Local SEO Checklist
Tue Jul 09 2024
In this post we go over the most important SEO items for Local Businesses
What is Local SEO?
A local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategy is much different than a general SEO strategy for a few different reasons. Essentially, a Local SEO strategy is focused gaining the trust of search engines page rank trust, such as Google, on a local level.
Local SEO takes advantage of the benefits of being less likely to be on the same competition level as businesses who have spent billions of dollars to be top ranking in search terms.
Follow the advice of this guide and it will put you ahead of the majority of the SEOs who don't put full effort their local strategy. In return, you will see more clients from you digital marketing efforts.
Local SEO Checklist
- First thing is to ensure you have a website that has a built-in Content Management System (CMS). This is important because it allows you to make changes to the site at any given moment very easily. Wordpress is a great option!
- Setup Google Business Profile (GBP). This setup is critical as it allows you rank on Google Maps, which allows your customers to find you locally. GBP also allows you to keep your contact information up to date, turning leads into clients.
- Setup Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Both serve different purposes, but both allow you to watch and understand the traffic to your site better. Google Search Console is critical as it allows you to request reindexing from Google when you make changes to your site.
- Add professional images, logo, and content to your GBP that accurately represent your business.
- Ensure that your contact information is available on every page of your site. This increases your search engine trust, and helps your customers more easily contact you.
- Add Scheme markup to your site where appropriate (FAQ, How-To, Products, etc.).
- We recommend using Yeast SEO plugin if your using Wordpress as your CMS.
- Encourage your customers to leave positive Google reviews. These significantly impact your ranking.
- Ensure that all of you image have appropriate meta data (alt tags, descriptions, etc.).
- Create dedicated service area pages. This allows those who might not be close to your location, but still in your service area, to easily find your business.
- Link to high authority sites in your niche to increase your credibility.
- And much, much, more!
Closing Thoughts
We hope that this information is helpful in leading you in the right direction on your Local SEO strategy journey.
If you need help or would like experts to partner with you, Poieo Dev would be happy chat with you!
