Local SEO Tips for Your Business

Be at the top of the list when customers are looking to hire and buy and are in the nearby vicinity. With a solid local SEO plan, you can optimize your website for local search. With this, you can make new patrons that you can build into loyal customers.

Here are some ways you can be more easily found in the Internet by users in your area:

• Claim and maintain your accounts in local business search engine pages. Rather than passively let Google Places for Business, Local Google+, Bing or Yahoo list you down, claim your account. That way, you are able to provide accurate and updated information such as your opening hours, location and contact information. You are also able to control the images and monitor your reputation. These directories may require you to verify your identity as the owner of your store or shop. With sites such as Google, you also get access to statistics such as the number of clicks and visits. In addition, Local Google+ Pages provides you with the valuable opportunity to reach out to your customers.
• Provide consistent information for all your accounts. When maintaining your multiple accounts across the different search pages, be sure that all of them provide a consistent set of information. Otherwise, the disparity in information may mess up your rankings.
• Optimize your local pages. One important step in optimizing your local pages is to make sure that you have it properly categorized. That way, someone who is looking for the products or services you offer can more easily find you. Local search engines usually allow you to place your business in up to 5 categories. You can also optimize your local pages by regularly uploading photos into your local page.
• Claim and maintain your accounts in Yelp and other related listings. These review websites or directories can help boost your search engine rankings. You also get access to your customer’s insights so that you get to know them better.
• Make use of social media. Aside from Google+, you also have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to increase your exposure to the World Wide Web. Again, these accounts should have your key information. Be sure to have your accounts listed as a local business.  That way, customers can tag you when they are in your store. Otherwise, the social media website can create a page and you potentially lose likes and tags.
• Use localized keywords and use this for your website. For instance, if you have a coffee shop in Chino, California, then you should use “Chino California coffee shops”. Maintain your keywords so that you use the appropriate keywords for your website. Once you have the keywords, create relevant and quality content. Keywords should not be used indiscriminately; rather, they should be carefully incorporated into the content, content that is created for human readers to read. You should also keep meta titles and meta descriptions updated – with keywords included.
• Blog about your business. Provide quality content that also contains links and details about your location. You can also regularly talk about what’s happening in your store, what sales and PR activities your customers can get involved with.
• Encourage customers to give you reviews. Go for authentic user experiences and reviews, rather than generating fake ones. Your credibility will seriously be damaged if customers and the search engines find out about the fake reviews. Your customers can leave their reviews on a particular website. Remind them not to copy and paste one review into all the sites. When asking for reviews, give your customers the option of not using their social media accounts.
• Practice sound PR strategies. Work to generate extra buzz for your local business by building relationships with local bloggers and feature sites. You can also hold interesting and share-worthy events that people would like to tag, tweet or share. You multiply your reach by having your customers spread the word for you using their social media accounts.

About Adaptivity Pro

For Utah SEO, you can trust the experts at Adaptivity Pro. We offer a complete range of web-based services – from Utah website design, optimizing the website for SEO and providing regular quality content.