Perhaps your most important and crucial SEO marketing efforts are those that focus on local traffic and business. This is especially important to those brick and mortar locations. In fact, having a physical location can actually be an advantage for you. Knowing where to place your efforts, and how to maximize their effects, is what will keep you the dominate player in local search for a long time to come.
- One of the first things you need to do is discover where you actually need to be. Google, of course, is the search god and declares how it will be. So for local dominance to begin, you will need a Google My Business page. This is an absolute must if you want to boost your local visibility and traffic. The page is free and will not take more than a half hour or so to have it up and running for you. Aside from the basic info, make sure there are plenty of photos of your business. This page will be invaluable too you.
- In addition to this, find as many local directories as you can and be certain that you are in them. There are more than a couple of services that can help you get into dozens, if not hundreds, of local directories. Reviews and customer testimonials are a huge boost to our local SEO and will allow you to dominate. Talk to a large group of your current customers and clients and persuade them to give you both written and video testimonials. Your local brand recognition will begin to skyrocket.
- Backlinks are crucial to your overall SEO efforts. They are a leading search parameter with regard to how Google views the value of your website. Getting quality local backlinks will keep you in the local mix even when a search is being done for one of your backlinks. Finally, always be updating and refining your on site SEO. Your site is your window to the world. If your site itself is not driving traffic, then all other strategies are not going to help.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
