SEO Services that Enhance Local Search Results
According to Google, 20% of all search queries are local in nature. Therefore, localization plays an important role in Google’s ranking algorithms.
Google has merged organic and local search results and unless your SEO tactics are sufficiently ‘local search’ friendly, you are likely to be moving downwards in your rankings. This article is a good read on why location information has now become critical for ranking on Google.
Let us now look at the SEO services that focus on helping you gain a high ranking in the local search results.
Top 3 SEO Services that Enhance Local Search Results
1. Creating Locally Relevant Content
As in regular SEO, content plays an important role in ranking high for local searches. But the difference here is optimizing content with locally relevant keywords. For instance you may want to use “florist Pasadena” as the keyword than “florist” alone, which in any case is a high competition keyword and difficult to rank for.
Make the content as specific as possible for your audiences in different locations by creating customized pages for each location. For instance, you can highlight different uses in different climates, shipping rate differences, etc so that content adds value to the reader (prospective customer) in that area and is perceived by search engines (Google) as uniquely local and secures high ranking in the local search results.
Click here for 10 tips improving local SEO with content marketing.
2. Links from Locally Relevant Websites
Again, just like in regular
SEO, link building is a crucial factor in ranking your website.
Some tips for local link building include guest blogging for relevant websites that rank high for local searches, having an active (offline) presence in local media (television, newspapers) so that you get a link back in their write-ups about the program and so on.
However to ensure high rankings on local searches, links from websites in the same location, carry greater weightage. For instance if your “florist Pasadena” page gets a link back from “Wedding Planners Pasadena”, Google will find that as extra proof of your website relevance for Pasadena local searches.
Featuring in local newspapers is good for building local links.
Here is an excellent read on how to optimize link building for local search.
3. Getting Citations
Citations are mentions of your business name and address on other webpages, which do not necessarily link back to your website. Citations include agencies like the local business associations, local branch of the Chamber of Commerce as well as listings in local directories. Citations are an important algorithm in local searches as they confirm conclusively that the business is part of the local area.
Everything else being equal, businesses with greater citations rank well on local searches than those with fewer citations. You might to refer to this list of 30 best citation sources.
Have you used any other SEO tactics for bumping up the local search results? We would love hear about them in the comments section.