Hey there! If you’re looking to work on your business’s local SEO in 2023 or a marketer searching for the latest trends, you’ve come to right place. Local SEO sounds simple and is easy to understand. But is usually complicated and difficult to implement the right way. That’s why we have written this blog – to simplify and explain the process of ranking your business higher on Google in 2023.
Let’s start with the basics.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the process of optimizing your businesses digital assets (website, Google Business profile, etc.) to rank higher in search results when a user searches for a specific term related to a local service or product.
This includes optimizing content, ensuring that local businesses are listed on popular directories, and optimizing other local signals to make sure that your website is ranked higher in local search results.
Local SEO also involves building links to your website from other local websites and businesses to increase visibility and authority in the local search market.
Now, let’s look at the 10-point local SEO check for 2023:
1. Update location pages, local contact information listed on directories
Ensure that your website is optimized for local search by including or updating your location pages, local contact information, and local business listings.
This is the first thing you’d want to do when looking to optimize your business’s website for better local rankings. Ensure the local contact information (including Name, Address, Phone – NAP) is consistent across all pages and on directories.
2. Research and identify relevant local keywords
KW research continues to be a key factor in identify search volume and the demand for your service. Ensure your content on Google Business Profile (Services, Reviews, etc.) and your local pages address that search intent.
3. Update Google Business listing and ensure that it is up-to-date and accurate
Having an up-to-date Google Business listing, with updates, posts, reviews, offers, etc. will continue to provide the right signal to Google; keep an eye on the primary, secondary categories and the services offered by your business.
4. Continue to build local citations
Citations are online references to your business’s NAP. They help search engines to understand the relevance of your business to local searches. For example, when someone searches for “pizza near me”, search engines use citations to determine which businesses are most likely to have the best pizza in the area. An example of a citation would be getting listed on Attorney Finder law firm directory website.
By submitting your business to local directories and maintaining accurate information on all platforms, you can improve your local SEO and visibility in search engine results.
5. Ask customers for reviews at the right time
Setting up automations that will send our review requests to your customers can make a huge difference to your SEO game. According to Bright Local, about 87% of people read user reviews before signing up for a service or buying a product. So, don’t ignore them.
You can also include these requests as a part of your sales, customer support processes. Also keep in mind about the timing of your requests: ideally you’d want to reach out to them when the engagement is strong.
6. Create content specifically for local consumers
Whether it’s a blog post, a Google Business update, ensure the content is relevant to the local consumers. For example, if you have individual local pages for specific locations, ensure the content on the page reflects the pain points of those local consumers.
Also look for opportunities to collaborate with local influencers to promote your business.
7. Use structured data markup to display your business contact information in results page
Structured data markup is a way to add extra information about your business to your webpages so that search engines like Google can easily understand it and display it in SERPs.
This structured data typically includes business contact information, such as address, phone number, email address, and hours of operation.
You can mark up this data using Schema.org or other industry-standard formats, such as JSON-LD or Microdata.
8. Continue to leverage social media
Be active on local community pages and posting regular content on your business pages. Most community groups are a great source for potential clients as they like to work with a local business.
Work on creating eye-catching designs and descriptions to grab their attention. Be sure to include case studies, stats, reviews, demos, offers, on your posts. Also, ensure your contact information is up to date and easily accessible to those interested.
9. Monitor Reputation
Managing your reputation by replying to negative reviews, keeping tabs on mentions of your business on social media go help reverse a possible negative situation. Here are some of Google suggestions on responding to negative reviews.
In general, ensure to respond to these reviews in a timely manner and be professional and courteous in your replies.
10. Do Periodical Local SEO Audits
A local SEO audit can include checking of citations for NAP consistency, on-page checks on local pages, reputation management, KW rank tracking, KW research for local terms and identifying opportunities.
Do an audit at least every few months to ensure you’re moving in the right direction and the local SEO effort is yielding results. And, if you’re looking for an in-depth SEO audit of your website and Google Business listings, contact North Media.
One Big Small Business Local SEO Takeaway for 2023
If there’s one thing that you’d want to takeaway from this blog, then this it is this: focus your effort on one thing and ensure you build a great presence there. What do I mean by that?
Pick where you wanna first focus on – map pack or the organic rankings?
Pick which primary KW are you going to go after? Focusing on one cluster at a time when optimizing for SEO is important because it allows you to concentrate your efforts on one particular topic and related keywords.
This helps to ensure that you are targeting the right keywords and content, and that your efforts are more likely to be successful. Additionally, it helps to avoid wasting time and resources on keywords and topics that are not as likely to produce results.
The goal with local SEO for businesses in 2023 is to be resilient and consistent with your efforts once you’ve identified your focus area.
In simpler terms, Research and do the homework -> Focus on one area -> See results and repeat with another focus area.
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