As more websites aimed at local markets go live on the internet, the competition to attract local shoppers and customers increases. It’s no longer just a matter of creating a local website and waiting for visitors to turn up and contact you. Below are some of the best ways to improve local SEO results, so that your website stands out from all of the other websites in your village, town or city.
Create Content for a Local Audience
The more relevant content you add to a website, the more targeted the people who visit your website will be. However, many website owners don’t put enough effort into this aspect of their websites.
Creating content for a local audience may take more time and effort, but the rewards can be huge. You can start by researching long tail keywords that are related to your business, your products and your services. Local longtail keywords are often easier to rank in the search engines.
Typical long tail keywords include keywords and phrases with different names for your products and services, local words and phrases and place names. Once you find these keywords, add them throughout your content.
Optimise All Online Content You Publish
Many organisations and individuals believe that they only have to optimise the content on their own websites. This couldn’t be further from the truth. If you publish content on social media websites, video sharing websites, directories or other online platforms, always keep in mind that these platforms are made up of web pages too and get indexed by the search engines. Every social media post, profile description, article and video description you create, should include local keywords that will make all of your content visible to a local audience.
Integrate Your Website with Social Media
Unfortunately, many local businesses keep their websites and social media activities separate from each other. This is a mistake because the main search engines now take the social signals coming from a website into account when they rank each individual website. The more active your website is and the more connected it is to your social media pages, the more the search engines will reward you and send you more shoppers, customers and subscribers.
Add Quality Backlinks
Local search is often less competitive than trying to compete on a national or international stage. However, you have to do some SEO work to improve your search engine rankings. Adding quality backlinks from other websites is the most effective way to improve the rankings of your most valuable local keyword phrases. Links from reputable websites, related websites and links to your website that are included in guest posts, are some of the best ways to obtain these quality backlinks.
Get Outside Help
It’s often a good idea to get a second opinion about how well optimised a website is for a local market. When it comes to local, SEO Leicestershire has a range of professional digital marketing companies that can audit your online assets and recommend or manage the changes required.
Most businesses depend on local customers to succeed. This is why it’s vital to carefully consider the points above, so that you attract as many of these local customers through your website and online marketing activities.
