If you own a local business that sells goods or services, you should consider your website’s local rating. Local SEO will assist you appear for related search queries in your region.
Because Google prioritizes local results in many circumstances, you must ensure that Google understands where you are.
In this post, we’ll go over everything you can do to improve Google’s awareness of your location, which increases your chances of ranking locally.
What are local ranking factors?
Local Ranking factors are parameters that Google evaluates when deciding the position of a URL in the search results. There are several ranking indicators, the majority of them are features of the URL and your website, but they can also extend to your online presence. Website speed is an example of a ranking factor: a fast-loading page that provides a pleasant user experience is likely to rank better than a sluggish page when other features are equivalent.
Local SEO ranking considerations
In this piece, we’ll look at the elements that impact the ranking of your website’s pages in local searches. As you can see above, Google talks about local ranking variables in terms of:
- Relevance: Are you the most relevant result for the user? Is your website relevant to what the user is looking for?
- Distance: how far away are you? If you are relevant and close, chances are you will obtain a decent rating.
- Prominence: this refers to how well your company is known. More about that at the conclusion of this essay.
So you must demonstrate that you are relevant, close by, and well-known. Let’s explore how you can address these issues with specific actions!
Be relevant
Being relevant implies that you provide the service or items that the searcher is seeking for. While this may appear to be effortless, folks can occasionally be overly opaque on their website.
Make it a point to clearly state your business or profession, as well as the items and services you provide – in the language your target audience understands. To determine whether you truly communicate in the language of your target audience, undertake some keyword research and interact with your consumers to see which phrases they use when searching for a service like yours.
Google My Business Profile
A decent Google Business Profile listing is essential for your local ranking in Google. Google Business Profile is especially useful if you wish to appear correctly in the local pack – that is, the large panel with the map. You must join up, select the appropriate major categories for your business, add all of your locations, validate them, and provide some images. You’ll also need to actively monitor your profile and grow it over time.
Google Business Profile allows for customer reviews, and you should try to obtain some for your listing. Every year, the significance of online reviews for local SEO rises.
Positive (and negative) reviews help Google and its consumers rate your business. This is similar to your neighborhood market. People will be more likely to visit your grocery store if they hear good things about your products.
Receiving reviews is one thing, but you can keep the dialogue continuing by replying to these evaluations. However, as Google puts it, “be a friend, not a salesperson.” To put it simple: Reply to each and every review you received.
LocalBusiness schema structured data
Of course, if you run a local business and primarily service local clients, you’ll include your address on your website. To assist Google and other search engines comprehend the primary address, serve it in a machine-readable manner. Use the local Business schema for this. Adding the LocalBusiness schema to your website is simple with almost any WordPress SEO plugin these days!
How to add local business schema to your website
First visit schema.org/LocalBusiness then follow the steps below:
Step 1: Determine the category for your company
Determine the niche category for which you are optimizing your website and be as specific as possible. Use the “FoodEstablishment” code, for example, if you own a burger restaurant. If your burger joint is considered fast food, you can improve it even more by selecting the “FastFoodRestaurant Code.”
Step 2: Create or update your About page
Your About page should have information about your company as well as a unique “AboutPage” schema component. Make sure your site’s content is clearly understandable for users, and include as many — or as few — related schema characteristics as you like to better tell search engines about your firm.
Step 3: Test your code using Google’s Rich Results Test or the Schema Markup Validator
You can enter your code into the Rich Results Test to see which Google rich results are generated by the structured data on your page. You can also use the tool to preview how rich results will look in Google search.
Step 4: Add and Publish your local business schema to your website
You can add your schema directly within your HTML code or use a managed user interface, schema app, or as said before a WordPress SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or RankMath Local SEO.
Step 5: Crawl and test your local business schema markup using Google’s Search Console
Enter your domain or URL prefix to measure your website’s search traffic performance via the URL Inspection Tool within Google Search Console to see if there are any issues or improvements to be made.
Going forward, monitor the results of your schema and make adjustments as needed. You will likely have to repeat this process again in the future as Google changes its approach to schema and if anything in your business listing changes.
In our blog post you will find everything you need to know to how to setup Google Search Console. While you are setting up GSC, have a view at Search Console Insights as well.
Make sure you just have one major NAP!
Even if your company has many locations, be sure to match the main NAP (name, address, phone number) on your website with the Google Business Profile NAP. That is the only method to ensure that Google connects the two correctly. Include the principal address on every page (you are a local business, so you should mention your address on every page).
Facebook listing and reviews
What applies to Google Business Profile applies to Facebook as well. Add your firm to Facebook as a page for a local business here. People look for a lot on Facebook, so make sure your Facebook listing is up-to-date. Facebook also allows for reviews, which might be beneficial to your business. Keep an eye on those reviews! If your evaluations aren’t stellar, try to improve them by offering better items or services, or at the very least demonstrate in your responses that you value the input you get.
Location and keywords in the title
The obvious one: adding city and (in the United States) state to your title> helps you rank locally. Make the title appealing by using your major keywords as well. Please bear in mind that adding the name of your town to your titles may be less useful for local ranking than submitting your business data to your Google Business Profile. But it can’t harm. Check out this guide for for more local content ideas.
Local directories help you rank better in your area
Google looks at Yelp and other local directories along with your Google Business Profile to figure out how important and local you are. We usually recommend that you don’t put your link on a page with a thousand other links that have nothing to do with each other. However, a local listings page has one thing in common: the location. And there’s no doubt that these links will help your local rankings, they are part of the local ranking factors.
Find the most important local directory sites, and put your information there. Citations make it easier for Google and visitors to verify the address. If an address is listed on a local, relevant website, try adding yours as well. Get some good reviews on sites like Yelp while you’re at it!
Get links that are relevant and good
Your local ranking will also improve if you trade links with similar local businesses, especially in organic local search results. If you work in the same supply chain or sell similar things, feel free to share links. Don’t trade connections with just any business you know. Most of the time, these links to your website won’t be superb (since they are generally irrelevant). Also, try to make good content that brings in relevant links. Don’t forget to put those local keywords in the anchor text of those incoming links.
Locals’ social mentions
Again, there is an online local market. People talk about business, new ideas, and new products on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media sites. Google’s sensors pick up on all of these social references. If numerous people talk about and link to your business, you must be important. Watch for these mentions and answer them.
Some people say that links from other websites, directories, and social media are very critical for local rankings. As usual, we think that the sum of all your efforts is what makes you stand out, not just being the best at one thing. Make sure that your Google Business Profile is correct, that your site has active local business structured data, that you have the right connections to your site, and that the right people are talking about you on other platforms. Don’t forget to do keyword research and make sure your website has relevant content.
Optimize your content to get higher rankings in your local area
Google won’t rank your site for a term that isn’t on it. It’s that simple. If your business is in city X, you probably have a reason for being there.
Make sure that your website clearly shows where you are, not just in the footer where your address is. If you have plenty of locations, make a page for each one and write about it, making sure to include all the important company information.
What about Prominence?
Prominence means that when Google can serve a result first from a well-known brand or business, they do. Even if you work hard to improve your local ranking, this might get in the way of that number one spot. But that just means you have to step up your game, keep doing the great work you already do, work on your brand, and have faith that Google will notice this eventually. As a result, Google might let you rank number one for that local keyword!
Another thing to remember is that a business’s prominence is also based on the information that Google knows about it. All of this information comes from links, articles, and directories across the web.
The more positive reviews and ratings your business has, the more likely Google will put it in a high position for local search queries. Your position on the “normal” search results page is also a part of local ranking factors.
Put some time and money into SEO and ask your happy customers to leave a good review on Google and other platforms like Yelp or Facebook.
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