Outrank the Competition with These 12 Local SEO Solutions

Why should it matter to your company that you have local SEO solutions?

Local search is becoming an increasingly popular marketing strategy, and as a result, more and more people are focusing their attention on it. The first few years of internet marketing were dominated by an obsession with search engine optimization (SEO) among business owners and marketers. After that, around 2009, social media became the dominant topic in marketing. Local search is currently the most important topic in marketing.

There are a few straightforward explanations for why it is of such critical significance to your company.

According to HubSpot, 76% of people who conduct a local search end up calling a local business after picking up the phone.

The first search result receives clicks that account for 44% of all clicks. The three results that appear at the top receive, on average, 75% of all clicks.

Are you beginning to comprehend how enhancing your local search results can lead to an increase in the amount of money you take home?

Would you be interested in learning how to make that happen for you?

Continue reading for a list of 12 local search engine optimization (SEO) solutions that you can use to improve your search rankings.

How Does Your Website Currently Appear in Search Results?
If you want to improve how your website appears in the results of local search engine queries, it is helpful to be aware of how your website currently appears in those results. This will make it easier for you to track your progress as the results of your search change.

Realizing that people in different locations will see different search results is the key to successfully navigating this situation. despite the fact that they are in the same city or even the same room.

The search results that appear on Google can change depending on the device you use, your previous searches, the settings in your Google account, as well as your location and IP address.

How can you get an accurate picture of how people see your website when there are so many variables to consider?

Utilizing a local search emulator is one workaround that can be utilized. You can use this to determine how you look in different locations by comparing the two. By using a search emulator, you will be able to change your location and observe how people in different parts of your service area interact with your website.

Be aware of the expectations that your audience will have of you

Do you understand the mentality of your typical client? To put it another way, how will your potential customer look for you?

In order to provide a response to this inquiry, you need to ask yourself a number of questions first.

Is the customer you’re trying to reach at home or at the office?
What kind of device are they using—a mobile phone or a desktop computer?
When I ask, it’s either in the middle of the afternoon or late at night that they search.
What exactly is the issue that they need assistance with?
What are approximately fifteen to twenty search terms or phrases that they would use in Google to locate you?

By providing responses to these questions, you will gain a better understanding of the keywords for which you should strive to achieve a higher ranking.

You ought to also give some thought to positioning yourself for long-tail keyword searches as opposed to more general searches.

Imagine that instead of searching for “fitness centers,” you are searching for “fitness centers with a pool.” A lot more people will be competing for memberships to fitness centers, but members of fitness centers that also offer pools will have an easier time standing out from the crowd.

There is No Connection Between a Three-Pack and Beer

When you conduct a search for local businesses, you will currently be presented with the results for the top three searches. It used to be 7 in the past. Because of this, making improvements to your ranking is more important than it has ever been.

Results may be improved by implementing local SEO strategies, such as filling out your MyBusiness listing.

The procedure to claim your listing is very easy to complete. Simply follow the link up top and fill out the form with your information. There is a procedure for verifying information. Your personal Personal Identification Number (PIN) will be mailed to you by Google on a postcard. There is an absolute requirement for a physical address.

When that step is finished, you should log in to your account and complete your profile there. Be as specific as you possibly can while also ensuring that your description provides a reason for people to contact you. Please be sure to enter your hours in the correct format, and upload a few images as well as your company’s logo.

Always, Always, Always Have Some Content!

While it is essential to implement these local SEO solutions, it is equally essential to keep in mind that it is equally essential to provide people with a reason to remain on your website once they have arrived there. You can accomplish this by creating something of value for the people who visit your website.

The most effective method for developing value is to produce content for a website in a way that compels visitors to come back to that website on multiple occasions. This is how you win over the favor and trust of other people.

The better off you are, the more relevant content you have. According to the findings of a recent study conducted by Traffic Generation Cafe, websites that have between 21 and 54 posts receive approximately 30 percent more traffic.

There are case studies of companies that have reported that by utilizing content marketing, they were able to increase their revenue by a staggering 438%.

Enhance the Site’s Internal Linking Structure

Customers will have an easier time using your website if the internal links are connected to one another, and the link juice will be distributed more evenly between pages.

Link juice is a method of communicating with search engines about which pages on your website should be prioritized over others.

A word of caution: when you are adding internal links, you may feel tempted to add a large number of internal links on each and every one of your web pages. Resist the urge to do so. Do not carry it out!

You can ensure that the quality of your links will not suffer if you include a couple of internal links on each page.

Acquire High-Quality Inbound Links

Backlinks are one of the most talked about topics in the world of local search engine optimization (SEO) today. A backlink is simply the link that is placed on another website that leads back to your own website.

The acquisition of QUALITY links is the critical first step in making backlinks useful for local search engine optimization.

A scattershot strategy for building backlinks is no longer effective.

Throughout the course of this article, we will discuss two different approaches to getting started: directories and Google’s My Business listings.

You can also write guest articles for publications within your industry or in your local community to increase the number of high-quality backlinks pointing to your website.

How Does One Compare to the Competition?

If you are able to determine how and where your competition ranks in the search results, you will have a better understanding of where your potential customers may be going.

You’ll also quickly learn what keywords your competition may be trying to rank for, so you can stay one step ahead of them.

When conducting research on your competitors, it is important to pay attention to the following:

Your top 5–10 most formidable competitors
Google My Business Listings for each of one’s competitors. Pay close attention to the text as well as the images, and search for potential keywords and locations that they are trying to rank for.
Reviews from customers: how many of them are there, and are they positive or negative?

You have the option of performing this task on your own, or you could make use of local SEO solutions such as Crunchbase or SEM Rush.

Structured Data Markup in Addition to NAP

If we’re going to discuss your website, we might as well use some technical jargon.

NAP is an abbreviation that stands for “name, address, and phone number.” It cannot be emphasized enough that you should check to see that all of these fields on your website and in your directory listings contain accurate and consistent information.

You should make sure that your website contains code known as structured markup, which is also referred to as Schema markup. This code communicates to search engines how your website ought to be displayed in the results of a search.

Your search results will be easier to use as a result of this change.

This resource provided by Kissmetrics will walk you through the process of adding structured markup data to your website in a step-by-step format.

Important: Reviews from Actual Customers

Not only can reviews from other customers affect rankings, but they also have the potential to affect a customer’s purchasing decision. When it comes to finding a local business, more than 62% of buyers believe that online reviews are either important or very important.

You can solicit reviews from your clients by asking them to post them on Google and Facebook. Additionally, look for previously written reviews and respond to those. You’ll demonstrate that you care about both your company and its clients by doing so.

Let’s say you were interested in finding a pest control service in the Concord area of North Carolina. So you go online and look for reviews of pest control services in the Concord, North Carolina, area.

You come across a business that you might not be familiar with, but after reading several positive reviews, you make the decision to give them a call anyway.

Sort the Pictures and the Movies

Try to rank videos and images for the keywords you’re looking for. This is an often-overlooked aspect of local search. This is probably one of the simplest approaches to local SEO that can be taken.

The following are some simple pointers that can help you rank images that are already on your website:
Check to see that the image has some connection to the webpage.
The current name of the image file, which is IMG 4323425, should be changed to something more relevant to the keyword.
The higher up on your page an image is located, the better chance it has of ranking in search results.
Complete the image’s alt-text and description, if it hasn’t already been done. If at all possible, with your keywords; however, avoid overusing them.
This is probably one of the things that your competitors aren’t doing that can help you rank higher in the results of local search engine queries.

Obtain a Listing

When it comes to locating local SEO solutions, online directories are easy to overlook. You can improve the results of your local search by ensuring that your company is listed in the primary online search directories. Some examples of these directories include Yelp, Citysearch, MerchantCircle, and YP.com.

Does this imply that you should submit your website to each directory that you can find? Never in a million years. Remember what we talked about earlier with regard to backlinks: quantity does not necessarily imply quality.

When you list your website, make sure to choose directories from the list above as well as BingPlaces.

Take advantage of the fact that you are a member of a business organization or chamber of commerce by ensuring that your company is listed in the directory that the organization maintains for its members.

It is of the utmost importance to guarantee that all of your listings are both accurate and consistent. If you have listings scattered all over the place with outdated addresses or phone numbers, the potential impact of your search results will be diluted.

Avoid Underestimating the Power of Social Media

There is a general consensus among social media influencers that social media continues to be one of the best local SEO solutions.

Although the question of whether or not social media has a direct influence on search results is still open for debate, it is clear that social media is beneficial in other respects.

Backlinking opportunities abound within social media networks. In addition to this, they have the potential to generate conversation concerning your company. Google’s algorithm receives social signals as a result of this action.

If your social signal is positive, there is a greater possibility that you will rank higher.

It Is Possible to Easily Discover Local SEO Solutions

As you can see, there are a minimum of a dozen different ways that you can improve the results of your local search. If you make the adjustments that have been suggested, you should start to see an improvement in your search results.

It’s possible that you’re ready to delegate some of those responsibilities to another person.

At ArticleCity, our mission is to support you in achieving visibility for your website’s content so that it can be included in search engine results.