Six SEO Tips for Local Small Businesses

Both online and offline businesses stand to gain by optimizing their presence on the internet

for local SEO. Almost 43% of searches on Google have a local flavor. Two factors that have driven the growth of local SEO is the rise in mobile searches and the fact that Google factors location-related attributes in their searches.

Here are six local SEO tips that you should employ to boost your website’s visibility on the SERPs.

1. Create a Google+ Local listing. Google+ is basically Google Places in a new avatar. Set up a profile here and on Yahoo Local and Bing Places. Mobile users are at the forefront of using local search information and they also act upon the information. Being present on these listings is essential for a business that wishes to target local prospects. Make sure you offer good, engaging content and deliver terrific value in goods or services. Customer online reviews are taking on much more importance in both the visitor’s eyes and the search engines. Five star reviews will bring you more good customers and exponentially increase your click-through rate.
2. On your own website, display the business name, address, and map details clearly. You can get the embed code for the route map to your business location from Google Maps. These details constitute the NAP (name, address, phone number) details and indicate that you are serious about being found. If you can get back links from quality sites that direct visitors to your NAP data, it will add weight to your SEO performance. A clickable phone number should accompany NAP data, on your website and on Google+.
3. Work on on-site SEO. On each page, use a targeted keyword and location combination in title details, header tag, and the body content. Each product should have a separate page for itself. The choice of keywords should consider the demand for products and services in locations you have chosen to target. The website should be mobile friendly. This is especially important if you are selling a product or service across multiple locations.
4. Work on generating positive social signals. Learn from drawbacks pointed out in reviews. Respond to feedback when it happens or soon afterwards. Encourage reviews on sites such as Yelp. Build and maintain a strong presence on social sites like Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn or Twitter. Interact with your visitors, prospects, and customers. Send out genuine vibes. Google picks up social signals and uses them to rank sites on local search.
5. Use rich snippets to offer a summary of the content on your page. Pages that are optimized to display rich snippets in the search results have a better chance of being displayed higher.
6. Work on expanding your presence in your area. Contribute to charities; participate in events, host programs. All this contributes to news that finds its way to multiple online channels. You benefit from the exposure via multiple business citations.

Your efforts for local SEO should clearly inform the search engines about your presence in a location. Choose reputed business directories and make sure that the business name, address, and phone (NAP) details are mentioned. Remember, while Google is still the de-facto king as far as search engines go, Yahoo and Bing are strong traffic generators as well. Your site should be optimized for these search engines too.