The Fundamentals For Flawless Local SEO

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

If you are a small business owner and you rely heavily on your local community to stay afloat, mastering your local SEO can bring immense value to your business.

In this article, we’re going to share the fundamentals for flawless local SEO and how, with the right approach, you can dominate in your local community. Let’s get stuck in…

1. Claim your Google My Business Profile

The first and most important step of all is to claim your Google My Business Profile.

If you don’t know what that is, take a moment and type: “best seafood restaurant near me” (or something to that effect), into Google and see what comes up.

Those profile listings to the side with 1-5 Star Reviews, Contact Details, Images and a Map Location are optimised GMB profiles.

If you want to master your local SEO, you need to claim and perfect your GMB.

2. Fill out EVERYTHING with great care and consideration

Next, you need to invest a lot of time and effort into populating your entire GMB profile with all of the information necessary. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you along:

Fill out every possible section of your Google My Business account.
Upload high-quality photos and videos regularly (add street view).
Write a detailed and compelling ‘from the business’ description.
Have customers leave reviews (and respond to all feedback).
Tick off the relevant primary and secondary categories.
Be thorough with your contact information (all of it).
Mark the relevant attributes (disabled access, etc.).
Set up messaging and respond quickly.
Add all your products and/or services.
Publish posts on Google weekly.
Link your socials.
Answer FAQS.

Do all of this, and then continue to maintain your GMB profile. Optimise it regularly and update the relevant information as necessary. If you stay on top of this, you’ll be doing a whole lot more than most of your competitors.

3. Carry out extensive local keyword research

Another important aspect of flawless local SEO is knowing exactly what your ideal customers are typing into Google when actively searching for the services that you offer. You can use all-manner of online tools to study search volumes and competitiveness and then build a content creation campaign around these keywords.

You should also use this time to conduct further market research as well. This will give you a good overview of what your competitors are doing, and further understand your ideal audience.

4. Be active in your community

Another great way to not only bolster your local SEO, but improve your brand awareness, is to be active in your community. Look for local businesses that you can create strategic partnerships with, host and take part in regular events, and do everything that you can to establish yourself as a local business that is dedicated to improving the quality of life in your local area.

5. Other important ranking factors Google is looking for in local businesses

Here are the primary local SEO ranking factors you need to be aware of:

Complete GMP profile (as mentioned above).
NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number).
Reviews (again, encourage your customers to leave reviews and respond to all feedback whether positive or negative, constructively).
Standard SEO practices (e.g., creating awesome, ‘share-worthy’ content, building backlinks with local websites ((local directories can be handy)), optimising your website well, etc.).
Relevant keywords (again, be thorough in your research).
Proximity to point of search (the only way you can get the most out of this is by filling out your address and contact details thoroughly).
Creating dedicated service / service area pages.
Properly internal linking on your website (help your users better navigate your website).
Make sure your website is mobile-first optimised.

Conclusion

As long as you are prepared to go above and beyond, mastering your local SEO is actually much easier than you might imagine. All it takes is dedication and a willingness to do what most businesses can’t be bothered to do.

That, and you should seriously consider investing in the experts. As you can see from this article, there’s an awful lot of work involved with mastering your local SEO, so hiring an SEO in Brisbane could be the key to gaining a competitive advantage.

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