Local Business SEO - A Reference Guide

Local Business SEO

I thought I would continue the series on updating and keeping up to date with relevant online marketing factors by discussing how to target local rankings. I have used my experience and expertise as well as references to the Local Search Ranking Factors Report to keep the information as relevant as possible.

Website content has become very important in how effective ranking for local keywords is, almost over and above business listings your website and its relevance to your local area is a high-level ranking factor to promote trust and relevance with the major search engines.

Treat this as a crib sheet or reference guide to help you improve your local listings and some of the more important ranking factors when considering targeting local keywords and businesses in the SERPS>

Google’s three high-level ranking factors for local SEO in SERPS:

1. Relevance – How well do you match the relevant search?
2. Distance – how far each business is from the searcher’s location.
3. Prominence – How prominent are you in your field – how trustworthy is your business?

Although enhanced business listings (such as Google Business) are still very important.

Some options for business listings to target local results in the SERPS:

• Google My Business
• Bing Places
• Yahoo Local

Google Business is really the one to concentrate on.

Ranking Factors

• Customer reviews over time (not lots in a short period of time)
• Effective Google Business landing page (Mostly the homepage but with multi-site this could be internal, well-linked pages)
• Area serviced and the relation to the business location.
• Keywords in the Business listing title.
• Ensure the business category is correct (in the listing)
• High Google Ratings and quality of reviews.
• Additional Relevant categories in listings.
• Dedicated page for each service (on-site)
• Good internal linking across the website.
• Location references across the website.
• Local keywords in the local landing page title.
• Links from locally relevant domains.
• Positive wording in review content. (Affects conversions and not rankings)
• Correct business opening times. (Affects conversions and not rankings)

Some Factors widely deemed to be not effective:

• Geo-Tagged Photos
• Keywords in Google Business description.
• Keywords in responses to reviews (business owner responses)
• Google Business listing messaging feature enabled.
• Google Business listing – Booking feature enabled.

Some factors that negatively affect local optimisation:

• Incorrect primary category in Google Business listing
• More than one business profile.
• Site hack/presence of malware.
• Low score reviews.
• Negative sentiment in reviews.
• Absence of local address/information on a website.
• PO BOX rather than a physical address.

Local Service Ads (paid for listings in Google) ranking factors:

• The number of reviews.
• The responsiveness of leads.
• Hours of operation are correctly displayed.
• The proximity of the searcher’s location.
• Services offered.
• Budget

Actions to take:

• Create a comprehensive Google Business Page (and others like BING Places if you deem this relevant)
• Add unique images and photos.
• Obtain reviews from your customers.
• Try and reply to reviews when received.
• Add relevant services and products.
• Create a FAQ section.
• Add keywords in your Google listing where possible.
• Create content around local keywords / relevant to local keywords:

1. Blog posts
2. YouTube Videos
3. Podcasts
4. Webinars
5. White papers
6. Report reviews
7. Testimonials
8. Case Studies
9. Company updates
10. Local events
11. New products & services
12. Team members

• Clean up / review local citations.
• Optimise local pages on your website.
• Use Schema Mark up for local SEO.
• Collaborate with local bloggers who showcase local businesses.

I hope you have found this information useful.

If you would like to discuss your local SEO or indeed any other aspect of online marketing, please DM me on LinkedIn or contact the team here.