Have a business and a website? Time to get Local.
Times are changing, and some of the old marketing habits by consumers are returning. For instance, over the past couple of years consumers searching for local business on the internet has increased to 85 percent. Now that the novelty of the internet has calmed, and big box stores are less popular, consumers are going local. This makes it more important than ever for you to market your business with your local target audience.
Your local SEO strategy should be taken seriously so that your business scores a consistently high rank on local search engine results pages (SERPs).
Here are some of the best tips for beginners and seasoned SEO pros alike to beef up your local visibility.
1. Claim Your Listings!
Your site may be already listed on several local sites and you don't even know it, and there may be other great local sites you aren't even aware of that you should be on. One of the easiest ways to find out is to use Synup. Synup allows you to search for your listing on local pages, claim them, manage them and even manage the reviews for them.In addition, Synup's great list of Top Local Citation Sources let's you see which sites to check for your business and get listed if you're not already on them.
2. Citation Sources
Speaking of citation sources - you need to build local citations in order to improve your local search rankings. There are thousands of citation sources on the web and you need to figure out which ones are right for your business.Whitespark's Local Citation Finder helps you fine and track hundreds of citation to find out where to list your business. It's as simple as entering a key phrase and searching for citation sources, showing you high-quality sources for your niche. In addition, analyze successful business competitors in your market and show you which citations they use.
3. MOZ Local
As I've said before, MOZ is an indispensable tool. Not only should it be the first listing you make for a new website, but it's worth revisiting as you grow.MOZ Local makes updating listings simple. Enter your location information and Moz Local will push this data to well-known, high-quality online directories and top-tier data aggregators in the business.
Your business’s local listings are a critical element of your local SEO strategy and you can’t afford to do it wrong. Let your potential customers easily find you in their area!