Local SEO is vital for smaller regional businesses who do not operate nationally. Local SEO promotes appearing on SERPs in a specific location, whereas national SEO prioritizes ranking nationally. This technique promotes your brand, products, and services to local prospects.

Local SEO optimization increases website traffic, leads, and conversions by targeting local customers. Consider this targeted strategy as a means to better compete against larger national companies with boundless resources. This way, you can counteract the advantage of larger brands who optimize for broader keywords and rely on brand recognition rather than value propositions to drive traffic.

Here are the top ten techniques to succeed in local SEO.

• Sign up for Google My Business
• Get Regular Positive Customer Reviews
• Adapt to Voice Search
• Use local news or events to create content
• Mobile-Friendly Websites
• Target Local Keywords
• Google Keyword Planner
• Include a location-specific “About Us” page
• Use Online Business Directories
• Link Signals (Get High-Quality Backlinks)

1. Sign up for Google My Business

Optimizing your Google listing (aka your Business Profile) is one of the best ways to improve your exposure on Google Maps and Google Search local results. To access your Business Profile and make these changes, you’ll need a Google My Business account. All of the requested information will be posted to your Google My Business account dashboard, which displays in Google Search local results, Google Knowledge Panel and Google Maps.

2. Get Regular Positive Customer Reviews

Getting positive evaluations from consumers not only improves your Google My Business ranking, but also encourages additional local customers to buy from you. According to BrightLocal’s 2017 Local Consumer Review Survey, internet reviews are as trusted as personal recommendations.

3. Adapt to Voice Search

In local SEO, you must optimize for how people ask queries rather than how they enter their searches. Essentially, voice searches employ more long-tail terms than normal searches. As a result, you’ll need to alter your SEO to match a more conversational tone. For example, consider the usual question starters (who, what, when, where, why and how).

4. Use local news or events to create content

There’s nothing like writing content that directly addresses a local issue to engage local buyers.

Some strategies are:

• Writing blog articles on local news, events, or activities
• Making movies for local charity or causes you support
• Setting up location-specific webpages with high-quality local content on your website if you serve different areas of a region

5. Mobile-Friendly Websites

Mobile optimization is required for local SEO

Here are some suggestions:

• Quickly load your webpage (no more than three seconds)
• Use large, readable typefaces.
• No place for filler on a mobile screen!
• Use graphics and copy wisely.
• Assistive UI for outstanding UX

6. Target Local Keywords

Your keywords should be local. Google’s Keyword Planner helps you filter keyword searches by geography to see which terms are most popular in a certain area. This allows you compile a list of local keywords. They should appear in your site’s meta text, copy, and URLs.

7. Google Keyword Planner

Include regional landmarks and hotspots in your material. Use phrases like “dining by the Space Needle” or “just steps from the Space Needle” on your website if your business serves dinner in downtown Seattle.

8. Include a location-specific “About Us” page

Location pages are essential if your company has multiple locations. These pages must provide at a minimum:

• Timetable
• Name, address, phone
• Unique descriptions
• Testimonials
• Promotions

9. Use Online Business Directories

Online business directories include Yelp, Foursquare, MapQuest, and YellowPages. There are others.Adding your company name, address, and phone number to these directories will enhance your local SEO.

10. Link Signals (Get High-Quality Backlinks)

For local pack (or snack pack) results and for localized organic results, respectively, link signals are the most essential ranking criteria. Backlinks to your site are link indications.Getting links is critical for local SEO, but so is their quality.

The Importance of Local SEO

SEO evolves rapidly. You never know when Google will add new features to its local search SERPs, but you can expect them. That’s why local SEO is so important. By following these 10 steps, you can ensure that your company not only benefits from profitable local searches, but also from new SEO tools. If you don’t have time to make these changes, you could try a local SEO audit or hire a small business SEO company.