Local SEO Strategies to Dominate the Competition

Roughly 46% of all Google searches are conducted by people seeking local information, and a Statista survey suggests in the USA, 21% of internet users search for local businesses daily.

No matter what kind of business you’re running or how many different offices you have across the country, you need to target the local market first to see your profits and brand recognition grow.

But with local SEO strategies continually evolving, what are the latest local search engine optimization tips and tricks you need to know to edge out the competition? Local SEO trends include:

• UX (user experience) – use Google Search Engine Console to find out your users use your site
• Content – keywords and personalized for local users
• Online Business Listings
• Hyperlocal – not just local SEO
• Video marketing – relevant local video content
• Reputation – Reviews

Read on to find out.

1. UX

We’ve written extensively on UX and SEO strategies to improve your users’ experience on your website. For example, this article ensures your users get what they are looking for, including fast page loads, relevant content, and page layout consistency.

Plus, you can get your website developers to test UX on mobile devices. We know Google is mobile-first, so UX on your mobile site is priority number one!

2. Content

Fresh, unique, relevant content can win over your site users and Google. Seek to understand your uses with customer discovery strategies, then provide them with information that informs, educates, and inspires. Hence, they purchase what you have to sell. Another benefit of high-quality content is your users will share it with their social media followers.

Use video content and text content with images. Don’t skimp on the word count – it may take some practice, but before long, you’ll become an authority within your niche that Google recognizes and ranks accordingly.

3. Claim Online Business Listings

If you want to get local SEO right, you first need to claim and complete your online business listings.

This means your pages on Yelp, Google My Business, Angie’s List, and other local review sites and digital directories.

This gives local consumers a “one-sheet” to skim over to learn the most essential information about your business.

Your listing should include your opening hours, location, contact information, accepted payments, and plenty of photos of your business/products and online reviews.

4. Hyperlocal, Not Local

One of the newer local SEO strategies is the rise of hyperlocal, as opposed to just “local” content.

Today, targeting your city or state in location-based keyword phrases isn’t entirely local enough.

Now, you need to include the names of your neighborhood, other nearby small businesses, your street, nearby tourist attractions and landmarks, and even your county name if you want to stand out.

5. Enable Geolocation Services on Social Media

Want to learn how to dominate local SEO and increase your customer loyalty in the process?

There’s no better way than by enabling geolocation services on your brand’s social media platforms. This allows your customers to “check in” to your business – which means that you’re more likely to show up in the social media feeds of other local customers.

In addition to gaining more followers, this also allows you to get more people in the door – especially if you incentivize a check-in with a discount.

6. Ask for Reviews From Local Consumers

Close to 100% of consumers read online reviews about a business before they decide to make an appointment or buy a product.

If you don’t have reviews on your website or third-party business listings, local customers will either think you’re unsuccessful or that you just don’t care about your reputation.

Just as you would with the social media check-ins mentioned above, incentivize local customers to leave you reviews by offering discounts or giveaways.

Check your reviews daily and respond to them – whether positive or negative.

7. Link to Other Local Businesses in Your Web Content

Yes, your link-building link-building strategy should include links to authoritative industry journals and scientific studies.

But suppose you want to increase local search engine rankings and improve your relationships with other local businesses (hello, cross-promotion opportunities). In that case, you also need to link to blog content from these local businesses.

This shows consumers that you’ve tapped into the needs of your local market and that you have a good relationship with other popular, long-standing businesses in the community.

8. Include a Google Map on Your Site

One of the most straightforward strategies for local SEO for small businesses’ success is to include a Google Map on every website page. (Not everyone will access your website on your home page, especially if you have a solid link-building strategy.)

This makes it incredibly easy for your customers to determine your business’s location and makes your site much more likely to appear in local search engine results.

9. Focus on Local Voice Search Results

By the end of 2020, SEO experts estimate that about half of all search queries will be conducted via a voice search tool like Alexa or Siri.

The high volume of local searches will affect your overall and local business SEO strategies, especially the latter.

So, how can you optimize your location-based keyword phrases for voice search?

Aim to include content that asks “who, what, where, when, why, and how” questions, then references your location.

For example, successful voice search keyword phrases include:

• Where is the best 24-hour diner near me?
• How can I find local painting services in Dallas, Texas?
• What are the best museums in Charlotte, North Carolina?

10. Mobile-Friendliness Influences Local Search Success

Last up on our list of the top local business SEO tips?

Remember the importance of making your website mobile-friendly – especially regarding local searches.

We mentioned mobile UX earlier, and mobile is so important to your rankings it’s worth mentioning it again.  🙂

Remember that many of your leads are already in their cars or on the go in some way when they conduct searches for local businesses, products, and services. And even if they’re at their homes, they’re still more likely to run local searches on their mobile devices than on a desktop computer.

Keep Google’s new mobile-first indexing system in mind, and frequently evaluate the overall mobile-friendliness of your site.

It’s Time to Put These Local SEO Strategies Into Practice

Now that you know the most effective local SEO strategies for today and beyond, it’s time to try them out yourself.

Perhaps this post has made you consider improving your overall SEO and digital marketing strategy to incorporate more market trends.

Whether you’re interested in creating video content, understanding what makes for captivating blog content, or even needing help understanding how to leverage technology to your advantage, our blog can help.

Bookmark our page today to ensure you’re always ahead of the next big thing in local SEO and beyond.