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Jan 1, 2018

Local SEO Tips for Small Businesses

written by Blake Van Leer

Blake Van Leer

First and foremost, everyone needs local SEO. Whether you are a SEO pro or amateur, you understand how a local presence helps your apartment obtain geo-targeted traffic. If you’re totally new to SEO, and don’t understand why local SEO is important, then simply ask yourself this: “Am I marketing a physical location?” Yes? Boom, you need local SEO. That doesn’t mean you have to leave behind all the traditional elements of SEO (i.e. keyword searches, page ranking, etc.), you’re just simply adding another tool to help obtain more qualified local traffic for your business.

Pro, amateur, or newbie, we all can benefit from local SEO tips. It’s important to know that Google and other major search engines are still trying to master local search results for their users. Typically, the search results are very broad, which means you should remain creative when listing your business locally. So, be sure to include a neighborhood nickname in your listing to get the best results. For instance, instead of listing a region like “North West” or “DC, use a neighborhood keyword such as “Dupont Circle,” “Adams Morgan,” “Logan Circle,” etc. You should also talk about your neighborhood on your listing page because it helps with relevance to boost your local ranking, for example, mention notable landmarks or established neighborhood stores.

While others are simply using AdWords or traditional SEO, there are plenty of additional implementations you can make to your listing to help stand out locally:

  1. City and state in title tag. This should help you stand out with local rankings immediately. Make sure to mention something about your neighborhood.
  2. City and state in URL. You don’t need a home page with this info, but your otherwebpages can. This will help you with local relevance.
  3. City and state in content. This should be a no brainer; obviously, you need to include content about your city and state.
  4. City and state in alt tags. This is often over looked, so make sure you include the city/state in your alt text.
  5. City and state in meta description. If you didn’t know already, meta description doesn’t help much with ranking. It does, however, help with your click through rate.
  6. Include an embedded Google Map. This is very important! Ensure that your embedded map points to your Google Plus listing!

This should help you build better results with more qualified traffic!

 


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