7 SEO Techniques to Improve the Performance of Your Local Business Website

7 SEO Techniques to Improve the Performance of Your Local Business Website

We’ve heard a lot about the #ShopLocal movement in the last year (has it been a year since we initially got into COVID-19 mode?!). People were primarily focused on buying gifts from inside the community during the holidays to support small businesses. Are we looking for the best black hat forum? Visit our website for more information.

According to the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), 90 percent of Canadians want to shop locally during the 2020 holiday season, with 83 percent preferring to buy things made in Canada.

Now that the holiday season has passed, it’s time for small business owners to look ahead and consider how they can continue to promote themselves locally in 2021.

If you own a store or provide a service in a certain geographic location, it’s critical to concentrate your marketing efforts on attracting local internet traffic.

There are a few things you can do to boost your visibility and reach your target audience, fortunately. Here’s how to rank locally in 2021 to assist you to achieve your goals:

1. Make a list of the regions you want to focus on first.

If you live in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, for example, you might want to include keywords like “Langley,” “Abbotsford,” “Surrey,” and so on in your website content.

Your city, the nearest major metropolitan region, and your province should all be included. Start coming up with long-tail keyword phrases for each of these now. Let’s use “interior design” as an example. You might also target “Surrey interior design” and “BC interior designers” instead of simply one keyword phrase.

2. Create a separate web page or blog post for each local keyword phrase.

Now that you’ve compiled your keyword list, it’s time to get writing!

Sprinkle keywords and geographic areas throughout your website material to ensure that search engines keep you top of mind in their search results. It’s important not to jam keywords into your material.

3. Create and publish new local material on a regular basis.

Adding new content to a website, particularly in the form of a value-added blog post, is critical for any website.

It makes what you’re saying even more useful when you develop new location-based material with your keywords, whether it’s a news release about something you’re doing in the neighbourhood or a review of a new local service.

4. Type your company’s address in the footer of your webpage.

Don’t forget to put your address on your site if you’re wondering how to rank locally. This not only serves as a signal to Google that you are a local business, but it also serves as a visual cue to your website visitors that they have arrived at the appropriate location.

Even better, include a dynamic Google Map to assist customers in finding your place, as well as photographs of your area to increase confidence and authenticity.

READ: 2021 SEO Trends: Your Ultimate Guide

I understand that 2020 will be a demanding and challenging year. Many small business owners have had to reduce their budgets and are now unsure of how best to spend their money in the future.

Customer behavior shifted as well. In their study of consumer behavior during the pandemic, McKinsey & Company coined the term “homebody economy.” “Most want to leave home to buy for basics but maintain limited engagement in shared services,” they explained.

Here’s what this shift in behavior means for SEO trends in 2021.

Visit our website to learn more.

5. Take use of Google My Business.

Small business owners can use Google My Business to help them stand out in search results. Every day, nearly five billion queries are done through Google, whether through a search result or a maps inquiry.

That means a significant number of people will be able to find your goods or service quickly and effortlessly. It’s not only an accessible approach to improve your website’s visibility, but it’s also a free way to optimize it for local search.

6. Take and share photos of your surroundings.

When it comes to optimizing your website for local search, think beyond the content. Take images of your company to show off what you have to offer, and post real photos rather than stock photos.

Make it a point to photograph your company doing things in the community. Then, when you upload these images to your website or blog, give them file names that include your local keyword phrases.

Why? Because all of the photos on your website have file names and alt tags that are localized keyword phrases.

So, if someone searches for “best interior designer in Surrey” in Google Photo Search, if you have a photo with that file name, your image will appear first.

7. Make use of the influence of review sites.

Create free business accounts with major review sites such as Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages, Insider Pages, Angie’s List, and others, and encourage your customers and regulars to provide reviews.

It’s critical to work on off-site strategies to increase results as you optimize your website for local search—but that’s a topic for another day! Contact us if you’re not sure how to rank locally utilizing off-site approaches. Feel free to visit our SEO Forum for more information.

Begin by reviewing your website and following these SEO guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to gaining more devoted clients in 2021 and beyond!