Putting your business on the map is one of the priorities of any business owner seeking visibility. While you aim to expand your online reach, it is important to help customers near you find your business, especially if you have a physical store. This article guides you on optimising your website for local searches and conversions.
What is local SEO?
Local search engine optimisation entails making your website rank better in local search results. In other words, it is a strategy to make your site more visible to people close to you or your business. It ensures that when people search for businesses close to them, yours shows up first or on the first search engine results page. Hence, the benefits of local SEO range from improving visibility, and physical traffic, to building brand credibility and targeted advertising. It is, therefore, an important strategy to drive organic traffic and convert it into sales.
Optimising your website for local searches and conversions
Here are some key strategies on how to rank higher on local searches:
1. Use local keywords
Local keywords are words and phrases that refer to a geographical location. These include names of streets, regions, cities, towns, states or countries in some cases. Local keywords are important for SEO because people use them when searching for nearby services. Using these keywords in your website content, titles and meta descriptions would provide Google with information about your location. This would help rank your content high in related searches. For example, if you run a laundry service in Lagos, you can title your content “Ojuelegba laundromat” or any part of Lagos where your business is located.
2. Claim your Google Business Profile
Claiming your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is an easy process which Google offers for free. All you have to do is create a Business Profile and fill in information about your business, including name, phone number, opening hours, location, services or products, and website. The feature integrates with Google Maps, letting people find your business on the map with accurate directions. You can also add pictures of your services and exact location.
3. Leverage customer reviews
Encourage your customers to leave reviews and testimonials under your Business Profile. This helps you build a credible digital footprint and improve your local SEO. Potential customers can gain trust in your business and choose to patronise you after seeing reviews by satisfied customers. You could offer incentives such as discounts for reviews. Ensure to respond to these reviews promptly and regularly as it shows your efficiency in providing service and keeping clients happy.
4. Incorporate local schema markup
Local schema markup is a code or data that provides adequate information about your website to search engines. Search engines require technical tags such as this to understand your content and how to rank them in searches. It uses texts, tags and images to recommend your digital content to searchers. This is, however, a step only people with technical know-how can do like our team of experts at PrimeClick Media.
5. Optimise appropriate CTA
Use a clear call-to-action to your purchase site, address, or functional phone number, which will allow your traffic to access a sales representative for inquiries. Remember that local SEO aims to convert local traffic to your business. Hence, you should provide a seamless means of reaching your business for purchase after finding it online. You can also implement links to call or find directions to your store. Ensure your site is mobile-friendly and your CTA is accessible with a single tap.
6. Research on local interests
Find out the interests and demands of your target audience. This can inform your content and keyword choice, which helps you rank highly on search engines and attract local traffic to your business. You could also create a location-specific landing page which provides your website traffic with your address and contact information.
Conclusion
Enhance local SEO to attract nearby customers. Follow our tips to boost visibility. Contact PrimeClick Media for a free consultation to attract and convert leads.
