The Basics Of Local SEO
Local SEO or local search engine optimization, as most of you would know, is very important for any website because it serves as the main factor in determining the search ranking of any site on the internet. An example of this would be attorney SEO and roofing SEO. What many people do not understand though is that it goes beyond just influencing the rankings. Local SEO has several other factors like off page and on page elements that must be taken into consideration. Let us take a brief look at what we mean by these concepts.
On-page optimization refers to those elements on a website that are optimized such that the search engines can index them easily. Examples of on-page elements that should be optimized include meta description, title tags, keywords, keyword density, and alternate colorization. Off-page optimization, meanwhile, involves things like keyword placement, domain name registration, link building, content optimizing, social bookmarking, article directory submission, backlinking, and the rest of the commonly known optimization tools. Since each of these is related to local SEO, we will collectively refer to them as Local SEO.
Off-page Local SEO is also important since it determines the ranking of any site in organic searches. This means that off-page factors also play an important role in local use. Keywords, for example, are very important in this regard. Many people search for a certain thing using a set of keywords. If your website is optimized with relevant keywords, then chances are that people will find it very easy to locate your website.
Now let’s take a look at on-page Local SEO. In this case, we are talking about things like optimizing your web copy so that people can easily find it when they do a search. This is known as on-page optimization. Another thing that you can do for on-page optimization is to use meta tags and other keyword stuffing methods. These methods can work, but are deemed to be less effective in local seo than keyword optimization.
On the other hand, off-page Local SEO involves optimizing websites that contain relevant keywords so as to be able to rank well in Google and other popular search engines. One such way to optimize your website for local SEO is by optimizing its URL. A different approach is to register your company name as the same as a popular search term. For example, if most people search “chicken cooked over a fire” in Google, you can register something like “chicken cooked on a fire” as your URL. This may not seem like much to do when you are located in the heart of the city, but if you have the right keywords, it can make a world of difference.
You may also want to consider using Google Maps to localize your website. If you are located in the city, Google has an easy way of determining which areas of the city are most likely to have searches regarding what you have to offer. In Google Maps, you will see a map of all the places near your location that have certain search volumes within the area you are targeting. To make it simpler for Google, they allow searchers to click on the appropriate arrows so as to determine which places around the world have search volumes corresponding to what they are looking for. You can then use these places to optimize your website and increase your chances of ranking highly in Google’s search engines.
In order to localize your website further, you should consider providing contact information other than a phone number. For instance, many people search for local businesses through their email address. If you are able to provide a phone number and website through your website, people will be more inclined to contact you. If you cannot provide a phone number, consider creating a blog on your website with a link to a phone number. People search for blogs and other websites similar to yours, and if you have a phone number listed on your blog, it could significantly increase people’s chances of reaching you in case they need further assistance.
Local SEO is an effective way of driving a lot of organic traffic to your website because it helps the search engines understand what you are offering. Organic search results tend to be more trustworthy and more likely to produce higher rankings in search engines like Google and Yahoo. These results tend to appear first on the pages of search results, so if you want to get good results, you have to take advantage of local SEO as much as possible. Do not rely entirely on paid advertising to gain more exposure. Make sure that you submit your website URL to as many search engines as possible, and you will soon see an increase in traffic as a result.
