Three Things You May Be Overlooking in Local SEO
One of the top challenges in marketing today is keeping up with the ways that rapidly changing search algorithms and SEO practices affect how customers find your business online and in your community. If you’re a fairly tech-savvy small business owner, you already know that local SEO is one of the best ways to augment your online marketing efforts while broadening your visibility in your physical community. However, if you feel that your local SEO optimization isn’t getting the results you hoped for, the fault may lie in these three common factors that local business owners – and some web designers – overlook.
1. Information accuracy and consistency. One of the main complaints of users looking for information on a local business is finding inaccurate information; this is also one of the main factors that search engines use in deciding the legitimacy of a local company. It’s called the NAP factor, and it means that a business must list an accurate, verifiable name, address and phone number with every online listing, mention or directory, across all platforms.
Something as simple s a misplaced comma in the business name is enough to get an inaccurate ranking. If you’ve changed the name, address or contact number for your company, added a toll-free number or changed the domain name for your company, you must ensure that these changes are updated anywhere your business is mentioned online. Tracking online inaccuracies is time-consuming, but it’s essential for lending legitimacy to your business with search engines and the public.
2. Level of detail. When you fill out on online profile for your company, make sure that you fill it out as completely as possible. Each element you add will provide another positive for search engines and customers to base your visibility on. The breakdown for what potential clients want to know about a company is:
67% each for business address and contact number
58% each for customer proximity to business location and hours of operation
57% for company name
55% for business website link
53% for prices
52% for specific product or service information
38% customer reviews
Less than 30% of searchers were concerned with trademarks, logos, forms of payment and other extraneous information, but the more info you add, the better you’ll rank.
3. Putting too much emphasis in the wrong place. Having a website and social media presence are always great for customer service, but if you mainly do business at a physical location, maintaining a website isn’t a necessity for ranking well locally if you do local SEO the right way. The best way to ensure that you’re optimized for local SEO is to find a web design company that provides local SEO services on a deeper level.
In the end, it’s quality that counts. No matter how much Google and other search engines change their criteria and ranking methods, one thing will continue to remain the deciding factor: your ability to provide a consistently favorable customer experience is the best way to ensure sustainable high visibility. Local SEO service providers can fool the ranking mechanisms with clever SEO ‘tricks’ and still get results, but when you focus on giving clients the fresh, relevant content and an overall high-quality experience, it will make faking it for search engines unnecessary.
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