Local Search is Important

Local SEO is the name of the game for small businesses today, so it’s more important than ever to dominate online presence and local search rankings.

The fact is, there is no real ‘secret’ to gaining more exposure and more clicks, and unfortunately, there isn’t simply a button to push to make your business appear at the top page of local searches.

But there are a lot of tips and suggestions put forth by SEO pros to help strategically build strong local online presence for your business. First, we have to understand what it is that search engines are looking for in a business profile to boost them to the top of the search results.

Let’s Pretend I’m Google…

Hi. I’m Google. And it’s my job to figure out which local businesses will reach the top of the online feed when searched. But I can’t just put any ole’ business at the top. It’s important to my users that the most effective and related searches pop up to make their lives easier and help them find exactly what they’re looking for.

Every single time someone searches, clicks on, or reviews your business, it’s kind of like a vote in the right direction for you, and I take that into consideration.

A great place to start is to be sure you create a Google My Business page and verify it.

Beyond a Google My Business page, there are a few factors that determine how to rank local businesses in search results:

  1. On-site optimization (page titles/content/images etc)
  2. Backlinks (links directed towards your website)
  3. Citations (any online mention of your business)
  4. Reviews (more importantly, positive reviews)

This list is not in order of significance, which basically means that online reviews can just as important as on-site optimization.

As if it wasn’t already hard enough to please Google, their ranking algorithm is not only top-secret, but the rules change and evolve constantly to better meet consumer needs.

However, this list of criteria for businesses to build online presence is a great place to start.

Hire an Expert to Help

All of this SEO talk can feel very overwhelming and it can be extremely effective to work with a professional in the field to build online presence in a strong, meaningful way.

Improving local SEO is a competitive and exciting way to gain more business and we at The Markey Group would love to help you design an effective plan to do just that.

What are your thoughts? Do you have any questions or further comments about local SEO that you can share in the comments below?