Are you a local business owner with a website that keeps ranking lower and lower on Google search results list? A big reason for this may be that your local SEO is out of whack.
Allow me to explain.
Local SEO puts an emphasis on your business’s services in a variety of ways for organic search results. You’re competing against companies who are probably paying for ads on SERPs (search engine results page) which pop up above the scroll, or companies who are way ahead in the local SEO game.
But have no fear; I’ve come up with a few tips that will help your site rise in the ranks and gain more page views.
Get those reviews.
The more customer reviews your business gains online, the higher your site is ranked on the SERP totem pole. It’s been found that users, especially millennials like myself, prefer to see reviews before making decisions on a product or service. Those yellow stars will get you the clicks you’re looking for.
Link up.
There are two ways that your site will become more SERP-friendly through links. The first is interlinking, which is when you link to pages within your own site to boost their relevance. The second is through your site being linked to by relative sites’ pages. Both of these boost your relevance and credibility to search engines. Don’t worry about getting a ton of linkage though; go for quality over quantity here.
Be user-friendly.
This is a no-brainer: your site will gain more clicks and longer pageviews if it is easy to navigate. This all adds into SEO since search engines measure these two aspects for pagerank. A responsive web design definitely helps with aesthetic and usability across devices.
Keywords matter.
Despite some beliefs, having keywords in your content, especially in the page headlines (H1s and H2s), is still important. This means that if you are a semi-custom home builder and someone searches, “home builders richmond va,” at least some, if not all, of those words should be found on every one of your pages. But be aware of keyword stuffing, which makes your content sound forced or inorganic: a definite turnoff for the user.
Remember: Google Algorithm changes all the time.
Google uses a ton of factors to determine PageRank. It started out as a link-based system which measured hyperlinks on important sites for relevance. To help drive this home, there has been four updates to the algorithm already this year. With that being said, staying up-to-date should be on your SEO priority list.
