Small Business? Improve Your Local SEO!

How does your small business stand out from the competition? With Local SEO! Search engine optimization helps you get found on the web and can increase local search rankings. Once you know what steps to take, it’s easy for your small business to have a significant online presence that will help bring in customers.

What is SEO and how does it work

SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” and it is a strategy used to make sure your content can be found by internet search engines. When a person is looking for a certain type of small business on the web, they can use search engines, like Google or Bing, and find your company. SEO helps you appear higher in their search results so that potentially more customers are likely to click on your ads.

How to optimize your website for search engines

The way that you optimize your website for search engines will largely depend on the type of website that you have. The first thing to do is make sure that you are providing fresh content and not copying and pasting the same text across multiple pages. This is a big no-no as search engines will penalize you for doing this.

Once you have created new content, it’s time to include keywords. Remember that Google looks at words differently than humans do so the way that you type your text won’t always affect how people read it. You should think of what people are searching for and how Google organizes their search results.

Google looks at the words on your website and assigns a value to it based on what you have done. For example, if all of the text is in H1 or H2 tags then you get bonus points for that. Links from other sites also boost your SEO ranking as this helps with authority.

Local SEO strategies for small businesses

The first thing you need to do is create a Google My Business page detailing your business, address, phone number and hours. This is very easy to do: simply go to google.com/business and click “Get started”. You will be asked to enter your business name, category (optional), website address, description (optional), contact information and store hours. Once you have entered all of your information then click “Add.”

You will be asked to verify either through phone or postcard. Once you have verified then you can manage your listing and make changes as necessary. It is important that you claim your listing within Google so that only you can make changes to it.

Take care of the images

Second, add photos of your establishment and make sure they are high-quality professional images. You want to make sure that you have at least five images available. The first photo should always be the exterior of your business in a landscape orientation with no text. The second photo should be of the interior of your business and there should not be any people in it (if there is then it should be blurred).

The third image should either be of food or of a product that you offer. You should not have any text in this one and it should always be in landscape orientation. The fourth image can contain text or people but it shouldn’t have anything to do with the service that you are offering. This is simply for engagement purposes as Google loves relevant images in search results.

The last image on your list can also contain text or people but it should not be your storefront. This is an image of something that you do or make and the main goal here is to inspire people.

Reviews are important too!

Get reviews from customers and add those as well. Make sure that the reviewers are real people who actually went to your business! Keep an eye out for fake profiles so you don’t get penalized by Google for posting fake reviews.

Finally, you want to include links to your website or blog so people will be able to find out more about what you’re all about!

There are many other things that you should take care of too – one of them is properly setting up Google Search Console on your website – you can find related information in our article about the CTR improvements.

The benefits of local SEO for small businesses

The benefits of local SEO for small businesses are many. For one, it’s a great way to reach new customers. By optimizing your website and getting reviews, you are putting yourself out there to be found by potential customers. Furthermore, the power of local SEO is immense – a single visit from a customer that uses your services and likes what they get can go viral on social media and spread awareness about your business.

Local SEO is also an excellent way to gain more visibility on your own website. Purchasing links or even writing content that is specifically tailored to mobile devices will help you get noticed more easily on Google ranking and increase traffic. Writing better content with keywords in mind will also help you rank higher than your competitors who might not be dedicating as much time or energy to their local SEO strategies.

Common mistakes that small business owners make when doing their own SEO

The most common mistake that small business owners make when doing their own SEO is not having a strategy. Because of this, they will end up targeting keywords that aren’t relevant to anything or have nothing to do with their services. They also may spend too much time on content for advertising purposes and not enough time optimizing their website for local SEO.

Another mistake that often gets overlooked by small business owners is Google My Business reviews. It’s important to know how many reviews you have because this number will be taken into consideration when determining your search ranking. If you have a ton of reviews then your search ranking will be higher, but if you have very few then it may affect your visibility. Google takes user reviews seriously so make sure that you are encouraging customers to leave reviews after they visit your establishment!

Conclusion

Local SEO is a cost-effective way of marketing for small businesses and one of the best ways for business owners to get their name out there. By optimizing your website, adding high quality photos and conducting reviews, it’s possible to give yourself an edge over bigger, more established brands that are spending big bucks on advertising campaigns. Finally, local SEO is one of the best ways to increase traffic from mobile devices because Google uses these in search rankings!

The Search Pirates team can assist business owners with their struggles with local SEO. We have a dedicated staff of experts who run our own client sites and know how to rank them for the right keywords, even for small businesses that are just starting out!