A strong SEO strategy is a must-have for any business aiming to expand its reach online. But if you own brick-and-mortar shops that primarily rely on local customers to thrive, you also need to focus on local SEO. Local SEO efforts don’t only bring traffic to your website but also drive massive retail foot traffic to your physical store.
Have you already claimed your Google Business Profile listing? This is a good first step, as this can help your shop or company show up on Google Maps searches. How about claiming & running other business listings online? And what about your website? Has it already been optimised for local searches or keywords?
If you’re looking for ways to strengthen or update your local SEO strategies, we’re here to help. At Canty Digital, we offer local SEO services that deliver real results. And we’ve found that the following strategies are effective if implemented properly.
Keep your NAP consistent across all listings.
NAP stands for name, address and phone number—three simple business details that can significantly impact your brand presence online. If your NAP in Google Business is different from Yelp & TripAdvisor, you don’t only confuse your potential customers but also search engines like Google. When Google can’t verify your business information, it can hurt your rankings for relevant local keywords. Your listings might not appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) for valuable searches.
So do the hard work and check your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) across all business listings. For instance, if your business is located in Gold Coast, ensuring your NAP is accurate and consistent specifically for this region is crucial, especially if you have moved locations or switched phone numbers within the area. This attention to detail in local SEO is a simple yet powerful strategy that boosts your brand credibility, helping increase your Google rankings on local Gold Coast searches and persuade users to check out your website, call your number, or visit your physical store.
Optimise your website for local search.
Well-written and SEO-friendly blogs, web copies & landing pages can drive engagement and traffic to your website. That helps signal to Google and other search engines that your brand is relevant and provides information people want to see. That, alone, can boost your search rankings. But if you’re a local business owner, you might want to step it up by optimising your content specifically for local search.
Consider creating blogs that resonate with your local customer’s interests and needs. For instance, you can create a comprehensive shopping guide for anyone interested in visiting your store. You can also use local news and events as a springboard to think of relevant topics. Best of all, don’t forget to perform local keyword research and craft blogs & landing pages to target those location-based keywords.
Build location pages on your website.
What’s one of the best ways to rank for location-based keywords? Create location pages on your website. That’s especially beneficial if you have multiple brick-and-mortar locations or you service homes & businesses in several areas.
Start your local SEO content strategy by ensuring each location page is unique. Create content that specifically resonates with potential customers living in that particular location. The location page must also have a NAP consistent with your other listings online. And if you have a different phone number for each location page, make sure each number is clickable on mobile devices. That helps improve user experience and makes your business easy to reach, especially when your potential customer is ready to buy.
Optimise your website for mobile devices.
Over 50% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Plus, customers looking for local businesses like yours will likely be on their phones. They are probably in their car or outside their home & on their phone while searching for the nearest restaurant or auto shop. And they want answers (or relevant Google results) right then and there. So if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on many customers.
How to make your website mobile-friendly? It should have a responsive website design; its content should be optimised for all mobile displays—no matter the screen size. And it should load fast on any smartphone or tablet. Google and other search engines consider loading speed when calculating local SEO rankings. Don’t have an in-house staff who can work on your website’s speed & responsive design? Consider hiring our team to speed up your website both on desktop and mobile.
Let Canty Digital give you a hand.
Dominating local search rankings can give your local business a huge boost. But, of course, it’s not easy to plan and implement local SEO efforts along with your other marketing campaigns. So we’re here to step in. Our local SEO agency has the skill sets needed to keep your NAP consistent across the web, optimise your website for local search, craft location pages and make your website mobile-responsive.
We’re here to turn “local” into something big. Book a call for a quick consultation.
