Does local SEO really matter?
93% of online experiences begin with a search engine like Google, Yahoo! or Bing.
If you’re like us, you need potential clients to find you online when they search for you. Period.
As you can imagine, there are lots of people searching Google for web design companies. And the competition is fierce. We all know that very few go to page 2 of Google searches. So, if we’re not on the first page for searches like “dallas web design” or “web design tyler tx,” we may as well be on another planet. To avoid playing digital hide-and-seek, we needed to perform a series of tasks aimed at optimizing local search visibility.
Here is a sneak peek as to how we did it and how you can do it too.
Step 1: Set up & complete your Google My Business profile.
This is your first and most crucial step.
Google your business address. Copy the address precisely as Google has it. Don’t modify it or change it in any way. If your phone number is listed there using dashes between the numbers, don’t use dots on your website.
You will also need to have the Google My Business listing fully filled out or completed as much as possible. The more, the better. Get all the correct sizes on your logos and cover photo and be sure and add all your products or services.
Make sure there is a way to gather and promote local reviews for your listing as well.
2. Set up your other business citations.
Google My Business will be your primary citation, but you still need scores more. They all need to be verified and completed and 100% consistent with each other. An excellent tool to acquire these is to use a service like BrightLocal.
Google is looking for a good user experience. If someone wants to get in touch with you, can they do that easily from the listing you provide? Is it confusing? Are they working?
Make sure on all your listings that you pick the right business category(s).
3. Create pages for your services.
Make sure your website has pages for each product or service that you plan to market.
This will allow you to use various keywords throughout, which will greatly enhance your chances of visibility. Google wants to direct traffic to the sites that have content specified to the interest of its users.
This helps with SEO and gives the best user experience, which is one of Google’s top-ranking factors.
4. Create pages for your service areas.
You will also need “city pages” if you offer in a specific geographical area.
EX: HVAC companies operating in North Texas will want to have pages for each city in North Texas (“hvac company dallas tx”, hvac services denton tx”).
You can do the same with counties. Be as specific as you can. You could even go into neighborhoods and even streets. It all depends on the search volume related to your business.
A reference tool to help you determine this would be this one from Neil Patel.
5. Make sure all On-Page SEO is done to perfection.
Be meticulous!
Ensure that all the alt tags and meta descriptions are completed. Make sure that your heading hierarchy is done correctly (H1, H2, H3, etc).
A good web design team will also make sure that your internal linking structure is optimized, giving you better chances to outrank your competition. But more importantly, a well-organized website is simpler and easier to navigate.
6. Continue creating relevant content.
Give the people what they want. Free stuff!
Continuously generate content that your visitors will want to read, bookmark, and share with friends. The more you beef up your site with relevant content, the longer your visitors will stay on your site and the more authority your pages will have.
The best way to do this is to blog. Posting 600-800 word posts once or twice a month will go a long way to push you past your competitors, who like you, are probably too busy to make these posts, but who also don’t realize their value for local recognition.
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