3 Top SEO Tips for Improved Local Search Results

When it comes to a small business you don’t have to fight in national search results with generic terms like “car insurance” or “furniture” – in fact, it’s about the worst thing you can try to do. A smaller business will get much better results with targeted keyword placement toward their actual audience in the area which surrounds the business.

Let’s see an example: Joe, a local plumber, builds a small website and he wants to improve his rankings when it comes to search engine results. If he goes after terms like ‘plumber’ or ‘local plumber’, he’s not going to get much hits – but if he settles on something like ‘plumber in [the name of his town]’, he’s more likely to get better and faster results. Instead of competing on a national level, he’s competing on a local level: and the competition is much less fierce. What you need to do is find the top SEO methodologies to boost your hits.

Here are the 3 top SEO methods we use to optimize websites for local search results.

Keyword Optimization
Your online presence comes from your website – so you want to make sure that you get the right message out, both to potential audiences and search engines. Your domain name should, at the least, have your business name in it – and if you only work on a local scale, then it’s even better to include the name of the location where you work. Each page title should have your business name, the locations you cover, and the services you offer.

When you post content to your website make sure to mention the area you work and areas you have worked or still can work – you might even decide to create a page dedicated to local areas to talk about things that people can do. Everything you can do to make sure search engines know you’re from a certain area will improve your hits.

Contact Information
Make sure to list your contact information on your home page, the content us page, and every other page of your website. Place it somewhere that won’t get in the way, but where a potential customer can easily spot it if they want to get in touch: the footer of the website is good place! (Contact information means: your business name, any relevant telephone numbers, and your business’s address.)

Local Listings
From free directory websites to review sites like Free Index, you want as much in the way of local listings as you can possibly get pointing back to your website. The more you can spread your name on other sites the more traffic you can get – and the more you can convince search engines that you’re a relevant provider for services in that particular area. Make sure to keep these up to date!