Ranking Higher in Local Searches
Methods for Ranking Higher in Local Searches! For your business to flourish locally, the first thing you need is to gain a good reputation amongst your local community. It turns out, however, that this is not such an easy task because you will need to get a lot of clients talking positively about your services and products to meaningfully build your reputation.
SEO company in London, UK, including SEO specialist Web Choice, helps companies build their reputation and increase customer base. Here are 7 tips that will guide you in increasing your local search rankings:
- Optimize Your Website & Online Presence
The best way to get a high ranking is by making sure that your site ranks above those of your competitors. This can only happen if you optimize your website for local searches, and don’t forget to update it again on a regular basis. For example, if you have a plumbing service, make sure that you use phrases like; “London plumber” rather than just the term “plumber”.
- Build an informative homepage
People tend to trust websites that have plenty of information more than those that offer scant content. You should therefore build an informative homepage that provides the most relevant information about your company. The more accurate content you have on your site, the better it will perform in rankings for local searches.
- Optimise Your Offerings
Optimising your services is another way of increasing your online presence and attracting more customers to your website. For instance, if you have a restaurant make sure to include keywords such as; “lunch menu”, or “dinner menu”, on all pages of your site including the home page. Also, update “about us”, “contact details”, “menu”, “location” pages frequently…this will ensure that Google indexes these pages regularly thereby helping you achieve higher rankings in local searches.
- Participate in Online Communities
Believe it or not, participating in online communities, which includes forums and discussion boards, can help you rank higher in local search. So, for example, if you are a plumber, ensure that your posts add value to the community and add links back to your site. This way when people read your posts they will think of visiting your website after leaving the online community. This is also a very effective form of link building!
- Create Great Local Landing Pages
Creating great local landing pages that contain important information about your company is another way of getting a high ranking in local searches. As another example; if your website provides all the information about “car servicing near me” when people click on this link, make sure it takes them straight to a page containing prices of services offered, contact details, and opening hours. This will ensure that Google ranks these pages highly because of their relevance to the keywords used, thus ensuring higher conversions!
- Ensure that your Phone Number is on Every Page of Your Site
This is a very important step! Make sure that your phone number and address are displayed prominently on every page of your site. This way local searchers will be able to find you easily, making it easy for anyone to call and visit you…this also helps you get a higher conversion rate!
- Claim Your Business Listing
This is not the same as opening up a Google account for your business, here what you are doing is claiming ownership of your profile listing by verifying it with Google My Business, thus making it more reliable for people searching for businesses like yours locally.
- Submit Your Site To Online Directories
Both by submitting your site to online directories yourself, as well as asking clients to do the same, you’ll help to increase visibility. That’s because many directory sites are indexed highly in search engine results, especially industry-specific directories like Healthgrades if you’re a doctor or lawyer, or Thumbtack if you’re a service-focussed business, etc.
- Optimise Local Landing Pages On Your Site
Just as you would optimize any landing page on your site, be sure to optimize the ones that appear in local searches. More importantly, write a tight headline and description so it’s easy for people to understand what you offer when they get there… especially if they came from a mobile device.
- Optimise Your Website For Mobile
Use Google Analytics to determine which devices are used most often when visiting your website. If you find that more people come from mobile devices than desktop computers, then you should work hard to make sure your website displays well on all mobile devices. This is critical because up to 50% of consumers will not visit a business with a poorly designed, or incompatible website after performing a search from their smartphone. That percentage goes up further in metropolitan areas where people rely heavily on mobile devices to search for services.
- Create A Local Strategy On Your Site
Do you have a local strategy on your own site? This means educating customers about what makes your business better than others in your industry by offering tips, advice, and other resources right there on your website. Be sure to include links to your Google Places Page(s) too. For example, “We are London’s best takeaway restaurant because we offer 24/7 service! See our Google Business listing page (with reviews) here.” Also, consider adding links directly to maps showing how far away you are from someone when they land on your site – once again, this is especially helpful for mobile users.
To conclude; Your business needs to be found on the first page of Google search results! – It’s as simple as that.
Ensure that whatever content you incorporate into your site, particularly on local landing pages, has relevant keywords. Ensure that people can easily locate you, whether they type in; “pizza restaurant near me” or “pizza restaurant near London”.
Google’s search algorithm is an ever-changing and improving system for making sure that users get presented with the best results; we hope we’ve helped you to understand a bit more what this means for business owners, and how you can improve visibility on Google.
And finally, once again, make sure your site displays well across all devices!
