08 Feb Local SEO: How to Increase Your Local Business Ranking 2018
Local SEO has transformed into one of the most powerful tools that businesses can use to gain edge and stay competitive in their industry. Regardless if you are managing your business or you are providing your service to your clients, having a clear understanding on Local Search Engine Optimization is fundamental if you want to increase your SERP. All of us want to receive that organic traffic coming from search engine sites. But nowadays, you are not just fighting against the local competitors, but you are also going against those paid advertisements. Here are some ways to increase your Local SERP this in 2018.
Capture All Of The Business Listings That You Can
Here is a list of 50 from Hubspot. Pick out a few each week to make sure that you claim the listing or create one for your location. Make sure that the information on all of these sites is extremely consistent. Errors and different info will hurt you in the local search game. Also work to make sure that the listings are as complete as possible by fully filling out the profiles. Darkstar can also help out if you need help, we have tools that can capture/claim hundreds of listings to make things easier.
Adjust Your Local SEO Strategy
Business and marketers tend to focus on one area when it comes to Local SEO. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but you need to remember that the successful marketers and businessmen tend to manage an array of campaigns that is related to their ultimate goal. Instead of just concentrating on receiving free clicks, you need to find out where your audiences are looking and find ways on how you can get their attention. Start by looking at the topics and keywords similar to your niche that receives the highest visibility. Use a tracking tool when analyzing a particular keyword. Try optimizing your website for the ‘near me’ searches. In most cases, customers tend to choose for establishments that are close to them.
Gaining Higher Visibility
After adjusting your Search Engine Optimization strategy, it is time for you to increase the rankings of your site and your online visibility. Local SEO is a complicated matter, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand it. You can start it by having a strong website as a base. You always need to start with the fundamental aspects. If a website does not load fast, then you are losing conversions, if it is not responsive, then you are losing audience. Tools such as GTMetrix can be used to analyze how fast your website loads. Websites that load poorly will have a low SERP score.
Crawl errors are another major issue. Fix these immediately in order to maintain the health of your site. You should also pay attention to link building. This is essential if you want to rank on particular geographic area and competitive niche.
Quality>Quantity Citations
When looking for citations, quality is more important than quantity. Getting one high-quality citation is better compared to thousands or irrelevant citation. Getting a high amount of citation also exposed you to spam which can affect your SERP. One option to consider on your Local SEO is through award websites which can provide an authoritative citation.
Finally, you need to stay consistent and directly on point. Local SEO is predicted to become volatile this year, but it is imperative that you stay consistent and on point.
Be open to a diverse Search engine optimization strategy that can advance the authority and online presence of your business.