Your small business has a local reputation to build, and local SEO can help. SEO, or search engine optimization, defines how local customers find businesses in the area. If you’re struggling to dominate local search traffic, you probably need to boost your local SEO strategy.

But what is local SEO? In short, it’s the key to making your small business stand out locally. Let us explain the weird and technical world of search engine optimization, and then we’ll offer 7 ways for you to dominate local search traffic.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your web presence so that your business shows up in relevant searches. Local SEO marketing, alongside other SEO best practices, ensures that your business is found by local customers searching for your product or service.

Let’s say you own a breakfast restaurant in Cincinnati, OH. If you want people to find your restaurant online, then a good local SEO strategy will help you:

• Show up on google searches for “breakfast in Cincinnati.”
• Appear on breakfast and restaurant searches in maps like Google Maps and Apple Maps.
• Promote your restaurant to tourists and city visitors.

Most small businesses nowadays need to market themselves on the internet. Searches for local businesses account for 35% of total web searches, meaning a large amount of web traffic is just for finding local businesses and resources. People are more likely to find you on the internet than through other marketing channels, and local SEO can push you to the top of the list.

7 Types of Local Business SEO

Local business SEO strategies can (and should!) incorporate the following 7 actions.

1.   Use Google My Business

As a local business, Google lets you write your own website listing for free—you just need to claim your Google My Business account! Here you can craft how people view your business on Google searches, from featured photos to your store hours and company mission. This is a necessity for any entrepreneur trying to boost their local SEO.

2.   Garner Local Reviews

Local reviews help generate content about your business and feature it across greater web searches. If your business has enough positive reviews on Google, Yelp, or even some local newspapers, your company is sure to rank higher for local search traffic.

3.   Blog About Local Events

When people Google your city, your business should show up on the first page. Blogging about local events can help you achieve that! By using local, relevant search terms repeatedly in your blog content, your business and website will rank higher on local web searches.

4.   Use Local Service Pages

Your website should also be optimized for local web searches. One way to do this is by making all of your web services search engine optimized. For example, if you run a marketing business based in Provo, UT, one of your headers might say “Copywriting Services for Provo Businesses.”

5.   Optimize Your “About” Page

Just like your service pages are important, your “About” page can also help you rank higher in local searches. If your website has a page that targets the phrase “[BUSINESS] in [CITY],” future clientele will discover your business much easier.

6.   Use Online Business Directories

Online directories do the local SEO work for businesses. Websites like Yelp, Foursquare, and YellowPages all help locals find your businesses, and they also help your business show up in popular web searches for local businesses. Finally, these sites help organize your reviews and showcase the positive qualities of your business!

7.   Focus on Link Building and Link Signals

Link building is perhaps the most important facet of a local SEO campaign. Simply put, you want relevant websites to include links to your business. This link is like a “vote” for your business, which tells Google to push your website higher in local searches.

Garnering quality links to your website takes time, especially links from local traffic and relevant searches. You can build backlinks to your website in a few different ways:

• Create high-quality content on your website so that other blogs will link back to you.
• Promote your business to travel bloggers and news sources.
• Guest blog on websites with high authority in local business.
• Offer discounts or perks to local influencers in exchange for links and features.
• Build your presence on directories like Yelp and Google My Business.

Implementing a Local SEO Strategy

The most important aspect of local SEO marketing to keep your SEO optimized. Regularly posting optimized content and garnering backlinks is essential, otherwise, your competition can edge above you on search engines.

Of course, entrepreneurs have so many other things on their plate. How can they expect to boost their SEO as well? What you need is the help of a local SEO marketing company. If you’re looking to boost your local SEO and digital marketing presence, we can help. Contact us today, and see what search engine optimization can do for your small business.