Local search is a powerful tool for small businesses. Eighty percent of all consumers are now using search engines to find information about local businesses and to buy products and services. If your business has not yet incorporated Google My Business optimization or would like to boost your present strategies, then the following information is tailor-made for your business.
If you want your local business to remain relevant and get found on Google, then it is critical that you discover the tools and practices that can bring your goals to fruition. Consider the following ways to optimize your GMB profile for local search.
How to Optimize Google My Business?
Two things should complement optimizing for local search. The first is Google My Business optimization. The second is to update every aspect of your website to facilitate local search. This all might seem a little overwhelming at first, but optimizing effectively for local search is completely doable if you follow these tips:
1. Use Google Posts to encourage customer reviews.
Google My Business is a way of convincing Google that your business is legitimate. Hopefully, your reward will be a space on the sidebar in Google’s local search. You can use Google posts within your account to encourage customers to share their thoughts and experiences about your product or service. Make sure to respond to these reviews.
2. One of the best Google search secrets is internal linking.
Of course, relevant external links can boost your website’s ranking, but internal links can improve how users navigate your website. They can also assist with website hierarchy concerns and help distribute page ranking and page authority among your own pages.
3. Keep creating relevant content.
Steadily update your website with blog posts, page content, video content, and infographics where needed. You can also include content that covers customer or product success stories along with case studies.
4. For several brick and mortar locations, marketers can create specific location pages.
Location pages provide relevant information like store hours, store descriptions, current promotions, and testimonials if customers are willing. When doing Google My Business optimization, do not forget to add a Google Map to your website.
5. Write local content for users and not necessarily search engines.
When you write about local news, events, and happenings, it may be easier to attract a bigger local audience. While writing in an authoritative manner, you can still factor in top-of-the-funnel content that targets other things than what your business sells or provides. An example of local SEO would be to write in a way that helps businesses or individuals to get better acquainted with your area. You can safely mention events or historical places, etc.
6. For local search, it is essential that your website rank as mobile-friendly and responsive.
Mobile and local search are joined at the hips. When people are shopping locally, they are likely on a cell phone or mobile device. They use their device to find directions, read local reviews, and to look up contact information.
7. Include contact information as HTML.
If you want to get found on Google easily, it is best to include a name, address, and phone number as HTML that spiders can crawl on your website. Remain consistent across all of your web assets. Do not misspell, abbreviate, or write down the wrong address or phone number. Make it easy for Google to determine that your business information is correct. If you make it difficult, Google’s algorithm may not show your business in search results.
8. The best Google search secrets also include guest blog posting and link building.
Look to your own personal network for link building. You can also choose to list your business in your local Chamber of Commerce, various trade associations, vendor and manufacturer websites, and even through meetups, etc. Grow connections by inviting members of your network to share their expertise and authority through guest blogs, or by offering to post your own on their pages.
9. Consider optimizing for voice search.
In the coming years, voice search will become a major component of SEO. Therefore, it is critical for marketers to understand how people structure their questions when searching for products, information, or services. People speak differently into devices than how they type out a search. This will require solid keyword research on the marketer’s end. This also means that marketers will have to adjust the SEO of their content to fit a more conversational tone for voice search.
Local keywords are the ones that local customers use. Google Keyword Planner allows marketers to filter keywords by location. This can enable you to create a relevant list of keywords for both organic and voice search. These keywords should also find their way into your Meta content, URLs, and website copy.
As a firm that provides the best SEO services, Advanced Digital Media Services are experts in Google My Business optimization. We can help you create and use location pages and ‘About Us’ pages that are quite specific. Make sure that when someone lands on your ‘About Us’ page, all the information is relevant and exact. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help to optimize your website for local search. We have the experience and know-how to get the tough jobs done. We also keep our clients informed of the process at every step along the way.
