No matter what type of business you are running, if you want potential clients in your local area to be able to find you in the search results, you need local SEO. More and more consumers are turning to search engines to find the products and services that they need locally and to ensure that you can be found easily, it is crucial that you have an effective local search engine optimization strategy in place.
Local SEO means optimizing your website and web content for your specific geographical area. Even if your business is already a success, you will not feature in the local search engine results if you do not have an effective local SEO strategy in place. Taking the right approach with your SEO efforts will help you to generate more interest in your business, improve your conversion rates, and ultimately generate more revenue going forward.
We see many business owners make the same mistakes with their local search engine optimization marketing. Below we outline some of the most common issues and explain how you can avoid these pitfalls.
TDLR Summary
- Local SEO will enable potential clients to find your business easily
- Google processes 3.5 billion searches daily
- Prospects search for products or services “locally”
- Local SEO involves optimizing a website for specific geographical area
- Avoiding SEO pitfalls many business owners make will save you time and $$
- Keyword research can be a difficult process — guessing ‘potential’ keywords is even more difficult
- Using the “wrong” local keywords can waste time and money
- Content is king online — always has been, always will be
- Anything you write and publish on your site should be valuable and useful — skip the shit content to “attempt” to rank for a keyword
- Create interesting and useful content to stand out in the local market
- Searchers looking for a business online want to find accurate contact info
- Having outdated contact info is a major local SEO error — you can get “flagged”
- Inaccurate information on your website, social media channels, and GMB can lead to fewer contact requests and less visits to your site
- In April 2015, Google released its Mobile-friendly update making mobile responsiveness a ranking factor — if you do not have a website that loads in less than 2 seconds on a mobile device, you will lose a visitor
1. Failing To Create A Google My Business Account
One of the most important steps in any local SEO strategy is to create and verify your Google My Business account. Google My Business is essentially a directory of local businesses. Registering your business is very straightforward and doing so will tell Google where your business is located, allowing you to feature in the local search results and in the maps if you have a physical storefront.
Whether your business serves individual customers or you are operating in a B2B capacity, this is a crucial step in ensuring the success of your local search engine optimization efforts.
To avoid this basic error, simply head over to the Google My Business page to register your business for free. Learn more about what GMB is by viewing our video E65: Google My Business 101.
2. Not Using The Correct Local Keywords
Using the right local keywords is vital in ensuring that your business can be found by potential clients. Keyword research, however, can be a difficult process and if you have limited experience in this area, you could end up wasting a lot of time and money chasing the wrong local keyword combinations.
In order to attract the right audience to your website, you need to use the correct local keywords to enhance your SEO.
If throwing good money and time away makes your stomach queasy, reach out to us (Kim & Conor) about your website goals and we can determine the right local keywords for you to target for your SEO ranking strategy.
3. Publishing Sub-Standard Content
Content is King online. To attract more people to your website, you need to provide them with valuable and useful content that outshines your competitors. Informative and engaging content will help you gain more credibility in the local market and allow you to position your business as an industry leader.
At Big Red SEO, we encourage our clients to create valuable, well-researched, and relevant content for their audience. This content also needs to be optimized in line with your local SEO strategy to bolster the visibility of your business or organization online.
To ensure your content is relevant, informative, and engaging, be sure to research trending topics in your niche. You can also look at what questions your customers have been asking you and create content that answers those questions thoroughly.
4. Providing Inaccurate Contact Information
Many people who are searching for your business online are looking for the best way to contact you. Typically this means they want to find your business address, phone number, email address, and your hours of operation. Failing to keep your business information up-to-date is a major local SEO error that we come across regularly. When potential customers get the wrong contact information, they will quickly leave your website and find one of your competitors, who do have accurate contact information, instead.
Inaccurate information on GMB, and other social profiles, leads to fewer contact requests or visits to your website. If the information on your site is inaccurate, over time, this can generate an increased bounce rate and visitors spending less time on your website. Google will notice this trend and it will have a negative impact on your position in the local search rankings. Keep your contact information up-to-date on your website, social media channels, and Google My Business to avoid any potential issues.
5. Having A Non-Mobile Friendly Website
At Big Red SEO, all of our website designs we create are fully mobile responsive and for a good reason. Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches every day around the world and a staggering 63% of US searches are conducted from mobile devices. Statistics like these highlight just how important it is to have a mobile-friendly website.
Back in April 2015, Google rolled out its mobile-friendly update, commonly known as Mobilegeddon. This algorithm update put an emphasis on the importance of mobile-friendly websites, as the search giant made mobile responsiveness a key ranking factor.
To ensure your website is mobile-friendly, speak to our web design experts. We can help you to identify what changes you need to make to your design so your site is compliant with the Google guidelines and you provide a better experience for your users moving forward.
Hire A Pro To Improve Your Local SEO Strategy
To ensure that your website and other web copy are effectively optimized for your local target demographic, it’s important to find a local SEO consultant you can trust. With help from someone who lives and breathes search engine optimization, you’ll not only save time, but you’ll save money too. They can also assist you in fixing or avoiding these common local SEO pitfalls.
Looking to improve your rankings in the local search results and, ultimately, improve your bottom line? Contact Kim and Conor, we’d be happy to jump on a call for a quick chat.