Ways to Rank your Local Business Using SEO:

Companies who own a local business need to focus on their local SEO to achieve a good rank in localized search results. Appearing in these search results helps a lot to the local businesses. Yes, because people who perform area wise search for any service or product are usually planning to go to a particular area to make a purchase.

But, being in the top of local search results is not an easy task. If your business is situated in a very famous area, then the chances of appearing in these search results become lesser. This happens because there are many other companies as well who must be focusing a lot on their local SEO.

So, to outrank them, you need to go a step ahead of them in your local SEO efforts. We have discussed this topic with our best SEO consultants to find the most effective methods of getting the desired rank in local search results. Want to know more? Let’s learn the process of doing it:

1. Improve your Google My Business Page:

First of all, you need to inform Google about your business. You can do that by filling up all the information related to your business on Google My Business. Google can only identify and properly rank the local businesses that are listed on this page.

So, marking your presence on it is essential for your local business. Don’t forget to read all the guidelines laid by Google before filling up this information. After reading this, fill all the necessary information of your business on the dashboard correctly.

Follow the given steps for optimizing your Google My Business page:

1. Claim your Business to Verify it:

Initially, you need to verify your business on Google. For this, search your business name in the search box to find its Google page. You will see an option saying “own this business?” Click on it to begin the claiming process.

It will take you to another page where you need to fill up some information to verify that you are the owner of this business. You will see a verified stamp every time you log in to your business dashboard after completing the verification process.

2. Update the Business Information:

Your business page may contain wrong or out-dated information as Google update it on the basis of the audience’s suggestions in case the business wasn’t claimed by anyone. Now that you have verified your business, you should check all the information and update it.

The name of your company, your contact details, your office address, your working hours, and the link to your website should be exactly correct. Also, add the area code in the address.

3. Add Photos and Descriptions:

Add a crisp description of 150-300 words with a few keywords. Don’t stuff your content with so many keywords and only add relevant information in this description. Follow the guidelines of Google while creating this description. Also, add high-quality images of your workspace, products etc. to appear as an authentic organization.

4. Ask your Customers for Adding Reviews:

Reviews are a very significant part of your Google Business page, so ask your customers to add reviews related to their experiences. You can also ask your employees to add a few reviews from the perspective of employees. People usually read Google reviews before visiting any place.

2. Optimize your Website:

You must also add necessary information on your website to build your local identity and appear in local search results. Optimize the given areas of your website:

1. Meta Description and Title Tag:

Always add any local element in your Meta description and title tags. Using local keywords in your content helps your website is appearing in local search results. For example, you can write “toy shop in Delhi” instead of “toy shop” in your content if you own a toy shop. But, arrange these in a way that they should look natural.

2. Landing Page Content:

Optimize your landing page content by adding top ranking keywords and some local keywords in it. If you don’t feel the need for local keywords in your content, then you can also add your local business address at the bottom of your landing page to increase your local visibility.

3. Update the Business Information:

Ensure that you have added right NAP in your website as well. The business information like address, contact number, etc. should be same on your website and your Google My Business page. Also, remember to add the business hours on your website as 97% of consumers take the help of internet to find this information.

3. Build Local Links and Citations:

Having high-quality backlinks and natural citations also help in improving your local EO ranking. Having local links works like the icing on the cake for your local ranking.  But, the question is how you can build this type of links.

To end your confusion, we are listing a few tips for building local links manually.

• Add your business into local awards.
• Partner up with local publications and newspapers to build links with them.
• Find local events related to your business field. Sponsor them to get backlinks and mentions on their websites.
• Provide good offers and discounts to local organizations to build connections and get backlinks from them.
• Take part in local charity drives and donations.

In addition, you also have to build citations manually. Your objective is to appear in three types of directories, namely national, local and industry-relevant. You can take the help of online tools to get information about your existing citations.

This knowledge will assist you in reaching to other sites on which your business is not cited currently. Your business should be cited by some of the main directories like Facebook, Yellow Pages, Yelp, FourSquare, Yahoo and LinkedIn.

So, by following these three crucial steps, you can get the desired local ranking for your local business. Apart from it, you can also take the help of SEO consultants in this whole process.