2022 Local SEO for Small Businesses Guide: 12 Brilliant SEO Tips

2022 Local SEO for Small Businesses Guide: 12 Brilliant SEO Tips

SEO Chief Outsiders

If you’ve just gotten a handle on the concept of search engine optimization (SEO) then local SEO might be throwing you for a loop. And that’s a problem because local SEO is more important for your business than you realize.

It gives you local scale exposure, capitalizes on the growth of mobile search, and, of course, can be a major profit-maker (if you play your cards right).

Not sure about what local SEO is, or not sure how to use local SEO for small businesses? No worries. We’re introducing you to the concept, why it’s so important, and what you can do to make your way to the top of your local SERPs.

“Happy to share helpful tips to keep your web projects running smoothly. Also here to answer SEO questions.” Sandy Rowley, Digital Marketing Expert 775-870-0488

“Impressive knowledge of SEO and other digital marketing strategies.  We contracted Sandy for 6 months to recover lost SEO and position our software development company as a leading offshore service provider.”  Client Name Kept Anonymous View reviews within the Chief Outsiders Platform.

Orange County Software Company

Local & National SEO, Chief Outsiders

What is Local SEO?

First things first: what is local SEO?

Basically, it’s all the tools of search engine optimization, utilized to make sure that people within a certain geographical area can find your brick-and-mortar shop.

Think of it this way: while anyone from Oslo to Taipei can rank for “how to fix a clogged drain,” only a certain group can rank for, “best plumber in Reno.”

Why You Need It

That’s all fine and good, but why do you need local SEO anyway? After all, if you’ve already got an SEO strategy in place, shouldn’t that be enough?

Not quite.

Let’s start with this simple fact: smartphone users will hit 3 billion in 2018 and are predicted to hit 3.8 billion in 2021.

Of those people, 45% of users aged 18 to 29 use mobile search daily. Of the estimated 30 billion annual mobile searches, 12 billion are local.

But the real kicker?

Local searches lead 50% of mobile searchers to visit a store the same day, and annually, about 78% of local mobile searches result in offline purchases (for those who struggle with math, that’s roughly 9.36 billion purchases, give or take a few).

The point is simple: a lot of people search locally, and when they do, they’re looking to spend money. Usually on the same day, if you give them the service they’re looking for.

And you’d be a fool not to capitalize on a golden opportunity.

Tips to Conquer Local SEO in 2019

 

Sandy Rowley SEO Specialist 775-870-0488.

With that in mind, let’s talk about how you can conquer local SEO in 2019.

Now, a lot of larger SEO tricks apply to local SEO, like getting an SEO audit. And yes, there are plenty of fancy technical SEO tricks you could use to bolster your local SEO game if you really wanted to.

Here’s the thing: if you’re still struggling with the whole concept of SEO (or you just don’t have time to spend hours slaving over SEO when you’ve got a business to run) it doesn’t need to be that hard.

Here are 14 tips that you could probably conquer in a few hours if you set your mind to it.

“Since working with Sandy my web sales increased 500%.”  Larry Green View reviews on the Google platform.

Automatic Hay Feeder Company

International SEO, EEZkeeper.com

 1. Optimize for Google My Business

The first is surprisingly basic: optimize for Google My Business.

For those who are late to the game (or, you know, living in packing peanuts) Google My Business is a free tool provided by Google that’s basically a giant digital address book.

Chances are, you’ve encountered it before. You just didn’t realize it. Every time you Google a business and see a little box on the right-hand side with the business’s name, address, phone number, website, location, and even a few photos, that’s the handiwork of Google My Business.

You also didn’t know that you probably already have a Google My Business listing, you just didn’t know to claim it.

That’s a problem because if you don’t claim it, your competitor might (yes, that’s a competitive strategy).

Luckily, the process of claiming your listing is simple. Just log onto Google My Business and go through the verification process, at which point Google will mail a PIN to your business address. From there, enter the PIN, and you’re ready to optimize.

How do you optimize? Include all kinds of handy information, like writing a great business description, providing hours and contact information, detailing your payment options, etc.

Basically, if there’s information that Google My Business gives you the option to fill out, populate the text box. Your potential customers will thank you.

2. Ensure NAP is Consistent Across Directories

However, your work isn’t done once you claim your Google My Business listing.

Once you do that, you need to ensure your NAP is consistent across directories (Google, Bing, or anywhere else your business might be listed).

Don’t get worried. NAP stands for three essential details about your business:

  1. Name
  2. Address
  3. Phone number with area code

Some people will also include your website on this list.

Basically, these directory listings won’t do you much good if your information is inconsistent. Your customers will get frustrated and confused, and it makes your business look sloppy.

3. Title and Meta Description Tags

Itching for something slightly more technical?

Turn to your title and meta description tags.

Title and meta description tags are HTML elements that you can customize to reflect your webpage. You don’t need to do any coding to figure it out–like Google My Business, it’s something you’ve encountered before.

Whenever you type a search into Google, the blue title and the small description below it are the title and meta description tags.

It seems like a small detail, but it should be functionally treated as a mini-ad. This is your chance to get customers to click on your link instead of someone else’s (and to get the search engine to put you in page one).

So not only are you writing killer descriptions, you’re writing optimized descriptions.

4. Keyword Research for Local SEO

With that in mind, let’s talk about keyword research for local SEO.

You can argue until you’re blue in the face about the value of keywords or how to use them, but the fact is, keywords are still important. Especially for local SEO.

What’s the difference between a regular keyword and a local SEO keyword, you ask?

It’s simple: geography.

Remember earlier when we said that anyone in the world can rank for, “how to unclog a sink,” but only certain people can rank for, “best plumber in Reno,”?

That’s the same basic principle behind keywords for local SEO.

Basically, you’re targeting industry-specific terms that are also geo-specific, like “Las Vegas florist” or “car rental in Albuquerque”. A good place to start is to do a bit of digging on the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool to find geographically-specific terms that perform well.

5. Write for a Local Audience

Of course, you can optimize all day long and it won’t help you much if you aren’t, you know, writing content for a local audience.

This is true of both your human readers and search engine web crawlers–you need to build a solid online reputation.

Luckily, you can do this with a practice you (should) already do for your regular SEO: blogging.

Blogging is vital to a good SEO score because it shows search engines that you’re consistently providing helpful information to searchers. And the more you write, the more authority you gain on the topic.

Take this a step further by appealing to the local market. Find out what customers in your area are interested in and start writing blogs for them (with the appropriate optimization, of course).

6. Improve Internal Linking Structure

And while you’re blogging, you should take a closer look at your internal linking structure.

External links are SEO gold, but internal links are also important, since it aids in navigating your website, assists with information architecture, and distributes page authority among multiple pages.

So, if you’re writing about bathroom design and have previously written a blog post about quartz vs. marble countertops in the bathroom, find a way to naturally link to that blog post.

7. Use a Structured Data Markup Tool

A structured data markup tool is perhaps the most technical item on our list, but it’s not as complicated as the name makes it out to be.

Structured data markup, sometimes called schema markup, is added to the code of your website to directly provide search engines with information about what you sell, services you offer, and other important information about your business.

In fact, Google wants you to use structured data markup because it makes it easier for their spiders to index your website. They even provide a Structured Data Testing Tool.

So…what are you waiting for?

8. Online Reviews Still Matter

For all the work you’re doing behind the scenes, there’s one tried-and-true part of local SEO that you cannot ignore: online reviews.

Don’t believe it? Try this on for size: 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.

Many people will leave reviews on Facebook unprompted, so make sure this feature is turned on. You can also cut to the chase by asking customers who love you to leave a review of your store when they get the chance.

If customers are diehard fans of your store, they’ll usually be happy to do it.

9. Be Socially Active

This brings us to our next point: you should be socially active wherever possible.

And no, we don’t mean going out for a beer with friends. We mean the big bads of social media: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Snapchat.

Nearly a third of the world’s population is active on at least one of the major platforms, which is why your business needs to remain active. Go where the customers are.

The key is to avoid the used car salesman effect–don’t sell so hard that you annoy people or convince them they’re about to be scammed. Instead, think of using social media as it was originally intended: a vehicle to connect people.

10. Make a Mobile-Friendly Website

Oh come on, you knew this was coming.

Mobile usage has surpassed desktop, and Google rolled out their Mobile-First index. There’s no two ways about it: you need to be optimized for mobile.

If you have no idea whether your site is optimized for mobile or not, there’s an easy way to check: open your website on your phone. If you have to constantly zoom, or your graphics aren’t loading, or the pages take forever to load, guess what?

You’re not optimized for mobile.

11. Add Location Pages to Your Website

In case you haven’t caught on yet, local SEO is all about one thing: location.

That’s why one of the easiest things you can do to boost your business (besides claim your Google My Business listing) is include a location page on your website.

If you have multiple locations but only one website, no worries. Just create a page for each location. That way, users will know where to find you in their local area (and search engines will know how to index you properly, which is always a plus).

12. Maps, Maps, and More Maps

There’s no way around location without talking about maps.

There are a couple different things you can do with maps. For one, you should embed a map on your webpage. The good news is that this is pretty easy: just open Google Maps, enter your address, and click the link icon.

This will provide you with an HTML embed code to add the map to your website, making it super easy for any potential customers to figure out exactly where you are whenever they need you.

Plus, you can click on the customize link to choose from various options like sizing before embedding the map on your page.

Building Local SEO for Small Businesses

Local SEO might seem like a lot of work. And yes, we’ll admit–it can be time-consuming if you let it.

And while we all know that the payoff is worth it, that doesn’t change the fact that you’ve got a business to run and you don’t have time to learn how to manage SEO in your nonexistent free time.

That’s where we come in.

We offer a variety of services from digital marketing to search engine optimization and local SEO for small businesses. We guarantee our SEO work, and we’re dedicated to making sure that your business succeeds.

Ready to get started? Use our contact page to get in touch.

“We feel so fortunate to have been referred to Sandy. Her knowledge of SEO and marketing have been extremely beneficial to our company. She has fantastic ideas and is very enthusiastic in helping our company grow its online presence. Sandy offers free seminars to share tips and strategies. She truly wants to help her clients succeed! We would highly recommend Sandy to anyone wanting to grow their online presence..”   View reviews on the Google platform.

National Aircraft Parts Company

National SEO, Dana Shelton

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What does SEO mean?

SEO (search engine optimization) is used to position a website at the top of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines for a given keyword or phrase. instead of paying to have an ad at the top of these popular search engines, you can hire a SEO consultant to rank your website in the free clicks section of these websites.

How can SEO optimizing your website help generate more sales?

Easy, when a customer goes to a search engine like Google for instance, chances are, they already have an idea of what they are looking to buy or learn more about.

Most of the searches performed in Google of from people who are actively ready to buy something. Using SEO strategies correctly can position your companies website at the top of these search results, giving your company ideal placement at the very moment your customer is needing your products and/or services.

There are thousands of SEO companies and experts to choose from. Even large hosting companies like Blue Host offer SEO services. Make sure to read the fine print with the larger companies. If it is too good to be true, it often is. Think about it, if your website is listed at the top of the search engines for keywords that will make you thousands of dollars a month in revenue… why would a big company be selling SEO services to rank you #1 for that keyword for a few hundred bucks a month?

Most of these companies that sell cheap SEO services are not being honest. Make sure to do your homework and check out their reviews online for SEO first. You will be shocked to see how many of these large affordable SEO companies have horrible online reviews for a reason.

Hosting company, now offers SEO… check their reviews first. Mostly 1 stars! BlueHost complaints.

BlueHost, a cheap hosting company, does a pretty good job at explaining What is SEO?

However, please keep in mind, using cheap web hosting companies will hurt your SEO rankings in the long run.

How to choose the right SEO Expert for your project?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. There are several ways to optimize a website for ranking higher in the top search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.com

Research in Google these companies.

  1. Look at their reviews on Google, Yelp and FaceBook.
  2. Test the SEO experts own website and make sure they actually use SEO to acquire customers. Use free keyword tools to see how many buyer intent keywords the SEO experts own website ranks for.
  3. Call a few of the SEO experts clients and verify they actually helped that company. A lot of SEO companies online list fake customers in their portfolios.

How do most reputable SEO’s rank websites?

The first step is to do what is called on site optimization.

On site SEO includes some of the following:

  1. Making sure the website works well on mobile phones and other mobile devices.
  2. Checking that the website loads in under 2.5 seconds.
  3. Verifying that the website does not have missing or 404 error pages.
  4. The website has a good reputation on website review directories.

Learn more about SEO on Quora here: https://www.quora.com/What-is-seo-marketing

SEO consultant
Sandy Rowley, leading SEO consultant can be reached at 775-870-0488.

How can you find a local SEO expert you can trust?

  1. Reach out to local businesses that are ranking well in Google. Ask them if they would share their SEO expert contact information.
  2. Google “Your city name here + SEO Experts” who ranks at the top of the Google search results? Make sure they rank in the organic and not just in the AD or the Paid Per Click section in Google.
  3. Check out local SEO directories for top SEO companies in your city. These sites can provide some value to validate top SEO experts in your city, but keep in mind, these SEO directories charge for “top” SEO placements…which is paid advertising, not Search engine optimization. 🙂

Looking to try doing your own SEO?

Hubspot has a good starter SEO template here: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/seo-strategy

If you decide to venture into doing your own SEO, make sure to keep your company website safe from predatory SEO companies and scammers.

Some things to watch out for are:

  1.  Never buy back links from sites like Fiverr.com
  2. Never hire someones cousin, friend or son to do cheap SEO. They usually are not savvy enough to be up to date on the latest rules for SEO.       Work with someone who makes their living 100% online doing digital marketing.
  3.  Do not use black hat SEO strategies. yes, they work, but in the long run will ruin your trust and authority with Google.
  4.  Entrepreneur.com has a great article on bad SEO practices here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225379

You can also find a local internet marketing workshop. Often these workshops are helpful in pointing you in the right direction. I host free workshops each month in Reno Nv and also provide one on one SEO coaching over the phone and computer screen share. You can call to learn more. 775-870-0488 and ask for Sandy Rowley.

seo companies near me

Search engine optimization expert, Sandy Rowley can be reached by calling or texting her at 775-870-0488. She is located at 450 Sinclair St, Reno, NV 89501.

 

 

“SEO”
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Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s unpaid results—often referred to as “natural”, “organic”, or “earned” results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a website appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users; these visitors can then be converted into customers.[1] SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, video search, academic search,[2]news search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. SEO differs from local search engine optimization in that the latter is focused on optimizing a business’ online presence so that its web pages will be displayed by search engines when a user enters a local search for its products or services. The former instead is more focused on national or international searches.

 

What does SEO mean?

SEO is an acronym that stands for “search engine optimization.” It is the process of optimizing a website for Google’s search algorithm so that the site can rank higher in search results. Higher rankings mean more traffic, which can lead to more customers and sales for businesses.

What is SEO?

SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization” or “search engine optimizer.” Deciding to hire an SEO is a big decision that can potentially improve your site and save time, but you can also risk damage to your site and reputation. Make sure to research the potential advantages as well as the damage that an irresponsible SEO can do to your site. Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including:

Review of your site content or structure
Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript
Content development
Management of online business development campaigns
Keyword research
SEO training
Expertise in specific markets and geographies.

What are the benefits of SEO?

SEO is an important tool for any website looking to drive traffic and improve their search engine ranking. By optimizing their site for specific keywords, they can appear higher in the search results and attract more visitors. SEO can also help to improve the click-through rate and organic traffic, both of which are important factors in driving sales and generating leads.

What are some common SEO strategies?

There are many different SEO strategies out there, but some of the most common include optimizing your website for certain keywords, building backlinks, and improving your website’s overall user experience. By doing these things, you can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages, which will ultimately drive more traffic to your site.

How can I learn more about SEO?

If you want to learn more about SEO, there are a few things you can do. You can read articles and blog posts about SEO, like the one you’re reading right now. You can also attend workshops and conferences about SEO, or hire an SEO consultant to help you learn more about how to optimize your website for search engines. Whatever method you choose, make sure you stay up-to-date on the latest SEO news and trends so you can keep your website ranking high in the search results.

Conclusion

If you’re running a business website, it’s important to make sure you understand what SEO means and how it can help you. SEO stands for “search engine optimization,” and it’s a way to improve your website’s visibility in search engine results pages. By optimizing your site for relevant keywords, you can attract more visitors and get more leads or sales. If you’re not sure where to start with SEO, there are plenty of resources available online to help you get started.