The one thing that a business person can count on in the world is competition, and that means you always have to be thinking of ways to get ahead of the competition. For instance, if you own a web design company, you should make sure you’ve touched all bases locally, so everyone is aware that you are the best web designer in town. One way you can do that is to improve your local reach through various SEO strategies that will improve your ranking, and get you noticed more by local customers. Here are some of the tactics you should be using to increase your local reach through SEO.
Claim your business listing
Not only should you claim your business listing online, but you should constantly be checking on it, so you’re sure there are not duplicate listings. Some of these may be inaccurate and some may be out of date, and it’s in your best interest to have only current, accurate information about your company online. In order to be sure that you’ve found all the listings associated with the company you run, you can use a tool like MozLocal.
Add location pages on your website
You should have a specific landing page online for each organization that you have, or for each of your business locations. This will allow search engines to quickly find your listings, and deliver the right one to Internet searchers. Remember to provide as much accurate information as possible for each of your locations, to help local searchers find you.
Be consistent with name and address
It’s very important that your name, address, and phone number are consistently displayed across all your online listings. You should also be specific about how the words street, road, and avenue are written. All of these displays should agree with what’s written on your website, so that you can have consistency throughout.
Encourage reviews
Just as good reviews can boost your local ranking, bad reviews can sink you lower. You should do everything possible to encourage good reviews, and that means you have to provide great service and make your customers happy. When you do get a negative review, you should react calmly and try to contact that individual, and then make every effort to correct what was wrong. If you provide outstanding service to your customers, and earn the coveted five-star designation, you will have instant social proof that yours is a worthwhile business which should be patronized by everyone.
Acquire backlinks
First you should make a list of all organizations and businesses which you partner with, or which you sponsor in some way. Charitable organizations should be included on this list, as well as any other community groups which you’ve been involved with. Then you need to reach out to the organizations on this list and ask them to include a backlink to your site, because Google considers backlinks an indication that others have found your site useful.
Produce local content
It’s always a good idea to include content on your website which references local businesses, landmarks, and establishments. This will encourage a sense of pride in all local readers, and they will immediately include you in their circle of trust, because they consider you part of the local scene. Creating content which is all about your local niche will also boost you in the local search rankings. So if you’re a Boston web design company, your business name should be prominently featured in the Boston local listings.
