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Guest Post by: Bryan Conte
Local Business Owners
If you are a business owner, you are likely aware of the tremendous power of the Internet. Today, a new power makes the internet even more instant – mobile internet. Now people can be a block from your shop, traveling, and searching the internet for places to eat, shop, and other ways to spend money. The way to harness this power and connect with them is through local SEO. Local SEO is very similar to regular search engine optimization, in that you optimize your website for certain keywords. With local SEO, the keywords and results are location-specific and accomplished through a few other methods as well.
Let’s say a couple is traveling through Atlanta and needs to find a shop to fix a flat tire. They will probably get on their smartphones and search the internet. They will most likely type in something like “tire shops in Atlanta,” but even if they don’t use the word Atlanta, the search engine knows their location and gives them results for the area they are in. This is the result of search engine evolution. The search engines are so smart that they know no one wants to know about tire shops in New York if they are in Atlanta.
The Local SEO Algorithm
So there is a new game you need to play to get an edge on your competition. You can either hire an SEO company, or you can learn SEO on your own, but beware there is a steep learning curve and it is constantly evolving. Optimizing your website for local search requires a new set of rules and has a different algorithm to find its results. So what types of things will help your local search results?
There are several things you should be paying attention to in order to increase your ranking in local searches. First of all, your physical address should be visible on every page of your website. The best way to do this is to have it in your footer because the footer loads no matter which page of your site someone is visiting. Next, you should list a local phone number, because it is positive proof that you are located where you say you are. Blog with location-specific keywords. Hopefully, you know the power of blogging – now take it to another level by blogging about your community and places in it.
Another important part of local search is to make sure that all of your online directories have you located at the correct address. If you have ever moved or changed your telephone number, it is your responsibility as a business owner to make sure the information gets updated across the various online directories and platforms. The local search takes these “citations”, as they call them, into account on Google.
Managing Your Online Reputation with Reviews
Along with on-page factors and citations, you should also be managing your online reputation. Getting feedback from locals is a surefire way to prove to search engines that you are located where you say you are, but like so many other search engine factors, it must look natural. Allow the public to honestly assess your business because a little criticism is alright. A perfect list of reviews looks a little suspicious. On the contrary, a full list of negative reviews is also likely to hurt your rankings so be sure to manage your online reputation.
If you make the most of the on-page factors and successfully manage your online reputation and listings, you should have no problem ranking well in local search listings. Search engines want to provide a list of businesses that are most relevant and trustworthy for the keywords entered. It is just your job to convince or tell them that you deserve to be there. With it, you can significantly benefit from a stream of searchers who will gain awareness that your brand exists and it will also bring in much more revenue.
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Author: Bryan Conte is a professional copywriter and the Co-Founder of Webdigia, an SEO company that works with both local and national businesses to provide internet marketing solutions for increased exposure and leads.
