We know that we are biased, but when we say that every business owner needs to create a website, we mean it. Even if all your sales are in person, you can still use Google to help attract new customers. When was the last time you selected the Yellow Pages to find nearby businesses that meet your needs?
Today, Google has become synonymous with search. When looking for a business in your location, a place to eat, stay overnight, or get a haircut, your potential customers will turn to search engines first.
Your goal: get your business to be the first to appear. To do this, you need to understand what SEO is and master local search engine optimization, or what we call “local SEO” in the industry.
Read : How to Optimized SEO on Page For Your Website
What is local SEO?
Local SEO refers to specific actions you can take to ensure that when someone is searching for a business in your area, your website appears in search engines. It can help search engines like Google and Bing associate your activity with your geographic location and determine where to show your website on their results pages.
Why is local SEO important?
Local search engine optimization is essential for anyone with a physical business, office, studio, etc. As we said, this is one of the best ways to attract new customers from your area. Marketing to local customers is the key.
Search engines are increasingly customizing their results based on the location of the search engine. They search for keywords that show local intent, such as “restaurants near me” or “restaurants in Tribeca,” and return corresponding results, prioritizing geo-targeted content.
You must put yourself on the (Google) map!
One of the best ways to help local customers find your business is to optimize your website for Google Maps and so-called “local packages.” The local pack fetches top-ranked businesses from Google Maps and places them at the top of Google search results.
This is a first-class real estate, I want to own it! If you have a chance to become one of these three lucky businesses, be sure to list your business in detail on Google My Business (GMB). Then, because Google likes to put special services in local packages, ask customers to write reviews about you on GMB. Surprisingly, only 10% of companies claim to have a place in GMB, which means you have less competition.
Google My Business is just an example of a search engine directory. Bing also has a business directory that deserves a place there.
Local Directories – What They Are And Why They Improve Your Local Search Engine Optimization
You also want to submit your website to as many directories as possible as long as they are relevant to your work. The local directory lists websites and social communities that are specifically indexed for small businesses. Yelp, Foursquare and TripAdvisor are the most famous of these sites, but there is more. (See all the places you need to list online.)
People looking for places to eat, shop, and sleep often check these sites for community feedback. But perhaps most importantly, Google Search takes many of these sites very seriously. When listed on a good local directory website, your business may gain a significant boost in search rankings. To help you make the list, be sure to check the Site Booster app. It will do a lot of basic work for you!
Make sure your contact information is consistent.
You want to use the exact same name, address, and phone number everywhere (AKA NAP). This includes your website, your social media profile and listing your directory. If your NAP looks a little different in some places, search engines may unexpectedly think that you have two (or more) different locations.
To optimize your local SEO, verify that you always type NAP in the same way. You also want to highlight your contact information on your website. This can be on your contact page or ideally in your header or footer. Trust the Wix SEO tool to help you find all the places you need to complete the NAP. As you may have understood by now, it’s time you got serious about your NAP (we have to take advantage of this simple pun!).
Have a great mobile website
Today, more searches are done on mobile devices than on desktop computers, and Google knows it. This is why they are turning to “mobile first”, which means that they will soon be indexing and ranking websites based on the mobile version rather than the desktop version. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Wix mobile editor and see if your mobile website is great and easy to use. Here, your name, address, and phone number (or NAP) should also be easy to find. After all, your goal is to get customers to call you and walk in.
