In short, SEO is used to make your website appear in the first places of a search engine, that is to say, to have a good positioning on the internet. With this we can understand that local SEO for small businesses is an important element with which they will be known in the community,
This technique shares many of the same characteristics as conventional SEO, and its objective is the same: to achieve a good positioning, but with an additional ingredient: the location of your business.
When you have a small business, you are interested in positioning yourself in the locality where it is located. In this way you attract customers from the area and increase your sales.
With local SEO you provide information, either in the form of content, customer reviews or accurate location, which gives value to your website at the level of local searches. Positioning yourself in the first places is hard work whose results can be seen in the medium and long term. On the other hand, local SEO allows you to achieve some objectives in the short term.
Elements for local SEO
A good local SEO strategy takes care of the following details:
- NAP (Name, address and phone)
Name, address and phone: key information about your business that should be constant. In every place on the web where your business appears these data should always be the same, because they will help you to position yourself and give confidence to users. The most important thing: when your information is consistent and truthful you are findable in the network of networks.
- Google My Business
Google, as always at the forefront, created this tool whose objective is to group local businesses and connect them with their customers. When your business has a Google My Business profile, it automatically connects to Maps and Google +.
what is the benefit? Well, Google+ is Google's social network and when you use it frequently you will rank higher in the search engine. Remember also that you can't forget about the other social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Use them connected to each other to offer a coherent image of your eCommerce and to promote the general and local SEO of your business.
- Customer reviews
When you get good reviews, you not only generate trust, but you also get a better ranking. Studies show that more than 70% of people read other people' s reviews before making a purchase decision. Getting good reviews makes Google's algorithm improve your ranking. Never buy reviews. If Google finds out, it penalises you and you lose your achievements. Strive for proper marketing actions with real customers to score positive points.
- Directory submissions
It makes you known in your geographical area. For Google and Bing algorithms, directory submissions are taken into account and rank you. On the other hand, it is also important to be careful with untrustworthy sites because they could damage your SEO.
Registering in a directory confirms that your business is part of a community and proves that you are a real business. All this will generate trust. Some directories are: Yelp, Yellow Pages, Einforma, Salir por España, among others.
Local SEO makes your small business profitable
Implementing a good local SEO strategy will make your business profitable in the short term and give it greater visibility at a regional level. Don't forget to monitor and measure results to check the benefits of your strategy.
