Staying top of mind in the service industry can be tough and competition is often fierce. Whether you are a plumber or contractor to a lawyer or doctor having an online presence is important. Here is some actionable insight on gaining better rankings and visibility in your local search market. Here are four actionable local search optimization ways to start getting your small business found locally online.
Localize Your Landing Pages With On-Page SEO
If you are a local business owner and have a service area, it is important to localize your website as well. Make sure to have your Name, Address, Phone number, also known as your NAPs information, clearly displayed on your web page. Arguably your competitors are already doing this, so here are a few more areas to optimize on your webpage.
- Add the city you are targeting into your title tag Example) “Los Angeles Plumbing Experts | Plumbing.com” Note: the more specific the city “Hollywood Plumbing Experts | Plumbing.com” the better the chance of ranking for it with this keyword phrase!
- Add your city into the H1 tag you are targeting. The H1 is at the top of the webpage and generally announces the page. Example) Hollywood Plumbers you can Trust!
- Use ALT Text with your city name for images. Odds are you have images on your website. You can name your images using ALT Text a special line of code that tells search engines what that image is about. Be descriptive and use the city name in the image. Example) If it is a picture of a plumber fixing a sink, ALT Text should say: Hollywood plumbing service fixing sink.
Local Listings And Citations Are Important
Citations are links from other websites (typically directories) that contain your physical address. Search engines like Google use these other third party websites to verify your business location for accuracy. Finding local directories in your area can give you a leg up on your competition. If you need to create citations quickly and accurately, check out a citation building service like Yext.com.
Accuracy Above All
Google in particular is a stickler when it comes to accuracy of your citations. If you have moved locations and did not update your citations from your old address you could be in trouble. MOZ Local has a great tool for you to seek out your current citations and check for accuracy i.e. they all match perfectly.
Reviews Never Hurt
Last but not least, reviews never hurt, especially with Google. Google has its own reviews page for your business when you sign up for Google My Business. It is important to get happy customers to go and review your service. Not always the easiest thing to do, however, there are some tricks. For instance, you could ask people for a review as they leave your office or as your are leaving an appointment. If you do not want to be that upfront, you could always follow up via email and ask for a review. I found offering gift cards from Amazon or Starbucks will make people 3x more likely to review your service. Start a local SEO campaign today with our local SEO best practices.
