap can help with this.
HTTPS, or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, is an encrypted communication protocol. Its the https:// before the www. in your browser URL bar. This ensures the security of the site and its also great for ranking purposes.
It’s also good for your customer’s bank accounts. A secure website will help prevent fraud if you’re running an E-commerce site.
Speed
Imagine a slow website.
Yeah, no thank you.
Page speed is critical for a good user experience.
Google wants to continuously improve the user experience, so fast page speed is a direct avenue to higher ranks. Compress the content (such as images) and assess your plugins to speed up your site. A slow host must go.
Not only is speed important for ranking, but speed is crucial for business as well. If a page isn’t loading, an impatient user will turn to a different, faster-working website for all their needs.
It’s a site-eat-site world.
Mobile Friendly website
Google prioritizes mobile devices over PC/Mac desktops.
This feature is a strong ranking factor because it contributes to a positive user experience. 70% of web traffic comes from mobile devices, so it would make no sense to have a site that isn’t mobile-friendly. Once again, this goes back to the quality of the website. If your site is user friendly, responsive, helpful, and easy to use, Google will reward your site.
In other words, mobile functionality is crucial.
Google bots index sites based on mobile optimization.
Your site should automatically resize to the fit of the device, have an appropriate font size, and display easy navigation. Content should not be hidden due to resizing issues.
Domain Age and URL
A domain is the name of your website and how users find the site. Young domains, around a year-old or so, typically won’t rank unless you’re willing to do some serious SEO.
So if you’re thinking about starting a new business, buy that domain. Now.
Domains can have various extensions like .com and .net, but beware:
.org extensions tend not to rank well.
Exact match websites, or ones with keywords in their names or URLs, can outperform other domains. But it’s not a critical component of ranking. In a domain, age is often more important than keywords.
Content Is King
Content optimization has a large pull in overall ranking factors. Strategically embedding keywords into content on a website will increase the likelihood of ranking when that keyword – or a similar product or service – is searched.
The keywords should relate to the product or service on the website. If you add more content containing updated keywords monthly, then the site should (in theory) rank higher. Keywords are embedded into the content primarily through headers and then within the content body as well.
Content needs to stay fresh, exciting, and non-repetitive… And absolutely not plagiarized.
Content can also include infographics, videos, downloadable e-books, music, and graphic design. Video converts the most. So does free stuff.
Website Authority
Page authority and domain authority matter.
Page authority metrics predict rank for a single page in search engines by using a combination of the previous factors. Domain authority measures the strength of the entire domain and subdomains.
So, the entire website matters. Every word.
This is a great way to gauge how SEO functions in a website.
How To Build Links For Local SEO?
Getting high authority websites to reference and link to your site is extremely important. For instance. If you belong to the chamber of commerce, google respects the chamber of commerce. If the chamber of commerce website links to your website, google will give more trust to your site. This principle is almost like getting a referral from a trusted community leader. In the eyes of google, highly trusted websites linking to your site means a lot. It passes what’s called page rank. We put together a little guide on how to get better links and more “page rank” to your website.
Time Needed: 300 minutes
Total Cost: USD 750
Industry Specific Websites That Are Trustworthy
– Find valued informational websites in your industry – See what keywords those websites rank for in Ahrefs – Figure out a way to contribute or be featured on those websites.Required tools:
– A Computer. – Internet connection. – Google Structured data testing Tool. – A Gmail Address – AhrefsSteps to local link building.
Step 1 : Get a subscription to AhrefsEnter the title to your HowTo Schema
Step 2 : Look at competitor websites in Ahrefs.Once you are in ahrefs, type in your competitors websites. Ahrefs will show you the links that are pointed at their website. This is called Referring Domains. Based on the number of referring domains and the quality of those referring domains, you will know how many links you will need to get to rank above your competitors.
Step 3 : Reach out to high RD websites in your industry and get links.There are many different ways to do this. Many times if you have a really in depth article on your site, other websites will list it as a resource. This is a really powerful way to get links. You can also contribute content to high RD websites in exchange for a link.
