Local SEO used to be as simple as just making sure that your company is represented in a few online business directories. However, it’s getting a lot more complicated than that. One of the biggest things that companies can do to improve their local SEO efforts is to stop using a microscope in your efforts. What does that mean? It means that it’s important to take a step back and stop analyzing elements as silos and start looking at the bigger picture.
Let’s take a look at why this highly focused approach hasn’t worked in the past.
Local SEO is not now nor has it ever been a single once and done marketing effort. All too often, companies of all shapes and sizes are coming across articles about how tactic X or tactic Y is the greatest development when it comes to local SEO. They realize that they aren’t doing it, so they stop the presses and focus all of their efforts on adding this newest element to their campaign.
This approach doesn’t work. Why? Because real local SEO is more than just getting consumer reviews or adding your business to online directories or adding your address and phone number to the bottom of all of your webpages and H1 headings. It’s all of these things working together to create a better online presence for your business. This is why it is so important to take off the blinders and start opening your eyes to the bigger picture.
So What Does It Mean? What’s The Big Picture?
Google has been and will continue to place significant emphasis on local search. Pigeon is not a test, it is here to stay, meaning that in order to survive, local businesses will have to adapt.
Back a few years ago, it was ok to nab a few great customer reviews and land a top spot on local Google search results. However, in today’s world, this is simply not going to work. The latest algorithm change is proof positive enough for that.
And, with the increasing use of mobile technology for local searches, the local results that Google delivers will become increasingly more unique because Google can how use GPS positioning to pinpoint each user in order to deliver the most useful results. This means that you are going to have to have the right relevancy signals in order to be competitive going forward. Rather than focusing on one or two local SEO tactics, you need to:
- Create truly outstanding content and optimize it for your local area.
- Create location pages that are unique and well-written.
- Create a blog and add exceptional local content to it regularly.
- Optimize, optimize, optimize your Google Places profile
- Focus on landing quality back links to your website
- Review your consumer reviews and get some more if you are lacking.
- Use social media more, not to advertise, but to really interact with your customers
In a nutshell, you need to do it all, and you need to do it well.
