Website SEO Tips for Local Businesses
If you operate a local business, you face unique challenges. However, a lack of customers searching for you online isn’t one of them.
86% of buyers use the internet to find a local business. 29% of buyers search online for local businesses at least once a week. Furthermore, more than half of searches using the term “near me” lead to an in-store visit.
In other words, customers are out there searching for you. But if they’re not seeing your name pop up in the search results, it’s time to check on the effectiveness of your website.
In our experience, many local businesses don’t have websites that are easy to find, meaning they rank high on search engine results pages (SERPs). Or if they do achieve high rankings, they might fail in converting web visitors into customers. Both of these issues cause local businesses to miss out on profit.
Capturing all of the customers and revenue available to you requires that your local business website is targeted to your audience and SEO-friendly. Here are four tips to guide you in improving your site’s SEO.
1. Use Targeted Keywords
How well do you know your target audience? Pose these questions to yourself and your team:
What are your audience’s pain points, goals, dreams, fears?
When speaking about their challenges and objectives, what words or phrases do they tend to use?
What common questions, complaints or praise do you hear from your audience?
Which social media platforms does your audience tend to use? What types of content do they like, comment on and post?
These questions force you to dive deeper into how your target audience tends to communicate and behave. Any repeated keywords or phrases you hear should be mentioned on your website. Even if you’ve already done extensive market research, it’s worth exploring these questions again to see if any terms have changed or if new ones are becoming popular. As a plus, this research can reveal any pain points to resolve.
Using targeted keywords that are rooted in customer data boosts your website’s SEO and makes your business more appealing to your audience. This not only increases the likelihood that more people land on your website, but that those people turn into paying customers.
2. Incorporate Local SEO Tactics
Along with using keywords that speak directly to your target audience, you also need to use SEO tactics specific to local businesses.
One of the simplest local SEO tactics we recommend? Incorporate “near me” terms into your main keywords.
The data doesn’t lie. Adding “near me” or the name of your city or town to your primary keywords typically results in more foot traffic to your business. For example, if you own a personal injury law firm in Raleigh, you would use the terms “personal injury law firm near me/nearby/in Raleigh.” Add this phrase to your website copy, headings, meta descriptions, URLs and more.
3. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness
Most websites today are built with mobile use in mind. But even with that built-in foundation, you still need to be vigilant about ensuring that your website works perfectly on mobile. Here’s why:
Almost 80% of mobile searches lead to a purchase in a physical store.
76% of buyers who use their smartphones to conduct a “nearby” search end up visiting that business within a day.
28% of those nearby searches lead to a purchase.
Many profitable searches happen on mobile devices. You cannot afford to miss out on them with a website that glitches or displays poorly on a phone or tablet. Furthermore, continued website issues on mobile can hurt your SEO. Check on your website’s mobile responsiveness:
Open your website on many types of mobile devices—iPhones, Androids, tablets—and browsers—Chrome, Safari, etc.
Navigate every page on your website from each device and browser. Complete all forms to ensure proper display and functioning. View your social media pages as well.
Have your team access your website on their device at various locations and times of day.
If you notice any issues with display, design or overall functioning, contact your web builder immediately.
4. Update Business Listings
When was the last time you checked your company’s listing on Google My Business, Apple Maps, Facebook, Yelp and other free online directories? Claiming your business profile on each of these directories is crucial in boosting your SEO and making your business findable. Remember, your customers are searching, so make it easy for them to find you.
A few tips on creating effective listings for your local business:
Review all of your current listings. Ensure that your contact information, hours, products, services, and branding is accurate. Add any new or additional keywords you’ve discovered from the market research in Tip #1. Additionally, make sure any images of your business and team are up to date.
Claim your profile on additional listings. Even if you think no one will see your listing on some directories, it’s worth claiming your profile on them. Give your business the best chance of being visible online. You also want to claim your profile before another business with the same name does it, or before a fraudulent company tries to pose as you, which unfortunately does occur.
Ask for reviews. When your customers post reviews of your business on your listings, particularly your Google My Business profile, Google tends to rank you higher. Plus, the more reviews you have, the more legitimate and trustworthy your business appears to prospective customers.
Use these 4 tips to step up your website’s SEO game, rank higher in search results, and ultimately drive more customers to your local business!
