The Learning Center

Everyone knows the basics of SEO and if you don’t, well, they aren’t hard to find. So if everyone knows or can easily learn the basics, how do businesses improve their rankings on search engines when every competitor is using the same strategies? They hire a local SEO expert. Luckily for you, we have five super secret tactics local SEO experts use. With a little hard work you can employ the same tactics to improve your local rankings in the search engines.

1. Use Google Search Console

This isn’t really a secret as much as it is something business owners just don’t do. It can be a little technical, so it may take some reading up on. Google search console is the best way to assess your website’s health. It will let you know if Google can read your website, is indexing your website, and if your website is being flagged as spam or has been hacked.

Here is a great beginner’s guide to Google search console.

2. Complete Industry-Specific Citations

Don’t just settle for the same standard local citations. You need to do research on citations that are specific to your industry. It will take some extra effort and might even cost a little money but it can be worth it. It’s never a bad idea to test these. In some cases the listing itself may send business your way, which might be more beneficial than the SEO benefit of the link.

Here is another great list from Moz with local citations broken down by business category.

3. Create Geographic Specific Pages

This can take a lot of work, but if your business has multiple locations you are trying to rank for then it can be beneficial to make webpages specific to these locations. It’s important that these pages be unique. Using a template and simply changing the location names will not provide much SEO benefit. The key is to use unique content that is specific to the location.

4. Create Pages for Each of Your Services

Websites with more pages typically perform better in rankings than websites with low page counts. Use this to your advantage. If you are a remodeler, don’t simply have one page on your site about remodeling. You can easily expand upon this, including pages for specific types of remodeling you do. Kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, restoration, tiling, drywall––the categories are endless. Just be sure you can say enough about each category to merit its own page.

5. Completely Fill Out and Manage Your Google Business Profile

Completely filling out your Google business profile ensures your business is correct on Google’s map. It also ensures that when you do show up on the map, users can get accurate information on your business and see your customer reviews. In order for this to happen you must fill everything out on your business profile. Make sure you add pictures and your hours of operation as well as complete your business description. Don’t make anything too long and use bullet points where you can, so users will know what you do at a glance. And be sure to manage your profile after you complete it. Try to resolve bad customer experiences by responding to negative user reviews.

Optimizing your business for search engines doesn’t have to be difficult. You just have to know what to do. Try out these 5 SEO methods for your own business to see how well they work for you. And if you don’t see results within a few months, there are always local SEO experts around who live and breathe this stuff, can go way beyond the basics of SEO, and would love to help your business be found.