How To Take Advantage of Local SEO

When 50% of Google users actually go to the store in the same that they searched for it, it’s time for your startup to take advantage of local search engine optimization (SEO). Here are some tips to help you get started:

(Curate from Tech.Co)

Even if you have an exclusively online business, you can take advantage of the local market. All you have to do is provide Google with the right information about your business and you can start targeting a local audience online.

“You need a physical presence in order to do this. That’s why you must provide some sort of address and phone number. It doesn’t matter if you don’t serve customers in-person: This is the minimum required to appear on Google’s radar.”

Start taking advantage of local directories online and make sure your business’s information is up-to-date.

“Directories were previously thought of as a relic of old SEO. But they’re making a comeback in local form. Make sure that your business is in as many local online directories as possible. Unlike how they used to work, you can’t pay a guy to upload your website to 50 of them.”

You can drive more local traffic to your website by incorporating locally-targeted keywords into your content and digital ads.

“Your keywords should have a local flavor. For local keywords, you should concentrate on placing both your niche and your locality into the same string. If you are targeting with hyperlocal SEO you may even include the neighborhood or the street. Try to make them fit in as naturally as possible.”

Startups in particular can benefit from using local SEO because everyone loves to help a local, up-and-coming business.

“Make no mistake, local SEO is important for absolutely everyone. But it’s even more important for startups because they are starting from nothing. You have no presence online and you can’t leverage previous reputation. Typically, startups have little money to begin an SEO campaign. Optimizing for local SEO is annoyingly time-consuming and tedious, but it’s free. As a startup, you have lots of time and not a lot of money. Use the resource you have a ton of to your advantage.”