Optimize your website so locals---people close by---can easily find you.


For most small businesses, your first---or main---objective is to attract an audience in your local market. Later, your business may grow and expand to other nearby cities or states. But for most small businesses, you’ll start by driving local leads to your website or physical location.


So, in order to start driving local leads to your website or physical location, you’re going to want to focus on increasing your local search engine optimization, commonly known as local SEO. Local SEO refers to a strategic process of search engine optimization (SEO) that focuses on optimizing web pages so that they can be found in local search engine results.


When someone begins an online search, they often first check their local area to see if there’s a business that caters to his/her needs. Often, people will enter a phrase with local search terms such as:

  • near me
  • in city, state
  • close by


If your content is optimized for local search results, the goal is that your business will show up in the top slots of search results. And in SEO, high visibility means more traffic and therefore, more customers.

 


Focusing on local SEO is a very effective way to increase your company’s visibility and sales. Here are 10 effective techniques on how to do just that.


1. Location-specific web pages


Create location-specific pages, often known as city pages, on your website. These are pages that focus on a specific location---whether a city, state, or country---that your business services regularly.

Location-specific pages can have a ton of benefits:

  • Increase Leads - You’ll bring in qualified leads in the area(s) your service.
  • Location Specific Products and Services - You can feature unique products and services that are available only in a certain location that you’re serving.
  • Increase Overall SEO - Lets say you’re offering physical therapy services, and your physical office is in Cleveland, Ohio. If you have great content focused around “physical therapy in Cleveland”, people will most likely find your web page when they search for “physical therapy in Cleveland”Makes sense, right?


2. Mobile friendly web pages


Nowadays, more than half the world’s browsing activity comes from mobile devices, and that trend isn’t going away. That means that there is a very high likelihood that people visiting your website will be doing so via their mobile phone or tablet.


Therefore, it’s extremely important to make sure your website is mobile friendly. Mobile friendliness (or mobile responsiveness) is becoming a larger and larger factor in how your page is ranked by search engines. In fact, in 2015 Google rolled out an algorithm update that makes mobile responsiveness a major ranking factor when deciding which websites show up first in search results.


Here are some tips on how to make your website mobile friendly.


3. Effective SEO updates


Implementing effective SEO practices is the most important, valuable, and significant way to optimize your website so you can be seen in local searches. There are lots of ways you can do this; below are just some of these techniques:

  • Add strategic, location-specific keywords in your content
  • Include the specific name of the city and/or state in your content, based on the market you’re trying to reach. That includes headings, alt tags, meta descriptions, and URLs.
  • Link to internal pages. For example, if you’re a photographer and you blog about the wedding you just shot in Seattle, make sure you link back to your Wedding Photography page on your website. And make sure you include “Seattle wedding photographer” on your page(s).

4. Format your location-pages correctly


Proper page formatting helps search engines find and crawl your web pages easily. Furthermore, your audience will find your website easier to read and navigate your content.


A few tips to remember:

  • Limit Characters - For headers and title tags, try to keep it under 60 characters.
  • Use Meta Descriptions - For meta descriptions, keep the character count below 160 characters. Incorporate the location name in a logical sentence or phrase. If possible, add a short call-to-action phrase such as “buy now” or “call today.”
  • Use Headers - Or H2s and H3s (Header 2s, Header 3s, etc.), to divide heavy blocks of content or to separate different subjects and themes.

5. Make each location-specific page unique.


Every city and state is different. There are specific landmarks, activities, and events that make your market unique. Use this to your advantage by optimizing your page by talking about the uniqueness of your


For example, you can mention specific landmarks, neighborhoods or boroughs, and popular events in your content. Find ways to relate these keywords to your specific product or service in order to help drive traffic to your website.

6. Limit the number of location-specific pages


It is tempting to have different web pages for each location. But unless your service is vastly different for each location (pricing, products, services, etc.), keep location-specific pages at a minimum---not more than 12. The law of diminishing returns takes effect if you exceed this. For those who don’t know, the law of diminishing returns means that at a certain point and with all other factors constant, adding another factor of production causes smaller output increases.


In other words, putting too many location-specific pages won’t give you a significant advantage or value in ranking.


In fact, it might adversely affect your ranking. If your website has too many location-specific pages with the same information except the location name, Google might penalize you. That’s because the search engine may consider them as doorway pages, or web pages that are created for the sole purpose of ranking for specific search queries. Doorway pages lead users to several similar pages in search results, with each result ending in the same destination page.


It is better to list all locations you serve on your Contact or Locations page of your website. In addition to listing your locations on your website, we also recommend using Google My Business. This tool enables you to create and manage your business’s listing across Google, including Google Search and Google Maps. With Google My Business, you can attract new customers, allow customers to easily find your business, and share information about multiple business locations. This is a great tool for any business looking to increase their page rank locally.

7. Placement of local pages on your website


Make sure to place your location-specific pages in highly visible areas in your website such as the main menu or the sidebar. If for some reason that is not possible, put links to your location-specific page in another page that is frequently viewed. Product or Service pages, your About Us page, or your Contact page are great places to start.


Avoid putting your location-specific pages in the footer where viewers have to scroll to the bottom of your site see them. It’s also a bad idea to put your location-specific pages so “deep” in your website that viewers will have a hard time navigating to find them.

 

8. Focus on your "best" locations


Once you determine the locations you want to target, choose the ones you need to focus on. You see, there will always be certain locations where your business will really flourish. Most likely, you’ll know right away what areas or locations are the most important, popular, and/or profitable for your business.


As a rule of thumb, select 2 or 3 of your most popular areas. Spend more time and effort in optimizing the content in those 2 or 3 location-specific pages. Taking time to build out these first few location specific pages will also give you a great roadmap for adding additional locations and pages to your website down the road.

9. Connect with your market


While SEO helps in putting your business in a search engine results page (SERP), a genuine connection with your community will help keep you in the forefront of people's minds.


Help sponsor community projects, volunteer at a popular event, or join networking groups. Personal interactions can go a long way and could lead to personal referrals down the road. Never underestimate the power of your physical presence.

 

10. Include testimonials


When it comes to advertising, there’s nothing more effective than having your clients talk about their positive experience with your business. Begin asking for a written testimonial and posting them on your location-specific web page.


There’s no harm in asking your clients to make sure they mention your specific industry and location when they give you a testimonial. Just make sure to ask them up front and be clear to explain exactly what terms and locations you’d like them to use.


Do you want your website to rank locally in search results? Want to start driving more local traffic to your website and physical business? Use these techniques to increase your local SEO, and let locals find their way to you!