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Content is the backbone of digital marketing success, regardless of what channel that content appears. It's what helps you connect with your target audience and build a relationship with them. That relationship is essential for turning leads into customers. And customers into brand advocates.
And because search engine now is wiser and more intelligent, the quality of your content is more important than ever if you want to rank well on search engine results pages. If you produce content that doesn't provide relevant information and users leave your site without engaging, that's a sign to Google that your content is not good.
So, we've justified the importance of producing quality content. What if you want to dominate the local search for your niche? How do you write content for local SEO? What aspects should you keep in mind?
What does Local Search Engine Optimization Mean for Local Businesses?
When you want to rank for local search engine results pages, you're aiming for people in a specific town, village, or neighborhood to find and visit your business. Sites focusing on a local demographic are much different from those focusing on a global or national audience. And because of that, their SEO strategies are different as well.
Local SEO means optimizing a business site to rank higher in local search results. The goal is to attract visitors from a specific geographic area who are looking for the products or services that you offer. It involves ensuring your site includes your business city name and address in the right places.
Additionally, local businesses such as restaurants, cafes, and boutiques where there is plenty of foot traffic can use local SEO. Even businesses that don't have a walk-in office or shop but are selling to a local demographic, like a roofing company or a plumber, can benefit from local SEO.
So, how important is local SEO to local businesses?
- 45% of all Google searches are for local businesses
- 95% of local searches are from people who use their mobile devices, 59% visited the business, and 61% called
- 88% of mobile searchers either visit or call the business within 24 hours
These stats show that if your business isn't optimized for local SEO, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers. Also, Google's local pack is the "crowning achievement" of local search marketing.
These are the top three local businesses that appear in the local pack:
- The business with the best reviews
- The business with the most Google My Business (GMB) interactions
- The business that has been open the longest
How does a business manage to get itself into the top three of the local pack? The answer is: by doing everything right with their local SEO strategy. It starts with understanding local SEO, how it works, and producing winning content. You can also work with us, a local SEO company, to help you with your local SEO strategy.
How to Leverage Content for your Local SEO Efforts
Content plays a significant role in local SEO. It's much bigger than you may think or imagine. Whether it's posting on local business blogs or optimizing your web pages or local search terms, content marketing should be a key part of your local SEO strategy.
So, how can you create effective local content? Here's how:
Localize Your Web Content
The first ingredient of a winning local SEO content strategy is localized web content. That means optimizing your website pages for the local keywords or search terms your target audience are searching looking for.
And this requires extensive keyword research to find the correct local keywords to target. Tools like Google's Keyword Planner, Moz's Keyword Explorer, and SEMRush's Keyword Magic Tool can help you with this. These tools also reveal search competition and volume to help you pick the right search terms for your business.
Let's say, for example; you're a Los Angeles-based law firm that specializes in personal injury cases. Some of the local keywords you may want to target on your website could be "Los Angeles personal injury lawyer," "personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles," or "Los Angeles car accident lawyer."
Then, map these search terms into your web pages. For instance:
- Home page: "Los Angeles personal injury lawyer"
- Car accident claims: "Los Angeles car accident lawyer"
- Personal injury claims: "personal injury lawyer in Los Angeles"
Optimize Your Content According to These Keywords
Once you have determined the local search terms you want to target, it is time to optimize your local web pages. And to do this, make sure to follow the best on-page SEO practices on your pages:
- include your target keyword in your web page's URL and in the title tag of your website
- write an instructive, brief meta description
- write keyword-rich, useful body content
- use headings throughout the page
- add optimized image alt text
- link internally
Each web page must be optimized for a unique search term to prevent pages on your site from competing on the same keyword. Also, select a term that is most relevant to what the post content or web page is about.
Have A Detailed and Complete Contact Page
Your contact page is one of the most important pages on your website. It provides helpful context to search engines and users to what your business is about and where it is located.
Note that an inefficient and disorganized contact page is one of the most common local SEO mistakes. It's a missed and overlooked opportunity to reach out to your target market and improve your website's ranking on the search engine results pages.
With that said, your website's contact page must concisely and effectively define your business and where it's situated. It's best to include the following for effective optimization:
- your business hours
- your business name
- a contact form
- your local business address
- your business contact information
- an embedded Google map to your business
- directions to your physical location
By optimizing this page, you make it easier for your audience to get in touch with you and know where you are. Also, this helps the Google algorithm understand where your business is located, raising your chance to rank high in local searches.
Write Local Content
As mentioned, your website pages are not the only place for local content. Your blog can also be a powerful platform to show your audience that you're an expert in your field and that you're located in their area.
For example, you can write about local business updates, scholarships, local trends, local events, and more to attract local users. Be sure to get creative and be resourceful with your blog content ideas.
Don't forget to include your localized keywords to help improve your blog post's ranking on the search engine results pages.
Submit Guest Posts
We all know that guest posting is an influential content marketing strategy for driving traffic and links to your site. But did you know that it can also serve your local SEO strategy?
To start, you must first do some outreach to local businesses seeking guest posting opportunities. Then, while you might not always get a link, you can use their customer base to your edge and drive local traffic.
Say, for example, you wrote a guest post for a local business in Los Angeles. You can add a CTA at the end of your post, asking their customers to visit your website for more information.
Get Active on Social Media to Grow your Local Audience
People are on social media every day, whether to connect with friends, read the news, or for business. And since social media is such a powerful platform, you can use it to improve your local SEO.
You can promote your website and blog content on social media to grow your local following and engage followers. Also, you can join local groups to target local users in your area.
Another thing, you can share localized content to reach your target market and get more leads. Finally, don't forget to follow local businesses and event pages to see what they post.
Conclusion
You can create the best content, but if your users can't find them, you will not be able to attract the local organic traffic you need to grow your business. Local SEO is not easy, but it is worth it.
While it's recommended to follow the above tips to improve your local businesses online, we also recommend working with us, a local SEO marketing Agency. We have the experience and knowledge to help you rank higher on Google and attract more customers.
We can help you create and optimize your Google Business profile and produce content that is optimized for local SEO. So give our digital marketing agency a call today to learn more about our SEO services!