Learning Local SEO Ranking Factors will Help Your Business Website Thrive!

Did you know that people spend 80% of their disposable income within 20 miles of their homes? It’s true! This fact is one of the many reasons why knowing local SEO ranking factors is important. 

Want to learn more? In this post, we will show you how local SEO can revolutionize your business website.

What is Local SEO?

Before exploring local SEO ranking factors, we want to make sure you’re clear on what local SEO is. So, here’s a simple explanation:

Local SEO is a set of techniques website designers and content writers use to make a website rank better for a local audience. In short, the goal of local SEO is to make a website easier for nearby customers to find. 

Why is Local SEO Important?

Are you not convinced that exploring local SEO ranking factors is worth your time? We have some stats that will hopefully convince you:

• 93% of online experiences start with a search engine.
• 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page of results.
• 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase.
• 76% of local searches result in a phone call.

There are more stats where those came from, but we think you get the idea. 

Put simply, without local SEO, you will be relegated to a search results page that many potential customers will never see. And a lot of phone calls and purchases you could have received will never be made. 

Sounds like a nightmare scenario, doesn’t it? 

Read on to discover how to avoid it.

Optimize for These Local SEO Ranking Factors!

There are many ways to improve your website’s local search ranking. Our list below includes the most important optimization techniques you need to perform. By maintaining the items on this list, your business will be well on its way to local search dominance!

Get a Google My Business Listing

Did you know Google allows small businesses to create listings that will show up on the first page of search results? Even though this option has been available for years now, many local companies still don’t take advantage of it. Don’t be one of those companies!

By simply setting up your listing and periodically updating it with photos and information, you will be way ahead of your competition. So, what are you waiting for? Start your listing today!

Link-Building

One of the best ways to show search engines that your site is valuable is by building quality links. In other words, you need to get authoritative websites that are relevant to your business to link to your site.

There are a few different strategies you can use to get these sites to link to you. One of the best ways is creating quality content and then reaching out to the site and asking for a link. After all, it never hurts to ask and can only help from a local SEO standpoint.

Citations

Not only are citations a crucial local SEO ranking factor; they’re also a great way to get your name out there. A citation is an online listing that includes your company’s name, address, and phone number. 

You should optimize your citations by making sure they are correct and consistent across the web. Failing to do so will hurt your search ranking. Furthermore, getting your business listed in niche directories signals to Google that your company site is especially valuable. So, make sure your citations are both consistent and valuable to improve your SEO.

On-Page Content

Content is king, and if the content on your website isn’t high quality, then your search ranking will suffer. So be sure the content on your web pages and blogs is something your target audience would want to read. A good question to ask yourself is, does it answer my customer’s burning questions? If it doesn’t, then your site’s ranking will suffer.

Beyond the quality, you should also pay attention to how your content is formatted. Do your pages feature large blocks of text and minimal images? That’s a surefire way to hurt your search ranking. Instead, you should feature large, high-quality images and keep your paragraphs short to create a site your customers will love to visit.

Reviews

What you say about yourself will only go so far. To really get Google’s attention, other people need to be talking about you as well. Google gauges other people’s opinions of your business by scrolling through reviews customers leave online.

Thus, this local SEO ranking factor is simple. The more people you can get to leave positive reviews on sites like Facebook, Google, or Yelp, the better. You can also highlight those reviews by including a widget on your website. The more people sing your praises, the better your local SEO will be. 

On-Page Behavior

You could have the most impressive website in the world yet still have a lackluster search ranking. How can this be? 

The reason for this is search engines also considers the actions visitors take on your site when deciding how to rank it. So, if most visitors are only staying on your site for a few seconds before bouncing, the search engine will see that as a red flag.

Because of this, it’s essential to make sure that your site is user-friendly. Ask yourself if you’re giving your visitors the experience they’re looking for when they visit? Is there something about your home page that might be driving them away. By rooting out these problems, you will be in a lot better shape on Google than you were before.

Mobile Optimization

Like it or not, using a mobile device has become the most popular way to surf the web in recent years. So, if your site isn’t mobile responsive, then your search ranking is probably not the greatest. 

But have no fear! An expert web designer can help you mobile-optimize your site so that you’ll be climbing the rankings in no time. As a result, your website will look great no matter what type of device it’s viewed on! Ah, the wonders of expert digital marketing.

Social Media

Is your company on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn? Perhaps you have never thought about starting a social page for your company before. Or maybe you did think about it but dismissed the idea as a waste of time. 

Well, we’ve got news for you, it’s not a waste of time!

In fact, social media is a crucial local SEO ranking factor in the eyes of Google. The reason for this is Google favors businesses that try to connect with their customers. Likewise, customers are more likely to shop at stores that are active on social than those that aren’t. So, take some time to be social online. Your search rankings will only benefit from it!

Above All, Practice Honest Local SEO.

Clearly, there are a ton of local SEO ranking factors to monitor. While that may seem overwhelming to you, it doesn’t have to be! To put it simply, the secret to excellent local SEO is choosing to do the right thing. Here are some examples of what that looks like:

• Choose to optimize your on-page content rather than write unnatural or spammy content.
• Instead of listing irrelevant categories on your site, create accurate local places pages on popular sites like Bing and Yahoo.
• Keep your citations correct instead of letting them become outdated.
• Rather than write fake reviews or pay for dishonest testimonials, actively encourage loyal customers to leave real reviews.

In short, by being diligent and honest about how you maintain your web presence, you will set yourself up for success. It’s as simple as that.

Need Help Optimizing Your Business for Local Searches?

We realize that not all small business owners will have the time to monitor all these local SEO ranking factors effectively. That’s why we’re here! If you want assistance optimizing your company’s online search results, give us a call at 847-254-0837. Our team has the know-how and expertise to make your business shine online.

We can’t wait to take your local search results to the next frontier!