Local search engine optimization (LSEO) is a powerful digital marketing strategy for business owners wanting to sell to local customers, if you’re not showing up in local search, you’re missing out.
Increased Web traffic, brand visibility, and an increase in revenue are all advantages of investing in SEO.
To take control of your local search results, follow the local SEO checklist and best practices below.
Local SEO Checklist
Keyword Research
Keyword research is a fundamental step for every successful SEO campaign. It involves discovering and analyzing phrases and terms that people are actually typing into the search engines to find local businesses like yours.
Google uses the text and hidden code on a website to understand what it’s about. It’s very important to optimize a website around keywords that people are actually using.
For example, a painting company may be inclined to optimize their exterior painting page around the term “exterior residential painting” because that is the term the industry uses. However, through keyword research, they may find that people are actually using the term “home painting service.” If that’s the case, their page should be optimized around the term “home painting service”.
If you are a local business, you can also add a geo-modifier to a keyword to make it location specific. For example, “home painting service Portland” or “home painting service Portland Oregon.”
So, how do you discover which keywords to rank for?
To start, brainstorm keywords yourself or ask customers, friends, or family what keywords they would use to find a business like yours. Take your list and input them into Google’s Keyword Planner to find new keyword ideas and to get the estimated search traffic for those keywords. Google’s tool will only provide you with advertiser competition, not SEO competition, but keywords with a high ad competition will normally have a competitive SEO score. Try to find a set of keywords that has at least a hundred people searching each month, but with medium to low competition levels. Then add them naturally into your titles and meta descriptions.
True keyword research is an in-depth and detailed process. Check out Backlinko’s Definitive Guide to Keyword Research for a guide to keyword research.
Title Tags
Your title tag is one of the most important on-page SEO elements.
It is the main text that appears in search results. It also appears on top of your browser tab and when saving bookmarks. Titles provide users with a brief overview of what to expect when they click, and titles also tells Google what your page is about.
Your title should include the keyword you are trying to rank for, while at the same time accurately describe the page.
Here are some guidelines for writing the perfect title tag:
Keep your titles under 55 characters to ensure they display correctly in Google
Include your brand name whenever possible
The homepage title tag should always start with your brand name, followed by the services offered
Example: Sue’s Painting Company | Residential Painting in Portland
For more information on Title Tags, check out this guide.
Meta Descriptions
The purpose of a meta description is to provide the user and search engines with a brief synopsis of your page. Having interesting and descriptive meta descriptions may increase the frequency that people click on your result when it is shown.
Aim to write unique descriptions that are under 156 characters in length, so your words don’t trail off…
You can use this tool to preview what your titles and meta descriptions would look like in the search results.
NAP Information
Next to SEO, N-A-P are the three most important letters in local search.
NAP is short for Name, Address, and Phone Number.
If you want to show up in local search, it’s crucial that Google understands where your business is located. Google is able to pick up NAP information on your website as well as on other sites around the web. It uses the consistency and quantity of NAP mentions as a ranking factor for local search.
The more often your business information is found on the web, and the more consistent it is, the higher your visibility will be in local search.
Customers Reviews
Over 92 percent of consumers read online reviews to find local businesses and services. On top of that, 60 percent of consumers judge a local business on its overall star rating with 43 percent find 3 out of 5 stars to be the minimum rating before consulting with that business. With so many people resorting to online reviews for business recommendations, it is imperative to get positive reviews.
The quantity and quality of your online reviews play a direct role in our search visibility. The more 5-star reviews your business has, the more online exposure it will receive.
To get positive reviews you will need to focus on creating an amazing customer experience. After every job is finished, politely ask for feedback.
Google My Business, Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Houzz, and Angie’s List are great places to receive and reply back to reviews. Read more about how online reviews affects your business and it’s online presence.
Image Optimization
Image optimization is an art in the SEO world.
Search engines don’t see images the same way you or I do. Because of this, we need to give them additional information to describe the image. This can help increase the rankings for your target keyword.
We can optimize 4 aspects of an image to ensure it’s SEO-friendly:
- Filename: This is the name of the image file when saved on your computer. Before uploading to your site, ensure the file-name has your target keyword in it. As an example: home-painting-service-photo.JPG
- Title Text: This text will display when a user hovers over your image. It should include your keyword, and describe the image. Example: Home Painting Service in Portland.
- Alt-Text: This text will display if an image fails to load. This is especially useful for the visually impaired. Again, this should include the keyword and describe the image.
- Size: Before uploading to a website, images should be compressed and properly sized. You can use a tool like Photoshop or a free web tool like Compress JPEG.
Anchor Text Optimization
Anchor text refers to the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. Google uses the anchor text of a link to understand what the page is about. For example, if you hyperlink the words “Home Painting”, Google will assume that the page you’re linking to is related to home painting.
Within your website content, you can hyperlink keywords to the related service page. This helps Google understand what your pages are about, and can lead to increased rankings for those keywords. In the example above, you would want to link every mention of “home painting” to your home painting service page.
Mobile Friendliness
If users are feeling frustrated when visiting your website due to a poor mobile experience like small text, needing to pinch the touch screen to zoom in, slow loading time, then you should update to a mobile friendly website.
Most mobile-friendly websites feature responsive web design, meaning that it is able to adjust to fit the screen size of any device. Responsive websites are easier to manage from an SEO perspective. Alternately, you can develop a separate website designed specifically for mobile.
In April 2015, Google announced a mobile-friendly update to its algorithm, which resulted in penalties against websites that were not optimized for mobile devices. Google also plans to roll out another mobile-friendly update in May 2016.
Failing to comply with Google’s Mobile Friendly guidelines will result in a major loss in mobile search traffic.
Citations and Social Profiles
A citation is an online mention of your business with all or some of your NAP information. They generally take the form of a local listing in an online directory like YellowPages.
A social profile is like an upgraded version of a citation in that it is often more trustworthy, unique, and customizable. Examples of social profiles are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
To build your website’s visibility, you will need to create as many relevant and high-quality citations and social profiles as possible.
Follow these SEO guidelines when building citations and social profiles:
- Be 100 percent consistent with your NAP information. Always use the exact same business name, address, and phone number.
- If you move locations, you will need to update your NAP information on your website, citations, and social profiles.
- Write unique business descriptions that summarize your company’s history, niche, products, and services.
- Upload at least 5 relevant, high-quality images, not including your company logo.
- Select up to 5 relevant business categories with the first 3 being the most important.
- Use a spreadsheet to track your passwords and usernames.
- Delete duplicates. You only need one citation per location.
Google My Business
Google processes over 3.5 billion searches per day. If you’re not listed on Google, you’re missing out.
Google My Business, or GMB for short, is an incredible marketing platform for small businesses.
Here are some advantages to using Google My Business:
- Manage and update how Google displays your business information.
- Access insights on how users find your business.
- Be found on Google Maps and help customers find directions to your business.
- Respond to customer reviews.
- you can also check a unique guide to google maps marketing
To list your business, go to Google My Business and type in your business name and address into the search bar.
If your business can be found:
Click on your business to claim your profile. Then, check the box “I am authorized to manage this business…” and click “Continue.” Review your business address and make changes, if needed. Click “Mail” and Google will send you a postcard with a verification code. Once received, enter the code in Google My Business to complete the verification process.
If your business cannot be found:
Click “This doesn’t match. Add your business.” Fill out the form with the most accurate information, then click “Continue” to proceed. After reviewing your address, click on “Mail.” Google will send a postcard with a verification code that should arrive at your business location in 1-2 business weeks. Enter the code in Google My Business to complete the verification process.
While waiting for your postcard to arrive, you can update your business address, description, categories, hours of operation and map marker. You can also upload images that will be shown in the local search whenever someone searches for your business.
To make any changes, click on the hamburger icon on the top left to open the menu. Click “All locations.” Then click “Manage location” to start editing.
Schema Markup
Schema markup is code that you can add to your website that helps search engines better understand certain types of information on your website.
All local businesses should utilize local business schema. This special code feeds your location and contact information directly to Google. Having this schema implemented on your site adds local trust and authority, which will help increase local rankings.
Some schema markup can generate rich snippets, which are enhanced elements to your result on the search results pages. By giving users a better sense of what to expect before actually visiting your website, users will be more likely to click on your page and stay on your website longer.
Google currently supports rich snippets for review ratings, recipes, organized events, videos, and news articles.
For more information on how to utilize schema markup, check out this guide from the Search Engine Journal.
Link Building
In Google, a link to your site counts as a “vote”. The more “votes” a website has, the more often Google will show that site to its searchers.
Links pass trust and authority. For example, if Forbes, Business.com and the Wall Street Journal all link to a website, that website will gain some of the trust and authority from these publishing power-houses.
Most websites will naturally have a few links, but you can increase your links (and your rankings) by link building.
Link building is the process of outreaching to authoritative, high-quality, and relevant websites to persuade them to link back to your website. It can help establish your brand, build your online exposure, and increase your website’s ranking and traffic.
For example, your website may be mentioned in an online editorial. If the editorial website has a high authority, then it can greatly benefit your website.
Link building can be a daunting undertaking that requires regular outreach and follow up. However, you can acquire quality links for your website and foster new relationships in the process. It’s a win-win!
Conclusion
Following this 12 point local SEO checklist and best practices can significantly help your website outperform competitors while building your brand reputation and exposure.
Check Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
I understand the importance of keywords. But I think meta descriptions are no longer as important as they used to be except for the fact that it will displayed on the search engine listing.
Hi Aira,
You are correct! Google places no value on keywords in the meta description.
However, having a well thought out meta description that entices users to click on your listing does improve your SEO. If your title and meta description are enticing enough to make people click on your listing above all other results, then your clickthrough rate in Google increases. Clickthrough rate is a direct ranking factor, and has a tremendous impact on a website’s rankings.
It’s a bit convoluted, but meta descriptions are an indirect ranking factor 🙂
Hi Aira! Great question about meta descriptions. Descriptions have never have been part of the ranking algorithm, however recently then have been increasing in secondary value. Google has started using “user metrics” as a ranking factor and click through rates are included as one of the most important metrics. Having a description with your target keyword, is the correct length, and a call to action will increase your click through rate. As your click through rate increases so will your rankings of that page. However, don’t just go clicking on all your pages as Google sees all and is smart enough to understand all your clicks are coming from you.
Hi Nick, I agree with you that there is no harm in putting a good meta description even though it may not be part of the search engine algorithm but it will for sure have an impact on the bounce rate if the user found the site not relevant to them. Great article and excellent explanation of what local SEO marketing is about. Let see if schema is the next big thing in the SEO world.
Jack Wong
The the link building portion, is there any more specify method we should link to? Example link directly to our business Google map URL or link more to the company website URL we listed on the Google business?
Hi Jack! We would normally want to link to the main domain you’re trying to push up in the search results. Link building is pretty complex and doing it incorrectly can damage your domain. I normally recommend finding someone with whitehat (or safe) link building experience to help with this type of SEO work.
Very complete guide to local seo. I’d like to add to it creating great content and building up your authority through outreach and networking with local businesses, associations etc Local signals are very important for a website to increase its visibility locally…
Hi SEO Royals! True that the offline channels can be VERY helpful driving local online traffic and regularly has higher conversion rates as the business has already made a positive impression. Additionally, content written about specific neighbourhoods or geographic areas will help Google associate your site or brand with that area. I always recommend writing this content with a user in mind so it provides actual value to users. Great points!
This is one of the most complete local SEO guide I have read in recent time. All good tips and if followed and done properly and consistently then perhaps the company information would rank on 3-pack local box. There is one big problem is the distance of the business address and the city center. If the distance is long then that can be a problem for ranking in local search results. Another problem is spammers who already spammed GMB with duplicate and fake business listings. Going to share this post with all our SEO trainees.
Regards
Soumya Roy
SEO & DM Trainer
PromozSEO.com
Hi Soumya! Thanks for the note and kind words. We didn’t speak to the distance from search since most businesses can’t move their locations. However, it should be something to consider when reviewing new space when your lease is expiring. We choose a space closer to the center of Portland to decrease that distance to the centroid and get closer to our local demographic. As for the spammers, it seems like every time we find a way to get ahead of them, then find a new way to trick Google’s system. Frustrating, but another reason to hire a good SEO company to stay on top of these issues.
A lot of businesses still don’t understand the importance of being on Google Local. It goes beyond SEO. Some of my clients here in Bangalore tend to resist it, but when they see the results, they understand 🙂
Google My Business is a great opportunity for locally based businesses. It gives users the ability to easily find businesses and their contact information. For businesses, it allows them to have another spot in the serps and access to additional customers. Win, Win!
Sam
Thanks for this, Nick. I think one thing to keep in mind when doing GMB is to really trick out the profile, long, keyword-rich description, pictures on pictures, and completely filling out all the fields that Google allows you to. I’ve found much better success with GMB listings that I’ve done this with as opposed to ones with incomplete info (all things being equal, citations done through yext and comparable amounts of reviews)
Hi Sam! I completely agree with you that a filled out profile drives a much better map ranking. Additionally, we’ve found that it increases conversion rates as users are more likely to call or contact a business that has taken the time to provide this data. If you’re going to take the time to verify you must include this vital info.
I love this comprehensive list!! I run into local businesses daily that don’t understand the importance of a website, or a mobile friendly site. I will be sharing this post to help business owners and give them an edge in the marketplace! Well done, well done!!
Thank you Kay! Let me know if I can help or answer any questions.
Re: the meta descriptions, although they are not a direct ranking factor, think of them as sales copy – what would you say to a potential client to get them interested in your services, or to inform them that you have exactly what they are looking for on this page right here? Type that into your meta description box.
These are good, actionable tips that really help a small business owner tackle the list and actually implement the suggestions. Well done!
Great advice Zoe! I couldn’t have said it better myself:)
John Riley
Local businesses like me needs a boost when it comes to online visibility and optimizing your local SEO is a great move for business owners. Great list btw and would definitely check my SEO status on this one. Thanks!
Awesome post on Local SEO, tons of actionable information which I like to see. It’s always nice to read a refresher post, and I think many business owners will find this extremely useful.
Thanks Sean! It’s such a large topic and we really tried to provide the most value we could.
Yes, keyword research is very important and a fundamental step in making the choice of keywords to use for any SEO campaign. The importance of strong SEO foundation built on a well-researched keyword cannot be overemphasized. Great article, content rich and very informative.
Bartek
Simply but very important elements of SEO base strategy. I want to add You need create great content and try to get valuable backlinks.
Complete local seo guide which can help anyone who is looking for tips on improving local seo.
Personally I started to improve my local seo is by listing in Google Business and then move towards local directories. yes on page must be optimized as per local keywords to rank better .
Vineeth Mungath
Very detailed article about Local SEO, good work Nick Footer.
Google business listing plays a major role in local SEO, and the citations too, including the google business listing map in the website will also help in local seo, local directories are also helping google to find the best local businesses.
For local businesses, SEO is an important tactic to lure more customers. I’d recommend this article to anyone who’s looking to market their business online.
Charles
Totally on point. I will make this as a reference to my upcoming post. 🙂
Ashley
Hi Nick, great post! I was wondering if you could provide your insight on using the same phone number for multiple offices. Can this be harmful? If a business has two locations but they only need one phone number, is this an issue? If so, if there a work around or do they really need to buy a separate phone number? Possible a Google voice number? I’d appreciate your input!
Great list of to-do items to increase your local exposure. We find the most important things when ranking our local customers are citations with correct NAP, and proper local keyword research along with Google my business.
Local SEO sometimes does better than Organic SEO. I have listed so many business and ranked them in 1st position of Google Local Listing. Believe me clients really pay a lot for that. In our organization it is referred as ZLP – Zoom Local Promotion. The only pain is when the business is already listed but client is unable to provide us the pre-listed login data credentials.
It’s a great post about SEO. I agree your opinion about ” Keyword research is a fundamental step for every successful SEO campaign”. Actually, Keywords research nearly covers all the behavior in the cyber world. Not only SEO, but also Social media platforms use keywords to attract potential visitors.
Martin Paljusevic | EnExT Consultants
Nice article! For the Image Optimization, can’t you also geo tag the image foinfor local?
venkat
Very contentful guide on Local SEO. But regarding citation, most of the quality websites are based out of US & UK. Services like Yext & moz local is not available for Asian countries to build quality citation.
Shanon Manjur
Should Google, Bing & Yahoo all be targeted within local SEO strategies or just Google?
Really great to see so much information and guidance in here that can help businesses with starting to develop better visibility for themselves.
I absolutely love that you have included the notes on Google My Business, getting that done is incredibly powerful and it has helped a large number of small businesses that I have worked with. I am always amazed that so few people know about it, so kudos to you for spreading the word wider Nick!
Plutus Mark
Great job on the article Nick.
I would like to add my two cents to the section on keyword research. As effective SEO often takes a lot of time to see results, especially if we are working in competitive niches. If so, we need to look for keywords that we can rank fairly quickly in order to start getting returns.
I find that longtail keywords are best for both short-term and long-term strategy. Longtail keywords are just keyphrases composed of many words, such as “best local business SEO in Orange County”. This kind of keywords is much easier to rank. What is more important, Google is able to read this keyword and give us a partial credit for other keywords that are contained within, like “local SEO” or “local business SEO”. This is great because we can rank quickly for longtails while building the credibility for other keywords that may be much more competitive. After some time we would be able to use this partial power from longtails and focus directly on those short keywords, skyrocketing our rankings.
Personally, I found this strategy to be very effective. Hope this adds some value to your article.
Rithu Sinha
Great list on Local SEO. I have one doubt for my site (SuperX GH), I have business in 3 cities, how do I target the other 2 cities without the physical presence.
Informative post on local Seo
The checklist is really great one But when we are doing keyword research for the local area. How do we actually calculate exact search volume for local searches in google
Thanks for Sharing Valuable Information, Great Article.
I read your blog it is very useful for me.I wish you for next time you write many blog which give many information for people.
Thanks for sharing an awesome checklist to start with local SEO. Most of them I was already aware of, but some are new to me.
I have one suggestion to Google My Business team – if they can provide options to add social media links to ‘My Business page’, it will be easy to understand for users to go through the social platforms of that particular company. Nowadays, it’s very important to have social signals to your websites and these social signals play a significant role in boosting the website/company’s authority.
What say??
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Thanks for Sharing Valuable Information, on local Seo.
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I really like your blog and become a fan of your blog, I love the way you wrote this content. Thanks for sharing such great information with us.
Nowadays having keywords in your reviews also helps because it helps the relevancy of user searches. If you can get your reviewers to pepper in a keyword or two, it would help the local pack rankings.
Thanks for providing helpful information, Your blog post very helpful for me
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Hey, Nick Footer
you wrote a superb step-by-step article about local SEO it’s really informative to thank you for sharing, we are waiting for regular updates from this blog.
Nice article on SEO checklist. Many important points are covered in this, hence if followed as per this, there is no doubt your website will rank higher in SERP. Thanks for publishing this amazing blog.
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latha
Hii,
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