Companies of all sizes are having to take important steps to ensure they tick the boxes in terms of local SEO, which is a new algorithm recently launched by Google.
This requires that customers searching for products or services get the best results in their searches and find companies within their area to provide them with what they are looking for.
Of course for the small business owner, this means you have to identify with whether your site has the necessary requirements to improve your ranking and increase your brand visibility in terms of local SEO.
Due to the number of customers now relying on their smart phones when searching for products and services, local SEO ensures that the results they find are based on their current location, enabling them to find what they are looking for quickly and effectively.
What does this mean for you? The first thing is you need to ensure your website is local SEO optimized.
This means concentrating on a relevant domain name that relates to your business.
It also means paying close attention to your keywords and including some long tail keywords that include your location.
Where you would have put "dog groomer" as your keyword, you will now want to include some longer tailed keywords, such as "dog groomer London," for example.
Remember when using keywords and long tail keywords you don't want to over stuff them, sticking to one keywords per one hundred words is more than enough as SEO isn't based around keywords anymore.
SEO is a much more detailed process that takes everything about your website and marketing into consideration.
You need to ensure your company information is clearly visible.
This is your company name, address and contact telephone number.
Instead of only supplying this information on your home page or contacts page, it now needs to be visible on every single web page, making it easier for search engines to identify where you are located when customers are searching for that particular product or service in their local area.
It's also advisable to add some local information onto your pages or your site, this can help increase your local visibility and ensure the search engines are aware of where you are located to help you get up the search engine ranking ladder.
In addition to your website, you will also want to update all your business listings on other sites.
Take advantage of Google + business listings and ensure that the address and details you provide match those on your website.
Also ensure on business listings that you are under the correct category, ensuring you can be found quickly and easily.
Search engines take advantage of business listings to find the relevant companies for searches.
Share your pages on your social media pages and work on linking your pages to other sites.
Page linking can be a valuable way to improve your SEO efforts and ensures that the search engine computers pick you up wherever they search.
Another thing is to get involved in local events.
Consider advertising a local event on your web page.
This means when it's picked up, your site will be seen.
An added help to ensure you achieve online success in search engine results.
Take full advantage of social media.
Ensure you showcase your name, address and contact details on Facebook and Twitter.
Update your status regularly to keep customers informed and build up a fan base.
The more followers you have, the more you will be noticed, directing them to your web page and enjoying great success.