Local SEO is something that can do wonders for small local businesses that want to make an impression on their customers and find new ones, but don't have the budget for a full blown SEO campaign (although local SEO works best as addition to your SEO efforts). However, creating and managing a local SEO campaign can be more difficult than it looks and it requires experience or at least knowledge.
There are some key factors that you need to consider when you create your local SEO campaign. If you want your local SEO campaign to really make a difference for your business, you should make sure your approach is more advanced and you don't fall into the trap of implementing only the most basic strategies. Here are some tips that will help you to create a local SEO campaign for your business that actually works:
- Keyword research
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when doing any kind of SEO is underestimate the importance of choosing the right keywords. You should keep in mind that not all keywords can be used for a local SEO campaign. This is why you need to be extra careful when selecting the ones you are going to use.
Doing a keyword research can be simplified by using one of the many great tools that can be found online. Google, for example, provides such tools that help webmasters find trending keywords and phrases and see important metrics such as search volume and competition. Keep in mind that the keywords for your local SEO campaign might be a little different than the keywords that you have chosen for the overall SEO campaign. Your keywords should be commonly used in the area where your business is and your local sphere, so consider the lingo.
- Maps
Another crucial thing you should do before even thinking about starting a local SEO campaign is list your business on the maps of Google, Yahoo and Bing. You can also list it in Yelp and other similar websites. This makes it extremely easy for people to find you, especially when using smartphones or other mobile devices. Google now offers businesses to have a professional photographer take pictures of their stores or offices and combine them into a Street View type of map. This allows people interested in your business to go on a virtual tour of your office/store.
- Have a review system in place
Reviews are a huge ranking factor when it comes to local SEO. Google takes them into consideration when deciding which business should be ranked first so make sure you have a proper review system in place. Positive customer reviews will also make people more inclined to trust you and negative reviews will help you see how you can improve your business. So you can say that it's a win-win situation.
- Listings
If you haven't done that yet, you should start creating listings for your business on various websites made specifically for that purpose. It is important that you keep things consistent and always provide the same information everywhere. If you see a listing created by someone else you can claim it for your business. But remember - consistent names, addresses and phone numbers (also referred to as NAP) are key.
While SEO is getting harder and harder to master, you should never give up and continue to look for new creative ways to improve your campaigns. Local SEO can help your business tremendously and it should be a part of your overall SEO strategy when creating a campaign.
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