If you’re a small business owners who’s customers and potential customers are in one geographical location you absolutely HAVE to be doing local seo.
But what is it, and more importantly – how do you do it?
Take a look at my SEO checklist for local small business websites.
First let’s start with the basics – what exactly IS local seo?
Local seo is working on your website’s search engine optimisation so you get a better ranking for a particular area, for example [Digital Marketing Bristol].
More and more searches are looking for local businesses, especially on their mobiles. Research by comScore states that well over half (61%) of total digital minutes in the UK were spent on mobile devices.
When you combine that with the fact that [near me] searches have skyrocketed in the last 5 years this is an area of seo that local businesses really can’t ignore.
MY SEO CHECKLIST FOR LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITES
NAP Details
I’ve written about it before (see here) but one of the most important you can do for your small businesses local seo is set your NAP details (name, address and phone number).
You’ll find out why next!
Citations
Now you know your NAP details you need to ensure that they are reflected in the most important places on the web.
These places are called Primary Data Aggregators and for the UK this is places like Google, Facebook and Central Index.
MOZ (God in the seo world!) has a handy (and free) check here.
If you have different info on your listings (or even duplicate listings!) then get them updated.
Google My Business
Google My Business, Google +, Google. You get the picture – nearly everyone is confused with Google’s business listings!
Whether you actually actively post on Google My Business (as it’s properly called!) is your choice – but you DO have to have a profile there and ensure that the categories you choose for your business accurately reflect your products or services.
Reviews
The best form of advertising is when someone else does it for you so make sure you ask your happy customers for reviews!
For ranking purposes get them directly onto your Google My Business Listing (you can generate a direct link to give to your customers here).
Ensure that they leave comments as well as a star review!
Keywords
I find it very hard to write a post about seo without mentioning keywords and for local seo it’s no exception!
Adding ‘product/service, location’ to your page titles and meta descriptions just won’t cut it any more I’m afraid.
Think about how you can creatively add your products or services and location keywords to the content on your entire website. Â How about on your about page “I became a Dentist in Bristol because”.
Think outside the box and get creative!
So there you have it – my SEO checklist for local small business websites.
By no means is this checklist exhaustive but it does cover what I consider the most fundamental areas you need to get in shape.
If you feel a bit overwhelmed by it, or just don’t have the time to work on it then lets chat!
Book a free, no obligation call with me to discuss how we can get your website in front of your local customers.