How do you get found locally through Google? Most of our customers work in a locality area rather than UK wide or worldwide. So they want to be found when their potential local customers search Google. Here is a quick local SEO guide that you should try and achieve for your website if you want to be found in your locality.
Website performance
Your website needs to be able to perform well whether you are doing local or worldwide SEO. Speed is a huge factor for SEO in Google. Our blog 5 really simple ways to improve your website speed can help improve your website load time. You will also need to check that your website is responsive on mobile. Mobile is now the main device to access websites over desktop or tablet. Check that writing is being adjusted and images are resizing properly.
Use the right SEO plugin
What is an SEO plugin? An SEO plugin is a software that is an add-on to your WordPress website. It will help you check your website for keywords, sitemaps, and everything SEO related. It helps integrate your website with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. It also helps you change data that is important for Google to find your website. This includes meta-data, image alt tags and page links.
Our two favourite SEO plugins are Yoast and Rank Math. I currently believe that Yoast is simpler. Rank Math, however, is now leading the way with its performance and integration. It works well with the different types of theme builders out there.
Ensure you’re using the right keywords for your products and services
Firstly, for every service you provide, have these as separate pages on your website. This allows you to work on the locality SEO on each service page. It will help increase word content on your website and improve your locality SEO. You can then set your keyword as that product or service to be the same as the page title.
Obviously, your page needs to acknowledge your service or product as a keyword. But, how else will customers find the service/product? When considering your product or service, think from your customer perspective.
Let’s take tree surgeon as an example. In your page content, you need the words tree surgeon to be about 1% of the word content. Don’t worry, the SEO plugin will work this out for you and tell you how to improve this. But, would a layman say or type tree surgeon? They might be more inclined to type lumberjack or tree branch removal. You might not class this as your profession but these words are what people will type for this service. The words do not need to be as keyword dense through the page as tree surgeon. Yet, they should at least be acknowledged on your page as keywords.
Ensure your location is referenced in key parts of your site
The second part of the on-page locality SEO is, of course, your location. Where do you work? Your prominent place of work should be on the main pages of your website. So if you work in Skipton, you will want to ensure that Skipton can be found, again, about 1% of the word content.
But I cover more than one place, should that be included on the pages as well?
Filling your page with all the different locations is not the best idea. A better option is to put your main locality “…and surrounding areas”. Add a location page where you can highlight all your services and all the locations you cover. You can then link to this in your pages or from your top menu bar.
I’ve been told back-pages should be done for each location I work. Should I do this?
Location Back-pages could be seen as duplicate content. Google states that duplicate content will be penalised. Yet, there are arguments that state that locality pages are not duplicate content. Web designers and SEO experts believe they are different content and not duplicated. The locality name means it is different enough, even if the content is otherwise the same.
Another argument is that duplicate content cannot be fully monitored. Why? If you sell a product that is exactly the same product sold on, for example, Amazon, then the description and image could be possibly identical. So why should you be punished for selling the same thing with duplicate content? Although Amazon may have better domain authority, you won’t be penalised for selling the same product. So, why would it be different for selling the same services in different places?
So, should you do back-pages? At the moment it’s a yes. But, be cautious and check your website authority and ensure it is not being punished for the content.
Submit your site to directories
Online directories are still used in place of the big yellow book. Yell.com has replaced yellow pages but is still visited by lots of potential customers. But that’s not why you want to be on there. Directories are classed as big players in the domain authority part of SEO. This means that it provides your website with high-quality backlinks and Google will like your website for this. Others to consider are Yelp, Scoot, Freeindex and many others.
Register your business with Google My Business
You need to set up a google account and register your business on Google My Business (GMB). It allows you to enter information about your business at your location. You can adjust your service area and services which means you can be found near the top of Google for your business type and location. GMB is helpful for businesses with no website and those with one.
But, users of Google have become used to skipping the top searches and ignoring them. Around 7 in 10 users are looking at the top naturally ranked businesses on Google (top 3 ranks), hence why SEO is still a major digital marketing strategy. GMB, however, is also becoming more like a social platform than just another business directory listing.
Seek out online reviews — particularly Google ones
Reviews, testimonials, recommendations, etc, are still the most important part of your business. It’s word of mouth for the online community. You should ask your customers to leave a review on Google, Facebook, Trustpilot, TripAdvisor, etc. By doing this you are putting more trust into yourself as a business. This means more potential business and more chance of a better ranking.
Create high-quality content that references your local area
BLOGS, BLOGS, BLOGS and MORE BLOGS. I think you may have realised I blab on about BLOGS. Content is King! So, to get your website in front of local customers tell them what you have done in the local community. Whether it was a paid job, charity work or something you did for fun, share it. If it was local then share your blog and ensure the locality is in the content.
Share your content
Finally, share that content! Fill your social media with local work you’ve completed. Don’t forget to use locality hashtags on Instagram and Linkedin (e.g. #barrowinfurness). You can even tag your location on Facebook or Instagram. Just remember to link it back to your website to increase that all-important traffic.
Final thoughts…
So this is a simple guide to Locality SEO. Couldn’t be easier right??? I know, it is a lot of work but you will be better rewarded for putting the effort into SEO.
Have any other thoughts or comments? Is there anything else you would do to achieve better results in locality SEO? Let us know in the comments below.