Comprehensive Local SEO Tips for Small Businesses

Local SEO is crucial for service businesses looking to work with customers in specific locations.

In this guide, I’ll cover my best local SEO tips that I’ve used to help my customers rise in local search results and generate millions of dollars of revenue.

To be 100% transparent, many of these points are extremely difficult and time consuming.

But if you dare to step into the world of DIY local SEO, please keep reading.

I’ll help you learn about effective keyword research techniques to target location-specific keywords and provide search engines with relevant information about your business. We’ll also discuss the importance of creating high-quality local content that resonates with potential customers in your area.

We’ll look at directories like Google Maps and other popular sites where you should list your business for maximum exposure within a specific geographic area. Customer reviews are another significant factor impacting trust among potential customers, so we’ll explore their significance too.

In addition, we’ll delve into link building tactics such as inbound links from reputable sources and anchor text optimization to improve your website’s online visibility. You will also discover how social media can play a role in boosting your local rankings on Google searches.

This definitive guide is designed to help small businesses understand what it takes to succeed in their local SEO efforts by following Google’s guidelines while keeping up-to-date with current trends.

By implementing these strategies effectively, you can increase traffic to your site while gaining more visibility with potential customers searching for your products or services near their specific location.

Just remember who to call if you need some help! 🙂

What is Local SEO?

The goal of local SEO is to optimize your website and online presence to increase your business’s visibility in search engines. Local SEO efforts should be focused on providing search engine algorithms with the most relevant information about your business’s products or services so that they can accurately present it in local search results.

In order for local SEO to be successful, businesses must create content specifically tailored to their target location(s). This includes writing blog posts and other web pages that are focused on topics related to the geographic area where you do business.

Businesses should also make sure to include localized data, for example, contact info (name, address & phone number), store hours, and descriptions of services available at each location on their websites.

It’s also important for businesses to create listings in local directories like Google My Business and Yelp and other websites that are willing to list your business’s information. These listings help build trust with potential customers by providing accurate information about your business while also improving its visibility within the community.

Businesses should also optimize all content on their sites for specific keywords related to their industry and target location(s). Performing keyword research will help identify which terms people searching online are using when looking for products or services similar to yours in a particular geographic area.

Once these keywords have been identified, they should be incorporated into title tags, meta descriptions, headings/subheadings throughout the website’s pages as well as the anchor text used in any outbound links from the site. Doing this helps ensure that when someone searches locally using those terms they are more likely see your website among the top results returned by Google or another major search engine like Bing or Yahoo.

Familiarizing oneself with the fundamentals of local SEO is a must for any digital advertising campaign, and it’s imperative to gain this insight prior to delving in.

Key Takeaway: To successfully optimize a website for local search engine algorithms, businesses should create content tailored to their target location(s), provide localized information on their websites, and incorporate keywords into title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and subheadings throughout the pages. Additionally, they should list themselves in relevant directories like Google My Business or Yelp to increase visibility within the community.

Keyword research: Finding the right keywords to use

Finding the right keywords can be a daunting task, even for the most experienced professionals. In this section, I’ll cover your options for doing local keyword research.

The first step in any new local SEO campaign should be keyword research. You’ll need to identify and include relevant keywords for your business and target location on each page of your website.

At first, consider using long-tail keywords (keywords with three or more words) as they tend to have higher conversion rates than shorter phrases due to their specificity.

Additionally, you should also consider including geographic terms such as “[your city] + [service],” which will help you appear in searches related to that area.

So there are really two options here:

Learn how to use a keyword research tool

This is often a pretty daunting task for any SEO newbie. I’m a big fan of Semrush’s Keyword Magic and Keyword Overview tools. These allow you to somewhat easily find relevant search terms with informational intent and low competition from other websites.

Keywords that tell somebody how to do something, what the best product is, or ideas about their desired subject are all known to perform very well when they meet these simple criteria.

It’s best to start your search with a topical keyword. For example, for a heating and air conditioning service provider, HVAC is a great topical keyword because it encompasses everything that the business offers. From there, you’ll want to look for high-traffic, low difficulty keywords that answer common inquiries. 

Here are some examples:

• what is cfm in hvac 
• how to test hvac capacitor
• do you tip hvac installers 

Semrush has a fantastic keyword research guide that I highly recommend for somebody who wants to become familiar with how I do competitive analysis and keyword targeting.

Hire a professional to do your keyword research

It’s much easier to hire a professional than it is to learn the ins and outs of keyword research. You really just need to know the basics covered above, then you can guide your keyword research contractor on what you’re looking for.

I like to use sites like PeoplePerHour and Upwork to find the highest-rated contractors for this.
Once you have your keyword list, you can use them throughout your local listings and website as we’ll discuss throughout the rest of this article.

Citations: The foundation of local SEO

Citations are one of the most important elements for successful local SEO. They are references to a business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) that can be found on websites across the web. When creating citations, it is essential to ensure that all information is accurate and consistent throughout each reference. This helps search engines understand your business’s location and makes it easier for potential customers to find you online.

When building citations, start by creating an inventory of existing listings. You can get listed for free on major sites like Google My Business or Yelp as well as other industry-specific directories such as Thumbtack for home remodeling contractors or any trade organizations that would be willing to link to you.

After you’ve created an inventory of existing citation sites, you’ll want to focus on adding new ones from high-quality sources with strong domain authority scores like Yellow Pages or The BBB. Additionally, make sure the NAP remains consistent across every listing; even minor discrepancies can hurt local SEO efforts by confusing search engine algorithms about where your business actually exists geographically. 

Examples of inconsistent NAP information include incorrect information, abbreviating differently or not at all, and varying use of punctuation. There’s a huge difference between writing a number as a digit and a word too!

Citations are an essential part of any local SEO strategy and can help businesses to establish their presence in the online marketplace. With that being said, setting up a Google Business Profile is a great starting point for  small companies to increase visibility and reach more potential customers.

I use Yext to maintain citations across a wide variety of directories for my customers, including Google Business Profiles. Some alternatives include Birdeye, Brightlocal, and Semrush. They’re pricey, but they offer a lot of value beyond making NAP management easier.

Google Business Profiles: Maximizing visibility

Optimized Google Business Profiles are a must for local SEO. By setting up and optimizing your profile, you can increase visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and gain more customers from your local area.

To get started, set up a Google My Business account and input the pertinent data regarding your business, such as its title, address, contact number, website URL, opening hours, etc. Make sure to include accurate contact details so that potential customers can reach out if needed. Once this is done correctly it will help to ensure that Google knows where to place your business in their SERPs when someone searches for terms related to what you offer.

Add every category you can that accurately describes your business!

Fully optimize your Google Business Profile by filling out all sections with as much detail and relevant keywords as possible, including photos or videos that showcase your business or services.

That means filling out your list of services with transactional keywords. Include descriptions and pricing information to improve conversations.

And don’t forget to use posts to communicate offers, updates, and news. As long as each post is meaningful, there’s no problem with sticking to a regular schedule.

This will help customers to locate you quickly online and get a clear idea of what they can anticipate prior to entering your premises. Additionally, adding keywords throughout each section increases your chances of being seen in search engine results pages (SERPs) when someone types them into a search engine like Google.

Finally, track performance regularly using analytics tools provided by Google My Business such as impression and customer action data. You can simply click on the statistics link in your Google Business Profile page.

This helps identify trends over time and allows business owners/managers to make better decisions based on real-time insights into customer behavior patterns around their local service offerings.

Google Business Profiles are a great way to maximize visibility and reach potential customers. By optimizing website content, businesses can further enhance their local SEO efforts and gain an edge over the competition.

Key Takeaway: As a professional local SEO expert, I can confidently say that setting up and optimizing your Google Business Profile is key to getting more customers from Google’s local map pack and other local search engines. Filling out all sections with detail and relevant keywords will increase visibility in SERPs when someone searches related terms; tracking performance regularly using analytics tools provided by Google My Business helps make data-driven decisions to stay ahead of the game.

Website content optimization for local SEO

Local SEO is an essential part of any small business’s online presence. With the right strategies and techniques, businesses can increase their visibility in local search results, helping them reach potential customers more effectively. Content optimization plays a key role in local SEO efforts, so it’s important to understand how to optimize your website content for maximum impact.

Since you should have already identified the relevant keywords, it’s time to get cracking and optimize your content accordingly.

Don’t just concentrate on one page but tailor each one so that it contains unique content that addresses the search intent of a specific keyword – this will help you climb in both the map pack and other search results locally for services or products connected to what you offer.

Incorporate your target keyword into titles and headings wherever possible; ensure they appear prominently throughout the text; craft meta descriptions with targeted keywords; and make sure all images have descriptive alt tags containing pertinent terms as well.

But don’t spam keywords! If you can’t fit a keyword into your natural language pattern in a way that will offer value to a potential customer, then just don’t use the keyword. It’s more important to be ethical than anything. The number of business owners who list every city in a 100-mile radius on every page of their website will pay for it in the long run once the search engines catch on to what they’ve done.

It is imperative to stay abreast of any modifications in algorithms if you aspire to outshine your rivals. Keep an eye out for updates from Google regarding new guidelines or features being released regularly as well. This will help ensure your website remains at the top of local search results and keeps potential customers engaged.

Paying attention to what kind of content is surfacing in localized searches and ensuring it precisely reflects your services is essential. This means optimizing page content, titles, meta descriptions, page URLs, images, etc., so they include appropriate keyword phrases related to both product/service offerings and geographic areas served.

Additionally, creating content specifically targeted towards users searching within a particular geographic area (e.g., city guides) can help boost visibility in localized searches while providing valuable resources for potential customers researching options near them.

By optimizing website content for local SEO, businesses can gain a competitive edge in their respective markets. 

Key Takeaway: For maximum local SEO impact, businesses need to optimize their website content with targeted keywords and geographic terms. This involves incorporating relevant phrases into titles, headings and meta descriptions while also ensuring all images have descriptive alt tags. Maintaining an awareness of updates to  major algorithms is a must for maintaining a competitive edge.

Building quality backlinks for local SEO

Backlinks are a crucial part of any local SEO strategy. Quality backlinks from authoritative websites can help boost your website’s ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). By leveraging quality backlinks from authoritative websites, local SEO strategies can be enhanced to improve website rankings on SERPs.

These are my suggestions for getting started with backlinks.

Submit your site to online directories

This goes back to building citations. Submitting your business information to online directories such as Yelp, Google Maps (Google Business Profiles), Foursquare, and Yahoo is one of the most important ways to quickly build up a collection of quality backlinks from trusted sources. Be sure to include all relevant information about your business when submitting it so that potential customers can find you easily online. Online directories often let you include your NAP, so these will double as local citations.

Connect with other local businesses and organizations

In addition to online influencers in your niche, you should explore opportunities for mutual backlinking. See if other local businesses in your field are amenable to connecting with you by linking to your website or blog post on their website, which can bring additional visitors and create more high-quality backlinks.

Press Releases

Local scholarships

Offering scholarships to local college students is a great way to get involved and give back. Educational institution websites (.edu) typically hold a significant deal of authority, trust, and recognition from search engines, so you can almost never go wrong with acquiring a local backlink from a .edu domain.

Sponsor local events

This link building approach is helpful for engaging with your community, fellow businesses, and prospective customers. Research upcoming events in Pittsburgh to get involved. Not only will you connect with local customers, but you’ll also spread brand awareness in a fun, social setting.

Just make sure you ask about the possibility of getting a backlink before you get in too deep.

Leverage social media platforms

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn offer great opportunities for businesses looking to increase their presence online and build more quality links pointing toward their sites. Posting content regularly on these platforms with links pointing back at specific pages on your site is an effective way to drive more referral traffic while also earning more backlinks from the people who love your content.

This is also a great way to show Google and other search engines that you’re an active business that engages with its customers.

Find blogging partners who write local articles

Seeking out relationships with blogging partners to contribute content related to your area of expertise is a great way to drive referral traffic and boost visibility in SERPs. 

If you’re connected to other local businesses, ask if you can be featured in their next article or press release. 

By providing readers with valuable insights into topics they are interested in, you can help generate high-quality links pointing to pages or blog posts on your site.

Utilizing these local link building strategies alongside the other techniques in this article, you can effectively establish yourself as an advanced level professional while also incorporating keywords that will increase your online presence and credibility.

Key Takeaway: Link building is a key component of local SEO. It is not a myth and can help to improve your site’s performance in search engine rankings. By utilizing these local link building strategies, you can ensure that you are staying ahead of the curve when it comes to your website’s presence in local search results.

Get reviews consistently

Reviews are a powerful tool to help businesses get noticed and increase their visibility in local search results. But how do you leverage reviews for local SEO success?

Reviews play an integral role when it comes to improving rankings on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). People searching for specific services or products want reassurance that they’re making a good decision before committing – customer reviews provide just that. Encourage happy clients/customers who have used your service/products before writing positive reviews online – this will build trust with potential customers who may be looking at multiple providers offering similar services/products within their area too.

Leveraging reviews for local SEO success is an effective way to gain visibility and credibility in the eyes of potential customers. By measuring and tracking your performance, you can ensure that your efforts are yielding positive results.

Key Takeaway: Local SEO success can be achieved by creating accurate citations and website content, utilizing Google Maps, encouraging reviews from happy customers and tracking performance with analytics tools. By following these tips you’ll have the upper hand in local searches.

Measuring & tracking your local SEO performance

Local SEO assists in putting your website before potential patrons who are searching for similar companies near them. Knowing how to measure and track your progress with local SEO can help you make sure that you’re getting the most out of your efforts.

To evaluate the effectiveness of your regional SEO efforts, there are a few metrics you can utilize. One way to start is by looking at the number of searches being performed on search engines for terms related to your business or industry, as well as where those searches originate from geographically. Keep tabs on how often individuals click through from search engine results and pay a visit to your website or other sites associated with it (e.g., social media accounts).

Tracking changes in rankings for specific keywords over time can provide insight into whether or not certain strategies are working effectively. Semrush’s Position Tracking tool is one of my favorite ways to track keyword growth over time.

Learning to use Google Search Console and Google Analytics has also been a huge benefit, but Semrush integrates with these tools pretty well.

Tracking performance should always form part of any successful local SEO strategy. Use analytics tools such as Google Search Console and Semrush’s Position Tracking software to monitor progress over time and easily identify areas needing improvement. With these insights in hand, adjustments can then be made accordingly, helping to ensure maximum return from ongoing efforts without wasting valuable resources along the way.

Key Takeaway: Tracking key figures like search volume and click-throughs can be useful to guarantee that you are receiving the most out of your local SEO efforts for a small business’s online presence. Optimizing titles, meta descriptions, page URLs etc., as well as creating content targeted towards local users are great ways to boost visibility in localized searches while providing valuable resources for potential customers near them.

Local SEO Tips FAQ