10 Tips for Local SEO
- Show up – Claim your listing, create a listing or take back ownership.
- Complete your profile – simply fill it in (every bit).
- Add your services/ products – these are the keywords you want to appear for.
- Add all the Areas – include the areas by name that you cover. When you add the town, not all postcodes are covered.
- Add photos – the more, the better!
- Get verified
- Get reviews
- Reply to your reviews
- Add promotional/ business update messages, keep it up-to-date
- Create local landing pages on your website
Introduction to Local SEO
In today’s omnichannel age, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses to attract customers and drive website traffic and footfall. Local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a great strategy that can significantly enhance your business’s visibility, helping potential customers find you in your local area.
Let’s explore how local SEO can benefit businesses in the UK and some key strategies to implement.
What is Local SEO?
Firstly, local SEO enables businesses to target consumers actively searching for products or services in their area. Since most customers start their buying research in Google, optimising your website and online listings for local searches can significantly increase your chances of being discovered by potential customers in your local area. 46% of all Google searches are seeking local information.
The biggest and most popular tool in your local SEO arsenal is your Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business or Google Maps. In local searches, it often appears as one of the top results, and you can win customers here. Bing does have an equivalent called Bing Places for business, and there is no harm in creating a listing there, too. With Microsoft’s purchase of Chat GPT, I would also push this as a prudent strategy.
There has been a big rise in the ‘near me’ and ‘where to buy’ search terms, known as discovery searches. Google shows the local area map at the top of the search results, and several local businesses I’ve discovered these top listings are called the ‘local pack’. Recently, on a trip to Ho Chi Minh City, I was searching for ‘craft ale bars’ as I passed one close to my hotel in a taxi, and I wanted to know if it was worth a visit. Google brought up another craft ale bar, and the one I passed in the taxi, the one I hadn’t seen, played rock music, so I visited there, and it was great.
What’s in your Google Business Profile?
It shows
- Business name (it wouldn’t be the end of the world if you had your main keyword in your name)
- Business Category (you can have more than one)
- Business Description
- Opening date
- Contact information
- Address
- Phone number
- Website
- Social profiles
- Areas covered (important)
- Opening hours (make sure you update for bank holidays, especially if you are a retailer)
Images
You can add your business logo, cover photo, business photos (premises, work, people, products, interior shots)
Videos
Recently, you can add a 30-second video to your profile; we thought this would be a quick win for our customers, but we are still waiting to see any noticeable improvement. However, the profile is performing well.
360 Tours
You can add 360 tours inside your premises, which we will cover in another article.
Additional Features
- Take meeting bookings
- Q&A
- Update your customers with a message and offers
- Feature products (this can be linked to your WooCommerce store)
Creating Social Proof – Reviews
Customers can review your business and give you a star rating out of 5. 1-star ratings take a lot of work to remove (if you can, work on the assumption that you can’t remove any reviews). Respond to your reviews! This is your chance to thank, explain, and show you care about customer feedback. Yes, you might receive some negative reviews, but you should respond to these as well; I would say it is probably more critical to respond to negative reviews. It doesn’t matter if you take a few days to respond; it’s better to have a good response than an angry rant. Customers tend to believe a company with a 4.5-star rating is better than a company with only 5 stars, as some automatically assume if you only have 5-star reviews, they must be fake reviews.
Verification
It’s essential to have your Google Business Profile verified. They used to mail you a postcard to your address and then add that code to the page to confirm your address. We’re now seeing video verification, whereby Google wants a video of your premises with notable street signs to verify your address, and you have to upload this for verification. It’s not been the most successful update, with many reports of customers failing to verify.
Top Tips Five for Improving Your Ranking in Local Search Results and on Google Maps
- Drop a new photo in every day or every other day. Take pictures of your business like “Asian girls take selfies”. It shows you like your business and builds confidence with customers.
- Add an update – add a social media post 2 to 3 times per week; if you’re posting on social media, reuse that post on your business listing; contrary to popular marketing belief, not everyone uses social media like you do.
- To get more reviews, send a link to everyone. You could include a link in your email signature or send it with the invoice. We’ve recently printed reminder cards with a QR code and link to review the client on Google, and they are working well.
- Replying to your reviews shows that you are active, appreciate the good reviews, and can respond professionally to the negative ones.
- Services—Add a custom service for your leading service and the city where you work. For example, Get Fletch could be Design Agency Leeds or WordPress Developers Leeds.
What else can you do on your website to help your Local SEO?
In addition to your Google Business Profile, you should also focus on optimising your website for local search intent. This involves creating location-specific landing pages, optimising title tags and meta descriptions (what appears in Google search results) with relevant keywords, and including local business schema markup to provide search engines with structured data about your business.
On-page basics (this means on your website page)
Incorporating location-specific keywords and phrases into your website content, meta tags, and business listings can improve your visibility in local search results and attract more relevant traffic. Remember, don’t be spammy that won’t work anymore.
Links to your website
Connecting with local businesses and news outlets can help leverage local citations and backlinks from reputable local directories and websites, further boosting your local SEO efforts. Ensuring your business is listed accurately and consistently across various online platforms can improve your online visibility and credibility while strengthening your website’s authority in local search results.
To sum up, Local SEO
Local SEO presents an easy marketing opportunity for any business to enhance its online visibility, attract more local customers, and ultimately drive online and in-store sales. By implementing the strategies outlined above and staying up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and best practices, you can position your business for success in today’s competitive local digital landscape.
Furthermore, local SEO helps businesses build credibility and trust within their local communities. When your business appears at the top of search results for relevant queries, it instils confidence in potential customers and positions your business as a reputable and trustworthy choice. Positive reviews and ratings from satisfied customers also play a crucial role in enhancing your online reputation and attracting new customers to your business.
Yes, we can help you with your local SEO. What to book a meeting?
Coming soon: a case study. Like with all SEO work, results take time and are not instant. If you need quick results, Google Ads is your answer.
Local SEO: Your Path to Success Check List
Local SEO is essential for increasing your business’s visibility to nearby customers. By optimising your Google Business Profile, gathering reviews, and creating location-specific content on your website, you can drive more traffic and build trust within your community.
Here’s a quick checklist to boost your local SEO:
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile – Fill out all information, including your services, areas covered, and business hours.
- Add high-quality photos and videos – Show off your premises, products, or services to attract more customers.
- Get verified and keep your profile updated – Ensure your business is verified and regularly post updates or promotions.
- Collect and respond to reviews – Encourage happy customers to leave reviews and respond professionally to all feedback.
- Create local landing pages – Tailor pages for each area or service you cover to improve local search relevance.
- Use location-based keywords – Optimize your website content, title tags, and meta descriptions with specific local terms.
- Connect with local businesses – Build relationships and earn local backlinks to boost your search authority.
By following these steps, your business will be well-positioned to succeed in today’s competitive local search landscape. Want to learn more or need help with your local SEO strategy? Contact us today to book a meeting!
