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The Ultimate Local Search Engine Marketing Checklist for Small Businesses

Joel Conner • Sep 29, 2017

What exactly is Local SEO? And how do you get the right content in place so that you can increase your chances of being found.

Local Search engine marketing is a mix of marketing strategies applied to your website and other online channels with the goal that it is found in the highest position possible of Google, Bing and Yahoo for searches that are related to your local area.

Google is extremely attentive as to which websites to showcase in the local search results box, since the local companies that get a top listing will receive higher CTRs (click through rates) and traffic.

Here is a brief summary of local SEO:
An individual wants to find a company (address or a telephone number), in the specified region defined by the query, so as to visit or call to satisfy a need.
Search engines alternatively, want to provide folks with helpful content by offering them details for businesses that satisfy the user-intent.
Experts agree that local SEO resembles long-tail SEO, however, with the proximity added in the query string.

The saying "local SEO" is usually unknown to numerous small enterprises, but for quite a few companies this is certainly all they require to become successful on the internet.
Embroco's extensive local search engine optimization checklist can help you optimize your website for local internet search.

Who needs local SEO?
Every business that has a street address and conducts business a certain area needs local SEO.
Do you own a restaurant, a mechanic shop, a clothing store? Are you a dentist, hairdresser, mechanic or a store?
You must have a website that is designed for local SEO.
Consumers use the Internet to seek out a business before they actually stop by and if they don’t find yours, it’s obvious that you are giving up consumers as well as opportunities and someone else will capitalize. And you can be sure that most of the time another business will undoubtedly be around to pick up your missed opportunity.

Just what are the merits associated with local Search engine optimization regarding small companies?
Boost your odds of showing up higher in Search results - Companies that are chosen to appear in Google local results (including Google Maps) are more likely to get more engagements than websites that don’t show up in this section.

A Cornucopia of Conversions - The conversion rate is significant, since guests visiting a website from local search are highly precise.
Brand visibility and attention -People looking for companies in your area will know that you actually exist and this will make your brand more familiar plus boost interest about your business.
Higher return on investment - An maximized website for local search should produce more benefit to a ‘brick and mortar’ business, since all they want is to get customers searching the web for businesses in their area.
This makes a higher yield on the investment made and possibly faster development than companies that don’t use this.

How is local SEO distinct from general SEO?
Local SEO marketing is for targeting searches in a particular geo location while general SEO methods are applicable for global broad searches.
It should be considered that all SEO advice about on-page or off-page SEO is also applicable for local SEO also.
The main difference is that for local enhancement, you also should provide area interest indicators to Search engines, as we will see in the checklist below.
Smart phone searches are by ‘default’ localized
If you're looking from your smart phone or if you have allowed Google to observe your location when searching from your personal computer, you don’t need to type your location in your search, due to the fact Google already knows your region.
In other words, if you are literally located in Cape Coral and type in italian restaurants on Google search from your smartphone, Google will return the same results as if you typed in restaurants in your area. And the closer you are to a restaurant, the more likely results are going to show that particular place.
The same is true if you search for mexican restaurants near me.
Should all businesses apply Local SEO?
No and the reason is that if you try to target users in a particular area, it will be more difficult to rank for keywords that are related to global search.
Take for example my business, reliablesoft.net.
Some businesses have clients from all over the planet and want to rank for more general terms, they do not provide any local signals to search engines, apart from those they need to give to their users for business understanding and trustworthiness.


Embroco Checklist for Local Search Optimization
I have written regarding the benefit of optimizing for local search for businesses but I haven't yet come to the most crucial part of this post i.e. what you have to do in order to enhance your business site for local search results.

This components on this list are only effective if you actually perform this stuff persistently.

1. Register your business with Google My Business

Having a Google My Business account is the most essential component for Local SEO.
When you create an account with Google Business, Google will verify your address and ownership of the company.
This will be done by either sending you a postcard with a code.
Once your mailing address is verified, your organization will show up on the map and also will be a prospect to show up in local results.
To increase your local ranking on Google, you should make certain that:
• The information provided for your organization is accurate, thorough and correct.
• You respond to every single review customers leave about your business (even the not so good ones).
• You have added photos of your business, attractive looking logos, graphics, & staff photos, to your Google My Business page.
• The hours of your company are correctly set and up-to-date.

2. Register Your Business With Local online directories
Register your company with any trustworthy local directories and don't forget to be consistent in the details you are using.
There are a number of websites that provide lists of helpful directories. Also consider directories directly related to your niche.

3. Create a Local business web page on Facebook
Facebook has a special kind of category for local businesses.
When you create a Facebook Business Page and select the category ‘local business’, Facebook will validate your address and business details.

Facebook can be rapid method to boost brand recognition through easy to operate boosted posts and paid advertising. You can easily select your region for targeted ads. Also, Facebook ads are relatively inexpensive.

4. Optimize page titles, meta-descriptions and URLS
Titles and Descriptions are important for local SEO.
An optimized title should be between 50-60 characters and if you are focusing on local consumers then the location should be part of your meta-title and meta-description.
A couple of real examples from the web:

A local SEO optimized URL could be: https://www.busybee.com/honey-florida

5. NAP (Name, Address, Phone) on website
On your homepage, make sure that your full street address details (telephone number, email, street number, post code, state, country, email) are found as text (not image) in a notable location.
Critical: When displaying your contact number, make sure that you use your local number (including the area code) rather than your toll-free number.
Any indicators you can share with Search engines associated with your vicinity are helpful for boosting the local search results.

6. Register your website with Bing Places for Business is also a pretty good idea
Bing Places for Business is free of charge, simple to complete and yet another way to validate your company data on the internet. Do not forget to link to your Bing profile from your Google My Business page (and the other way around).

7. Try to reply to nearly every single review on every media platform, but primarily your website's blog
In addition to registering on the previously mentioned platforms, it is important to entice clients to review your company and it is equally important to respond to all reviews, even if they are upsetting. In some instances, it may be wise to ignore it and is imperative not to get into some kind of argument while endeavoring to defend your position. You ought to preserve professionalism and built rapport.
You can ask for testimonials by asking very nicely and letting them understand just how much it would mean to you personally and for your company. Do not try to bribe them. That could work against establishing the sort of confidence you desire to obtain. Make the steps as basic and convenient as you possibly can and be mindful of opportune timing. Don't plead, don't nag. Simply don't.

8. Smart phone optimization
Do not forget about mobile, particularly when referring to obtaining clients in your area.
The majority of people make use of their smartphone while on the move and landing on a non-mobile friendly webpage is wearisome and will discourage them from carrying on to search or investigation.



9. Website speed optimization
Speed. That is what all website users require. By using primary players including Google announcing page loading speed as a ranking component, speed is being deemed as a significant factor on the playing field. In fact, Google made a press release stating that its strategy is to use site load speed as a ranking factor. This change coupled with Google's mobile-first index algorithm makes it painfully apparent that smartphone style and design and page load speed are very important for success in ranking well for search queries. Studies indicate that sites with high speed have a higher rate of conversion and a lower bounce rate. Users today want an opportunity to assess products, solutions and price ranges. And page load speed plays a pivotal role here. If your webpages are slow in launching, you are out of the race before it has started. This could result in a loss of revenue particularly if you are running paid ads.

10. Start posting
How can writing content assist local search engine optimization?
You can submit high quality information consistently and integrate location based internal linking.
For instance, coming from a blog post you could link to the services you provide by using the anchor ‘financial services in Southwest Florida’.
This one thing will not likely do a lot but it is another small step in your overall optimization process. If a website visitor clicks around your site, coming across useful content, Google will take note of this. Also, you can use the blog to target ‘local keywords’ in the title and content of the blog posts. A huge problem that business owners have is coming up with content. We have solved that issue for you in this post about content creation: The Embroco Content Blueprint or in our Done for you content creation management: Content Rain.

11. Social Media Channels such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and others
I haven’t noted twitter, instagram, youTube or other social media sites separately, however, for best results also you need to have an accurate profile on these also.
These communities are excellent to get new potential clients in your area to follow you since all social channels possess the facility to point out followers depending on the location of your business.

12. Take advantage of your lovely logo (if you don't completely love your logo, hire a professional to upgrade it)
One of the first things that search engines like google come across when crawling your website is the logo and this is a good place to start your local SEO optimization.
Make sure that your image filename is descriptive. Instead of using logo.png better use a more meaningful filename like ‘Bubbas-Big-Bathtubs-logo.png’
ALT text is important for all images but it’s more important for the company logo.
Try to use the same logo across all channels.
Everywhere that your logo is found try to use the same logo and ALT text.

Summary
Local Search engine marketing is a significant instrument for businesses that have a physical address and desire to use the web to get additional prospects from people looking for businesses/services/goods in their area.
The strategy for local SEO are comparable to but considerably distinct from traditional SEO techniques. Being savvy of these distinctions and implementing the tactics indexed in this article may just provide you with exactly what you were looking for: a competitive edge.

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