Local SEO Ranking Factors
Why is it important to learn about local SEO? The technique through which search engines assess where certain content should appear on a SERP is referred to as ranking, while the prominence of a piece of material in search engine results is search visibility.
Hundreds of factors determine the search visibility of a piece of content. Still, the primary factors are the amount of time a piece of content has been on the Internet (or its age), the number of backlinks that a piece of content has, the number of shares, etc.
7 Local SEO Ranking Factors that will help your business
Today, small businesses need to have an online presence, and for that to happen, they need to be found online. Local search has quickly become one of the most integral parts of marketing a small business.
Local SEO is still an emerging field, but the small business owners who have embraced it must have seen a significant increase in search visibility and have been able to connect with local customers.
Mobile devices and social media have become more prevalent in recent years, and local search has gained popularity among consumers. People are turning to local search to find products and services that meet their needs, especially those in the retail and food-service industries.
Local SEO is a term that’s used to refer to all the different ways that local businesses are ranked higher in local search results and benefit from local visibility. There are several factors that work together to help local enterprises to appear higher in local search results.
1. Google My Business
Local SEO is arguably one of the most important ranking factors for local businesses. Google’s new local search feature, Google My Business, is a free tool that provides users with local businesses through Google Maps. You must have a correct set-up GMB listing to get your business noticed by Google and potential customers.
It’s important to verify your GMB listing as soon as you create it and make sure it is set to your domain name. When it comes to managing your GMB listing, many tools are available to help you.
The importance of setting up, claiming, and verifying a business’s Google My Business listing cannot be overstated. It’s also a great opportunity to improve your business’s online visibility, so you should never ignore this step.
2. On-Page signals
On-page SEO is the process of making sure that your page is optimised to get people to visit your site. There are various on-page factors that influence your ranking for local searches, and these factors are constantly changing.
You’ve probably heard the term ‘local search engine optimisation’ before, but did you know that a mobile-friendly website is one of the most important on-page ranking factors for local SERPs? A website that is easy to navigate and fast on mobile devices is essential for making your website more visible in local SERPs and providing a better user experience for your customers.
Keywords are essential to SEO as they allow search engines to identify what your site is about. It’s important to optimise your pages for local search so that customers can easily find your pages.
3. Online reviews
Online reviews are one of the most important factors in how people decide whether or not to buy from your business. Having positive reviews on websites and other platforms will help to paint your business as trustworthy, reliable, and legitimate.
Businesses with high rankings on search engines will benefit from the positive reviews online. Local SEO ranking factors consider the total number, frequency, diversity, and quality of reviews generated for the business.
If you want to get more positive reviews for your business, ensure you provide excellent customer service and respond quickly to complaints and questions. Google loves businesses with lots of positive reviews. You should encourage your customers to leave positive reviews and ratings on local business platforms such as Google Maps, Yelp, Glassdoor, and Trip Advisor.
4. Backlink profile
A backlink profile is a collection of backlinks that lead traffic to your site. It’s important for local businesses to have backlinks from relevant and authoritative websites to achieve high local SEO rankings. It’s very important to get a lot of backlinks, but they have to be high quality. If you’re trying to get links from other sites, it’s important to remember that the more links you have, the better.
5. Online citations
Searchers use directories and citations to find products and services. Search engines use citations to confirm important information about a business.
You’ll find yourself in the top five for local SEO rankings by using a single source for all of your listings. This is important because Google has made it clear that consistency is key to a high local search ranking.
6. Behavioural signals
The local search algorithms use several behavioural signals to determine the ranking order for local search results. Some of the behavioural signals are clicks, time spent on a listing, and the number of reviews and ratings a listing has.
A number of common user signals are monitored. When you watch these signals, you can help your local listing rank higher in search results and attract more nearby customers. Google also uses click-through rate as a major determining factor in paid search to calculate the quality score.
7. Local content
If you’re producing content relevant to your local community, your local search rankings will improve. Users love connecting with brands on relevant, relatable, and community-based topics.
Local search is a way for local businesses to get their website seen and ranked highly in local search results. It is a key element in building your local SEO. Use key phrases and location-based terms in your copy to attract local users and search engines to your site.
The importance of Local SEO Ranking and Position
SEO ranking and position are among the most important aspects of online marketing. SEO is the process of optimising a website for search engines, which can improve the visibility of the website and its content. This can lead to increased website traffic and leads, consequently increasing revenue.
Local SEO Rankings are important for a few reasons:
1. They help you rank higher in local search engine results pages (SERPs).
2. They can help you attract new customers and boost your business’s bottom line.
3. Ranking higher in local search engine results pages (SERPs) can help you attract new customers and boost your business’s bottom line.
4. SEO Rankings can help you stand out from your competitors and increase your chances of being found by potential customers.
Search engine optimisation is a very complex topic. But, if you can understand how it works, you can do a great job of improving your page ranking and thus, the visibility of your web pages.
Making the most of Local SEO Ranking opportunities
This is a must-read for any business owner who wants to improve their search engine optimisation. You’ll learn what types of words are the best for your business, how to optimise your content, and how to optimise your website. Backlink your website to related topics so that it’s easier for your audience to find them, and you’re more likely to increase your bounce rates. This will make your site more relevant and increase your page rank.
It’s important to claim, verify and update your Google My Business listing. This will help your customers find your store to get the best service. You can’t ignore Google’s new ranking algorithm. Once you’ve connected your Google Analytics account and verified that your Google Search Console is set up, all you have to do is click the bubble in the bottom left of your screen.
If you need a personal strategy session, call us today. We’ll help you get your personalised walkthrough of search queries and how to make them work for your business!
What you can do to improve your Local SEO Rankings
1) Gain access to your website to make it editable
You know that you need to update your site if you do not see a significant increase in sales. Your business may not be able to compete with larger competitors, and this can be due to not knowing who your web developer is, how to navigate platforms like WordPress, or even how to make changes to your site.
The latest version of the software will be out by then.
2) Meaningful page titles and descriptions
Search results are what people look for when they do a google search. So the page titles answer their question, and you must have a title for your pages that will make users want to click on them.
Page titles are an important part of SEO. They’re also a crucial part of your overall online marketing strategy. It’s important to have your page titles be readable and relevant. Our clients love it when we add descriptions to Google Search results. For example, if you have a client who sells women’s clothing, you could add a description that says: “This website sells women’s clothing, including tops, pants, and dresses.
This is very important for a website because it makes the site more accessible to people who need it. A website that works well for everyone is a good website.
3) Adding descriptions to images
This is an essential part of SEO for eCommerce websites. It’s important to use images for product descriptions that are not just photos of the products but images of the products with clear, accurate, and compelling image descriptions.
Google wants to make sure people have access to the best experiences on their platforms, including Google Search, Android, and Chrome. We can help make that happen by adding alt text to the images we display in search results and other places.
Mobile devices have become more popular and capable when helping with accessibility. People will rely on their mobile phones more and use apps to help with the basic needs of reading websites. If a website has the “right content”, it will naturally get more traffic and rankings.
4) Fixing broken links
The powerful editor gives you the flexibility to link any text to any page on your site or any external page. You can create a link to any page on your site and then change the title or URL of that page. The editor will automatically update any link to that page for you.
It’s important to keep track of any links you use in your store. You may need to change them every once in a while if the page they’re linking to changes or goes away. We must notify our clients if we encounter a broken link, so they don’t experience any issues when trying to access our sites.
5) Post regularly
Google wants to show relevant and up-to-date information. They can’t always tell if an old blog post is still relevant, so they also look for new posts and rank a recently updated site over stale sites. Regularly posting on your blog is an excellent way to get noticed by your audience and be in a position to be able to add new information and contribute to the online community.
Post something once every week. It doesn’t have to be a post. Just share something new, even if it’s just a picture of your cat or dog.
Conclusion
Local SEO is not only for brick and mortar service businesses. It’s the only strategy that works for all types of businesses.
Although, it is no easy task for a small business. You need to be well-informed about the many factors that impact your search visibility. Only then can you develop an effective strategy that will deliver results. Local SEO is the most effective way to dramatically increase the number of leads your business receives through organic search.
Ubique Digital Solutions provides In-depth SEO services and consulting for businesses in Australia, US, and Europe. We have the expertise to help you get your business found by local customers. We love doing local SEO because it delivers ridiculous ROI and generates massive qualified leads.
Contact us today to learn more about the local search for your business.
