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Posted by Ravi Panchal
February 09, 2018
The local SEO practice can make a huge difference to your local business growth and with the right and accurate local SEO strategy, you can achieve good traffic and conversions for your website. However, with the introduction of a “3-pack model” by Google, the equations are changed completely and you need to redesign your local SEO strategy to get superior results.
Previously, when you search for a local brand or business, Google used to offer 7 main search results with a local map and address. However, to offer a more convenient experience to the users, Google has changed it from 7 search results to 3 search results and it is called a 3-pack model. Moreover, the map is there and some other changes also have been included like information about working hours, street names, reviews and ratings too. Google maps and Google search results, collaboratively, offer a superior navigation experience to the users.
Furthermore, marketers who ranged from the 4th to 7th search results previously are disappointed and for the right results. They actually need to come up with an effective local SEO strategy to encash the traffic.
Here is a list of tips you can implement to have a better and effective local SEO strategy that can bring you some superlative results.
First thing first, you need to have a physical address of your business for the area you want to optimize locally. It is the fundamental thing you need to have. Furthermore, your business location should be as close as possible to the area you want to target. It will help Google to bring down more accurate results.
With the accurate use of GMB, you can target three important local business modules – Google Search, Google+, and Google Maps. If you want to be found easily by the users, no matter which devices they are using, optimizing GMB can be a good idea. Whatever business information you use in the GMB will reflect all the Google modules and it will bring genuine traffic to your website.
Ensure that you fill in all the details while enrolling in GMB and the location is owner-verified. Also, make sure that the city and town are clearly mentioned.
You cannot fail to match the NAP (Name, Address, and Phone Number) on your website and the GMB. Ensure that the NAPs are the same and consistent. You can also use the same template on these modules whether it is a GMB, website, or Google+. any deviation in the NAP on any module might create confusion among users and you should take care of it.
When you design your website, you need to ensure that you include all the contact information on the website including a map to your office location. A precise map will make things easy for your users. You can add the map code in the contacts page of your website. Apart from a map, you can include office hours, driving directions, phone call links, and social media links that should be added to your website too. It will help your users to reach out to you easily and effortlessly.
When you have multiple office locations or branches for your business, you need to optimize each location by creating distinct web pages for each location. Ask your SEO professional and website developer to carry out this task. Make sure that you have unique content for each page or Google might consider it as a bad SEO tactic.
Most of business owners offer multiple products and services and if you are including all the products on the same page, it is not an SEO-friendly tactic. Instead of it, you can create a distinct web page for each product or service you are offering with relevant and specific details about the product or services. You can then, link these multiple page links to a single page that summarizes all the products and services on your website.
Using citations for local SEO has many benefits and you should ensure that you use them to get huge traffic and also to enhance the credibility and reliability of your business. Get citations in global and local directories and it will drive genuine traffic to your website. However, you need to ensure that the citations are consistent and of good quality.
Getting citations in major global and regional directories, as well as in local directories, is vital for local SEO. Citations can help build authority and credibility for your website, and more importantly, drive useful traffic to your website. Use local domains that can write positive about your business and website and it will create a huge difference.
Original, engaging, and informative content plays a huge role in SEO practices and you need to ensure that your website has unique and engaging content that can excite your users. Along with content, your website design, user interface, and loading time are other important aspects you need to take care of. Together, these things will ensure that you have a low bounce rate and high conversion rate.
Reviews are important as they depict user’s experiences with the brand and the business and you need to ensure that you have positive reviews about your business. As people look for personalized information while buying products or services, Google takes reviews more seriously and you need to encourage your users to write reviews. It will drive users to act and that too in a positive manner.
Whether it is your GMB title, description, website or domain, you need to use relevant keywords effectively to ensure that your business is found when people use those keywords to find products or services.
When it comes to local SEO, people are still far away from getting desired results due to poor SEO practices. A thorough understanding of Google guidelines for local SEO can help business owners to design a strategy to drive more local traffic to their websites.
