How to improve your local SEO strategy

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Having a Google My Business profile isn’t enough to get you to the top of Google’s local results. As many clients have discovered on their own before coming to us, there is a lot of work that you need to do to even appear in the top three listings, let alone appear on top. That’s why today we’ll be covering several tips that you can use to improve your local SEO strategy.

 

Check if you have a duplicate listing

If you are struggling to rank in local search, it could be that you have a duplicate Google My Business listing. You may not remember setting it up, but we have seen plenty of cases when a company has already created a listing before. Use a tool like Moz Local or BrightLocal to see if you have any duplicate listings for your business.

 

Add more relevant categories

You may not be aware of it, but there are loads of different categories on Google My Business that might be suited to your company that you just aren’t aware of. The more relevant categories you have for your company, the better your chances are of ranking. Use some blue sky thinking to see what your company could rank for, or just look at your competitors.

 

Make sure your NAP is up to scratch

Google uses your Name, Address and Phone number (NAP), to verify your business across all of your online citations. That means it is crucially important that it is accurate and in text form on your website. If possible, place it on every single page. And make sure you are using the same information whenever you add a listing for your business on a directory.

 

Make sure your NAP isn’t missing from online directories

We’ve spoken before about how you need to make sure your business is listed on every relevant directory to ensure you’re getting as much as you can from GMB. With that in mind, make sure that your site is listed on every single directory you can find. An online tool can help you do this, as can our local SEO service. Again, make sure every mention of your NAP is accurate and in place.

 

Increase customer reviews

Customer reveiews have a huge role to play when it comes to local SEO. Not only do they boost your rankings if you get a lot of five star reviews, but they also encourage customers to choose your listing rather than your competitors. There isn’t an easy hack for this, unfortuntely. All you can do is to continuously ask customers to review you and make it as easy as possible for them to do so.

 

Make your site mobile responsive

Okay so this last one is about SEO in general, not so much local SEO. But more and more searches are being performed on mobile devices, especially local searches. So even if you have a good local ranking, a website that isn’t optimized for smartphones will send visitors running. Go responsive to ensure low bounce rates.

 

If your local SEO strategy is stuck in a rut, speak to your team today about how we can help you reach new heights.