Local listings and SEO can make you feel out of your depth unless you have spent a lot of time within the industry. The reason why it’s so confusing – at least in terms of SEO – is that there are no definite answers. Strategies are created by running tests, but at the end of the day, Google releases very little guidelines on what to do.
The only time you do get a clear guideline is when they are trying to shift the internet to optimise itself for the benefit of users. That is why we now know that mobile-first indexing is very important for local SEO.
Another key factor to local SEO efforts are listings or local citations. These listings help prove to Google that you are located where you say you are and can be instrumental with boosting your ranking and getting real customers to visit your store.
The Power of Local SEO
Local SEO is much easier than global SEO. Your efforts will be more immediate and dramatic. As you operate locally, you also don’t need to worry about missing out. There is no reason for you to compete in the global market, especially if you are the only type of store in your community.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO essentially means focussing your efforts on tasks that will improve how customers find your company. It will also mean ranking and even paying for advertisements and keywords that only apply to your local area. If you are the only art shop in your town, for example, this makes it very easy to rank on the first page of Google.
Local Citations
Local SEO has a few pinnacles. Local citations are one of them. Aside from actually owning a store in your town, it is the most important factor that Google will look at. Local citations are essentially anywhere your NAP is located. These are often found on local directories.
NAP
NAP simply stands for name, address, phone number. It is the three key pieces of information that must be uniform on every local citation to solidify your ranking and boost both online visits and in-store visits.
Listings
A listing is the same as a citation. You can have your business listed in directories that cater to your local area or industry on top of sites like Yelp.
What to Watch Out for When Creating Local Listings
When creating local listings, you do need to be careful. Differences in your store name can reduce the impact of your efforts. You want to make sure that:
Everything is Uniform
Addresses, in particular, can be a challenge, which is why you need to choose the right variation or formatting of your address from the start. When creating or updating listings, you will want to make sure that everything is the same.
There are No Variations
Variations are easy to catch when you create the listing, but this isn’t always the case. That is why you will want to go through and search all old addresses, phone numbers, and variations of your business name to see if existing listings are already published. Rather than create a new listing (which is not good for local SEO) you can claim and update it.
Where to Start Local Listings
If you are a new business, then it is time to start from scratch. The top places you will want to start are:
Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool that allows you to create a full business profile that will show up when users search for your business or business type. When done properly alongside other SEO strategies, you can be the first result in a local query like “electrician near me.” Users can then click on your profile and see pertinent information and even photos and reviews.
Facebook Business is also useful and can be linked up to other social media pages.
Yelp
Yelp is a very powerful local listings tool, especially if you cater to leisure activities like eating or dancing.
Yellow Pages
Yellow pages is a very famous directory and is still in circulation today – albeit, mostly online.
Local Directories
On top of those key directories, you will also want to search for local directories that apply most to your business type.
By Location
Find your town’s local business directory or see if you can get added to lists online. Searching for ‘Top Restaurants in [Local Community]’ for example can also be very helpful for your local SEO efforts.
By Industry
Industry directories can also be very helpful, especially if you work in the trades.
Audit Your Local Listings
Before you get carried away with creating new local listings, however, it is always best to see if there are any current listings for your business or at your business’ address that you will need to change, so there isn’t conflicting information. If the business owner that used to exist at your store has moved, then you will need to update this information first before you start attaching the address to your name.
Keep Track of Your Listings
Keep track of all listings so that auditing them later on (to make sure they are still accurate and up to date) is easy.
How To Boost Local Listings Further
Directories are not the only place that you can use to add a local listing. These are more traditional SEO tactics, but they work wonders to boosting your ranking and helping you attract more customers both online and offline.
- Get featured on local news, magazines, or blog posts
- Respond to reviews and strategise on how to get more positive reviews
- Optimise your site for voice search, so you are the first company users go to when driving
- Create local content on your site’s blog
- Invest in local keywords
- Create location pages on your website
An SEO agency that specialises in local SEO can take care of all these tasks for you, allowing you to make full use of all the features that Google offers
