Local SEO Checklist for the Efficient Business Owner
Although some may have been on hiatus during the pandemic, brick-and-mortar business locations aren’t dead. Consumers still want – and need – to visit physical locations these days to get things done. That’s why your business needs to invest in local SEO – no matter if you’re a global company with chains worldwide or a smaller, niche brand.
SEO is search engine optimization, which includes technical SEO, on-site and off-site SEO, and content strategy.?Local?SEO just tweaks those efforts and adds a few more tactics that anchor your business to the local community – indeed, local SEO is the mortar that holds the bricks in place.
These days local SEO simply isn’t optional. If you need more convincing, here are some Google-backed?stats?to back our advice up:
You. Need. To. Optimize. For. Location.
To help you do just that, we’d like to share this local SEO checklist with you. We encourage you to save this and refer to it any time your site needs an overhaul, or simply refer to a specific section when you need to do some minor adjustments. Do this and your business has a better chance of ascending to the top of Google SERPs and earning features in high-value business directories.
The Local SEO checklist is broken down into eight parts:
The Local SEO Checklist for Business Owners
Know Your Rankings
The following signals are used by Google to note the relevancy and usefulness of your page, which ultimately affect how high your website will rank on Google SERPs.
Optimize for Google My Business (GMB)
Google does not pull your contact info or address from your website, you must manually create a Google My Business listing. When someone conducts a “near me” search, these listings are given preference right after paid ads on Google SERP. Mobile users especially aren’t likely to scroll past the?local map listings.
Optimize Your Website’s Technical SEO
This is something you should be doing periodically to enhance the crawlability of your page for Google algorithms. Websites are not static. Technical issues will inevitably arise and updates will be needed.
Run a site audit to address the following issues:
Update:
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Target Relevant Social Platforms and Submit Info to Business Directories
You don’t necessarily have to check off every one of these?social platforms?and directories. Instead, focus on the ones that are best suited for your business niche. Where are your customers going to spend their time? Where are they most likely to find you?
Encourage User Reviews and Ratings
Consumers rarely make purchases without first scrolling through the reviews. Believe it or not, even?a few negative reviews are good for business?so long as your overall review is high – people find five stars suspicious.
Generate Backlinks and Referral Traffic
Backlinks are external links to your website that?boost your authority?and rankings. Think of them as word-of-mouth promotion.
Don’t Forget About Mobile Usability
All websites should be optimized for mobile users.?Website design?should be built to adapt to the device, not only in the way the pages appear but for how user interactions change across devices.
Track and Test
All this work isn’t worth much if you don’t have the metrics to measure your progress. You should be tracking your SEO performance through tools such as Google Analytics and testing your changes against a control.
Important metrics to pay attention to:
Check the Boxes and Watch Your Rankings Climb
If you systematically and diligently run down this checklist, we promise your local SEO performance will improve dramatically. Of course, if you’d prefer to save time and let the pros take over, you can call our SEO virtuosos at (818) 918-6110 or schedule a call here?. We lay a sturdy SEO foundation brick by brick to secure your business's position within the local sphere and beyond.