If you want to succeed in local search rankings, you need to understand the importance of Google My Business signals. These signals include proximity, categories, and keywords in the business title. It's essential to rank on the first page of organic local searches, as well as in the local snack pack, to ensure optimal visibility and attract targeted traffic. When it comes to local SEO versus national SEO, it's important to remember that it doesn't make sense for a New York restaurant to rank high in Houston's local search results.
They want people looking for restaurants in New York to find them. To compete locally in search rankings, focus on creating content about your city or local area on your website pages. It's also important to have measurement plans and protocols in place for evaluating both national and local SEO efforts. Look for any spelling errors, address and phone number discrepancies, duplicate listings and resolve them to improve your local SEO.
Additionally, adding Schema markup appropriate for local businesses to your website will tell Google that you are a local business and not a big brand. When planning your local SEO strategy, keep in mind that different factors will require very different time investments. It's not as simple as reading these results and saying, "OK, I'm going to spend X amount of time on X". Investing time and effort into getting it right should have a flywheel effect of helping to build a better business.
Mentions have become a commodity and are therefore a safe bet when it comes to local link building. Consider supporting events, publications and associations that are pillars of the local community. This will earn links, social shares, and get the brand in front of potential customers. Finally, locals should be able to find your business when they do "near me" SEO searches related to your industry.
This is especially important for smaller businesses that operate regionally, rather than nationally. By investing in Local SEO, you can get a great return on investment.
