The post-pandemic business landscape is a hotbed for SERP (search engine results pages) ranking competition. With drastic algorithm changes adding to the pressure, now’s the time for businesses to make their presence felt on local search results.
To help them get a leg up in their local search presence, here’s a brief guide on targeted local SEO for brick-and-mortar businesses and franchise owners in 2022.
Local SEO 101: 5 Primary SEO Touch Points for Franchise Owners
While a business can make tons of major and minor SEO efforts, here are five SEO tips that will give them a head start in the rankings race.
1. Update their Google Business Profile.
Most businesses have an active Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business (GMB). But for those that don’t, now’s the time to create an account or optimize your existing one. Google Business Profile can work wonders at making a business more visible on local SEO searches, potentially sending a lot of good-quality traffic their way.
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The stats speak for themselves. According to Google, customers are 50% more likely to buy from a company with a complete profile and 70% more likely to visit the company in person. Such performance can help put businesses on the map, figuratively and literally.
2. Local SEO keywords.
Instead of using generic keywords like they would for blog posts, businesses can look for geo-specific keywords that will help them get noticed by people searching for services in their area.
Examples of geo-specific keywords include those that mention the business’ service area. For example, “Chinese restaurants in [city]” will help give a relevant business a significant visibility boost in local searches.
Geo-specific keywords are likely to be longer than generic keywords, making them more specific. More specific keywords will have lower competition, helping businesses rank higher in search results.
There are many SEO tools that can help businesses discover keywords and improve results.
3. Location-specific link building.
If a business works with vendors, distributors or any business it has a relationship with, it might be possible to score a link on their site. If they want something in return for a backlink, a business can offer to write quality content for their blog, if they have one.
Getting local backlinks will help Google know that the business is respected among other local businesses. This in turn will let Google know that its website should be listed when somebody uses the relevant search terms.
Although it can be tempting, businesses should never buy backlinks, as this is considered a “black hat” SEO practice. Google is better at catching paid links than one might expect, and if caught the offending website will lose the SEO boost from that link — making their purchase a waste of money.
4. Opt for new attributes.
Google is always putting out new Google Business Profile attributes that businesses can feature to help it answer search queries. It’s important to keep up with these updates so the new attributes can be added, keeping the business’ account optimized at all times.
Whenever Google allows a business to add more attributes to its profile, it’s a chance to give Google, and potential customers, more information about the business. The more information Google has, the better equipped it is to rank the website above the local competition.
5. Optimize for mobile.
Google’s mobile-first policy is still rolling out new updates, and 2022 will see a huge boost in SERP rankings for sites with a seamless mobile experience.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, mobile devices made up just under 55% of web traffic, making it important to keep mobile users in mind.
Mobile optimization ensures a website is automatically adjusted to fit the screen of different devices. It also helps prevent web pages from loading slowly on mobile devices, which can also affect rankings.
For visitors to have a positive experience, mobile optimization is essential. Google will know if a website is mobile-optimized, and those that are optimized are given priority.
Tom Xu is an SEO consultant and insurance lawyer. He specializes in white-hat link building, content development, and local SEO. He has worked with national, regional and local clients over the years to grow their search engine rankings, organic web traffic and sales in the process. He utilizes only the most proven, up-to-date, white-hat SEO techniques, and is particularly experienced in generating leads for local businesses. Xu currently works as an Account Manager/Sales Rep for New Reach Marketing, where he manages all aspects of clients’ campaigns and takes in new business.
