Most local brands try to implement local SEO tips, but it’s easy to get lost in the technicalities of Google’s complex algorithm. The best thing is that you don’t need to have an exact understanding of Google’s algorithm for ranking. The reason behind this is that Google’s objective is to give people the best and most suitable search results. Its algorithm is made to identify top-quality businesses on Google, not businesses with the highest optimization. It means if you offer a great-quality product or service to your audiences and deliver a pleasant customer experience, you have already achieved 80% SEO success.
How Google’s Search Algorithms Works For Local Businesses?
Basically Google’s algorithm is a complex machine that uses various signals. These include information on the product or service pages of your website, the number of reviews and their quality as well as business location. Google uses these signals to decide which business falls in the “best” category on its search engine. Google’s support page tells you about the three most important ranking factors that its algorithm focuses on when it comes to website optimization for local search:
- Relevance
Relevance means that you offer services or products that people want on Google. For instance, if someone is searching for a cake business, a website specializing in cake baking will likely rank higher than a generic yoga studio.
- Distance
Google wants to make sure that the physical location of your business is close to the person who is searching for it on Google’s search engine. But if someone doesn’t give access to Google about their location or the business is not present where the person is searching from. In this case, Google’s algorithm may look at the businesses that are centrally located in that place.
- Prominence
Prominence means how well-known a brand is. You can also understand prominence as your business quality (your products and services quality). For further understanding let’s take the example of two piano studios. Assume both studios are located near each other. How does Google determine which piano studio provides more better or higher quality than the other? Even though Google’s algorithm obviously cannot attend the classes, there are online signals it utilizes to judge your business quality.
For instance, if one Piano studio contains multiple positive reviews and is often mentioned by influencers, Google’s algorithm will assume its piano classes are better compared to the other studio. As a result, Google will rank it higher than the other one with few reviews or fewer mentions by influencers.
As it can be seen, the algorithm is developed to evaluate all three online signals (relevance, distance, and prominence). It uses them to decide on which business is most suitable for the people who are searching.
Create Different Pages For Each Location/Services
It’s quite possible that you have your home page, contact page as well as your about page. All of these pages are important. However, it is important to understand that potential customers evaluate and choose local businesses based on the quality of services and products as well as their location.
Therefore, your first step to local SEO (search engine optimization) should be to set up individual pages for each location and service that you provide. When creating your location pages, you must ensure that the information on each page is unique and relevant to that specific location. If your text will be the same, you could get a duplicate content penalty from Google. To avoid this, include elements like customer reviews, staff details, or multimedia for each location. This will also help you rank better for local queries like ‘seo services in lahore‘ specific to that location.
One of the great methods to make the content on each location page unique is to include different kinds of information. For instance, different reviews from that specific location, different staff at each location, and photos and videos also of that location. Other than the location pages, it is important to set up individual pages for each of the services you offer.
Do Your Keyword Research
To improve local search rankings, every page on your business website should target a primary keyword. The primary keyword should be the one that customers might search for when they search for your services and products. One of the main questions is which keyword you should select and how to search for a list of potential keywords. One of the easiest ways to find keywords is by doing a quick search for any specific term that customers may search for when looking for a service your business offers. After that, you should click on the top result that can take you to a service page. Then copy that URL and paste it into tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush. When you are done with this then click on “organic keywords” options to view specific keywords it ranks for. You should select the keyword with the highest search volume that your business website can smoothly rank for.
Optimize Your On-Page SEO
When you are done with understanding which pages you should include on your website and the primary keyword each page should target. Then the question occurs: how can you optimize a specific page to rank for that specific keyword? First, you should add the main keyword in the title tag and create a meta description. If you utilize WordPress platform, you can take advantage of tools like Yoast SEO. If you use a different website builder, you can search for that website builder name in the format “title tag and meta description.” Doing this helps you find a guide on how to add this to each page. Moreover, it is a good idea to use H1s, H2s, and H3s on your site. Finally, the ultimate key when it comes to ranking your service pages is simply providing relevant information.
Add Your Business To Local Directories
Local SEO strategies also involve adding your business to local directories. A great way to boost your website’s authority is to show Google that you are an active as well as credible business. One way to do this is by adding your local business to local directories that are relevant to your industry. This process of adding your business to local directories is called citation building. If you find it difficult to decide on which directories you should add your website to, you can get help from citation tools, such as Bright Local.
It’s also important that your (NAP) name, address, and phone number are consistent in all the directories to which you add your local business. Otherwise, it may send mixed signals to search engines. When this happens, it damages your credibility and negatively impacts your website rankings.
It is good to encourage customers to leave reviews on these directories, this thing further increases your business credibility.
Want Your Website Optimized For Local Search?
If you have a website that you want to be optimized for local search, you may consider Hiline Digital for this purpose. The company has proven expertise in local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and can make your website fully optimized. With a team of dedicated professionals serving you day and night, Hiline can be a game changer for your local business. Whether you’re looking for ‘best seo services in lahore’ or need a comprehensive SEO strategy, Hiline Digital’s experts are here to help. Contact us today and our professional team will guide you on how we can work together to boost your local business.