How to Optimise Your Website for Local Search: A Detailed Guide

Data indicates that almost one-third of online consumers use the internet to search for local businesses daily. This clearly shows the importance of local SEO. If you're running a business and not working towards optimising its web presence, you’re more likely to have a hard time getting noticed online; therefore, leading to lost business opportunities. Mastering local SEO allows your brand to remain competitive in search results because of geographical relevance. 

To help you optimise your website for local search, here are some of the top local SEO tips you can use and ensure that your business remains relevant in today's competitive business landscape. 

What is Local SEO and why is it important? 

Local SEO refers to the process of optimising your business for relevant local searches. In simpler terms, local SEO is the way businesses improve their online presence, especially for local target audiences. 

Optimising your website for local SEO helps your business stand out among the competition and drives more traffic through online leads searching for products or services that you offer. Furthermore, it boosts your local search rankings and improves your conversion rate. 

Top 7 tips to optimise your website for local searches 

1.  Create a GMB or Google My Business page  

An increasing number of consumers today use Google Maps to find products and services offered by their neighbourhood businesses. This makes it important to have a strong Google My Business account to rank high on both Google Maps and Google search results. 

To do this, you'll have to create an account and verify the business ownership. Once done, ensure the information mentioned on the said account is correct, including the contact details, photos, location, and hours of operation.  

2. Have consistent contact information 

It's important to use a consistent or exact name, address, and phone number (NAP) everywhere you mention your business. This also includes the website, social media profiles, and local directories that list your business. The importance of having consistent information across channels is immense, as any discrepancies or differences in your NAP can make search engines think you have two or more different locations. 

Make sure to cross-check that your NAP is the same all across. Also, make sure to prominently feature your contact details on your website for better local search results. 

3. Perform local keyword research 

One of the best ways to optimise your website for local searches is by performing a detailed local keyword search. Several online tools can help you get insights like which keywords are more relevant to your local business, what is their estimated value, and the current competition to rank for them. 

Apart from this, there are various other steps that you can take when preparing your keyword targeting for local SEO: 

• Work towards optimising your content for your specific area. You can either mention area-specific landmarks or focus on locally relevant information, such as local news and events. 
• Build backlinks to the most relevant pages by leveraging both community engagement and local directories. 

4. Prioritise local link building  

Link building is an integral part of traditional SEO techniques. Local link-building tactics further improve the search results for your business locally by concentrating only on your chosen area.  

The best way to do this is by getting backlinks from local websites, neighbourhood watch websites, local community groups, and other area-specific online pages. Additionally, you can also get in touch with nearby organisations to give you a backlink by being more involved in your local community.  

Some other ways you can get these links include hosting local events, offering scholarships or other forms of charity, sponsoring local sports teams, and tapping into local influencers or creators.  

5. Optimise each page to rank well for the specific keyword you're targeting  

Another way to appear at the top in local searches is by using the specific keyword phrase at several spots in both the wording and coding of your web pages. These include: 

• File name or URL of the webpage 
• Meta keyword and description tags 
• The header of the webpage within an H1 tag  
• File names of graphics used on the page  
• Subheaders of the webpage within H2 and H3 tags  
• Header tags using the keyword phrase at the end of the webpage 
• Hyperlinked text containing the keyword phrase  

6. Use local structured data or a SCHEMA markup 

Adding structured data markup, also known as schema markup, to your website’s code is a great way to optimise your website for local searches. It provides search engines with more information about your business, such as the products you sell, services you offer, reviews you’ve collected, etc. 

When you add structured data markup to your site wherever appropriate, you make your local business stand out among competitors. Using structured data markup helps search engines better determine what the website content is about. Google offers a structured Data Testing Tool that you can use to check and see if the markup you have added is properly implemented. 

7. Get yourself listed on local review sites 

To master local SEO, ensure your business gets listed on other local review sites. This will help you gain higher visibility among other local businesses. Apart from better visibility, it will help you with user reviews and allow your business to gain more trust from future users. Some of the top local review sites you can try include Yelp, Yahoo! Local, Bing, Yellow pages, Google Places, and Angie's List.  

You can create free business accounts with some of these sites and encourage happy clients to write reviews about your business. These good reviews can go a long way in making your business stand out in local search engine results. 

Master your Local SEO game with Vodien's Managed SEO Services 

Local SEO is an excellent way to promote your business online and attract more organic traffic to your website. Using the above strategies, you can optimise your website for local search and improve your chances of being found easily by potential customers when they're looking for the products or services that you offer. 

So, what are you waiting for? Get started with Vodien's managed SEO services, implement these tips, and see the results!