Friday, March 29, 2024

4 Ways to Succeed in Local Search

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With Google changing the way that local search results appear, building a good local SEO strategy is more essential than ever.  Local businesses are forever struggling to remain above water in the competitive environment of today, but there are some things they can do to improve their visibility in the SERPs.  In this article, we’re going to provide you with four ways to succeed in local search.

1. Encourage Reviews

A study performed in 2015 found that 92% of consumers look for reviews before they decide to buy from a company or visit an establishment.  Because of this, it’s a good idea to set up a Google My Business page and encourage your visitors to leave honest reviews.  Then, when customers search for a business like yours, they will instantly gain a sense of trust for your business.  As an example, take a look at the Boston Escape Room by Breakout Games.  A quick Google for this service leads to many positive reviews – with the company enjoying a high ranking in local search.

Building links is an important part of SEO, but it’s especially important for local businesses to build local links.  Look into local business directories, local newsletters, and local events.  Get involved and build up a network of contacts who you can use to help build your link profile.  If you’re struggling with this, it can be a good idea to see what other businesses in your area are doing.  Find out which websites link to them and reach out to the same contacts.

3. Create a Blog

Keywords are still important in SEO, as is the length of time a visitor stays on your website.  One of the best ways to tackle both of these things head on is to add a blog to your website.  Publish authority content on a regular basis and make sure to share it on your social media profiles.  Think about the kind of things your customers would like to read about and create well-written posts on these topics.  Every blog post that you publish will help improve your rankings, though do avoid churning out poorly written posts just so you have something to publish each day.  One high-quality post each week will be much more effective than five poorly written rushed posts published once a day.

4. Know Your Audience

Finally, it’s important to know who your audience is, as every type of marketing you do will need to be created with them in mind.  For example, if you are running an escape room, like the example mentioned above, you’ll want to target teenagers and people in their 20s and 30s.  However, if you are running a travel agency, you may want to target the older generation, as these are the kinds of people most likely to need help with booking a trip.  Everything you write online, from your blog posts to your content for links to your social media posts needs to be targeted to your audience to achieve the greatest success.

Did these tips help?  Let us know in the comments.

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