The Essential Local SEO Checklist

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The Essential Local SEO Checklist

Customers want to get products and services near them, and they want to get it fast!

Your goal is for your business to show up on the search engine pages right when this local customer is looking. So, how can they pick you out of the local businesses offering the same products and services?

The answer depends on the local SEO strategy that your SEO company is doing for you. By optimizing your website for local searches, your business will connect with its target customers looking for a product or service that you have at exactly the right time.

What is a Local SEO?

There is no exact definition of a local SEO. Instead, we can explain this marketing tactic that certain SEO company Bangkok use. According to Moz, local SEO is a process that would increase the search visibility of local businesses to serve their customers within the area. There is no limit to which it applies. You can be a brick-and-mortar business with a physical location or a service business that operates in a certain location.

Local search was in existence even before, but its use was limited only to people with desktop computers. However, the introduction of mobile internet access has paved the way for mobile searches. It became a necessity for businesses to incorporate local SEO into their marketing strategies.

Local SEO and Search Engines

Local SEO exists because search engines must provide the most relevant and useful results. What differentiates local SEO from traditional organic SEO is the geographical component. Local SEO enables the search engines to show the user’s answer relevant to their locations.

Your local SEO company should be able to accomplish the three ranking factors considered by Google. These are relevance, proximity, and prominence. To have a better local SEO, a business should optimize its website to appeal to these three rankings.

Local SEO Checklist to Optimize Your Site

  1. Mobile-Friendly Site

 A mobile-friendly site is responsive and should adapt to any screen size. You must have a responsive site not only because it is one of the factors that Google uses for ranking and to satisfy your customer’s expectations.

Mobile sites can do better searches and also provide a better user experience. Since around 77% of people are using a mobile device in searching for local business, you should see to it that your site is mobile-friendly.

  1. Business Address on the Website

Another way that would help Google understand where your business is to feature your business address on the side. If you have multiple locations, your SEO company should create a unique page for each, embed a Google map to show the location, and add location-based structured data on your website.

All this information would help search engines to associate your business to a certain area or region.

  1. Google My Business Page

Apart from putting your physical address on the website, you should also have a Google My Business page. This is a free listing that you can create for your location. GMB appears as rich results on search engine pages and appears as a map or a list of businesses. It contains the business location, business hours, and call to action button that can be linked to the website.

  1. Business Citations

Your SEO company should also build citations for your local SEO not only in Google My Business but on local and national directory too. It is important because it tells Google that your business is trustworthy and authentic.

  1. Follow NAP Consistency

Your business citations should be consistent. An SEO company knows this and as they build your business profile, they pay close attention to your NAP consistency. It refers to the consistent use of your business name, phone details, and address.

  1. Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions for location

The title tag is the page title that appears on search engine results pages while the meta description is the short blurb that describes the page. To improve your local SEO, the SEO experts optimize title tags and meta descriptions.

In the meta information of your homepage, your area, region, city, and business category should be included. On the location page, the city and the category are mentioned in the title and description too.

  1. Optimize for Local Keywords

Your SEO company will not only optimize your primary keywords. It will also optimize the other pages on your website with locally-focused keywords. It may include long-tail keywords or phrases that have geographical areas because it will drive traffic to your site.

  1. Off-page SEO

Your local SEO strategy is not limited to on-site optimization. Your SEO company will also focus on off-page SEO to give authority and relevance to your website. With plenty of links directed to your website, Google will see that your website is authoritative and trustworthy. The more quality backlinks you have the more appealing you are to search engines.

  1. Reviews

The last element that would reinforce your local SEO are reviews. Your local SEO plan must include reviews generated from customers who are in specific locations. It will resonate with the potential customers that your business can be trusted.

Build Your Local SEO with a Reliable SEO Company

Local SEO can help businesses get the most out of their search marketing. It connects them to people who matter the most – their customers who are looking for products and services nearby.

Ask your SEO company to perform a local SEO audit. Based on the results, they will launch a local search plan that could help your business take off in your area.