How to Get Ahead in Business with Local SEO

First of all.. What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is an effective way to market your business online. It helps businesses promote their services on search engines the exact time people are searching for the services you offer.

So how do you get a ahead with Local SEO?

Search Engines are used by millions of local users a day looking for services, food, products, and solutions to solve their problems. The question is, does your business show up when people are searching for what your business offers?

First Step – Self Search Evaluation

Do a search for a service you offer, followed by the city your in or simply adding “near me”. For example, if you’re a personal injury attoney, search for, “personal injury attorney near me” or personal injury attorney in St Paul”. Does your business show up on the top 3? If not, you can benefit from doing a bit of Local SEO. Below is the 3 pack that results from the search “plumber in Eagan, MN”

This is called the ‘3 pack ‘ or the ‘local pack’. It displays 3 businesses out of many others that Google thinks the user would benefit from quickly. Here, you’ll get a lot of visibility and it showcases things like ratings, phone number & address and is the first thing a user sees when entering a search.

Step 2 – Create a Google My Business listing

What is a Google my Business?

Previously known as Google Local, Google My Business (GMB) is your business profile on Google. You can find out how to add or claim your Google My Business listing here.

It feeds information to a variety of places, including the local pack and Google Maps search results, but most familiar appearance will likely be when it’s in the top right (or top on mobile) of a branded search for your business.

Step 3- Citation Building

Make sure that your website, business name, business address, and phone number (NAPW) are listed on citation cites and online business directories that pertain to your industry. Not only will this help customers find your business, but featuring your NAPW on citation sites and adding extra information to business directories will help improve your search rankings. But you have to ensure all your listings in these directories are all consistent, otherwise it won’t do your rankings any good.

Step 4- Managing your Online Reviews & Ratings

Genuine, honest reviews are critical both for showcasing the quality of your service and for sending signals to search engines that your site and service are trusted and useful. The amount of reviews you receive, the overall quality of the reviews and the authority of the review sites themselves are all important factors for local search rankings.

Step 5- Get Quality and Relevant Backlinks

Obtaining natural backlinks from trusted and high ranking websites help search engines recognize your site as a trusted source and boosts the ‘prominence’ aspect of the local search algorithm. Try getting links from local newspapers, bloggers and business associations such as your local chamber of commerce, as well as citations, can all help improve your search visibility.

Grow your business with Local SEO

Michael Capri Digial Marketing provides all the necessary services to get your business optimal visibility and a chance to get ahead from your competitors.