As search engine optimization has become more common, it has also become more difficult for brands to break into the biggest and most common search queries on the web. Despite these challenges, the nature of SEO continues to move forward and to present new opportunities for brands and businesses that wish to be seen and heard. As SEO has become more and more competitive, more and more people have moved into niche SEO efforts as a way to remain competitive, find new audiences and build names for themselves. Local SEO is one of these new methods, and can be a great way to connect with a brand new audience based on geography. We’ll discuss how you can get started with local SEO in the following article.

Optimize Local Mentions

On your own website, you’ll want to be pinging to Google a variety of local indicators that clearly tell the search engine that your website belongs in local searches. The first and easiest way to begin doing this is to ensure that personal and/or contact information is provided, such as address, city, local phone number and other relevant info. For websites that plan on targeting multiple locations from one hub, it is generally a good idea to add a local directory that outlines all of the municipalities or areas that are being served by each page. Keyword optimization based on local terms is also necessary, as is a mobile-friendly design that ensures mobile users – a majority of search traffic – can easily use your website.

Utilize Local Directories

Once you have added the basic local indicators to your own website, there is then a need to begin associating your website with a variety of other local indicators from around the web. Local directories are one way in which to further augment the effects that local SEO will have on your prevalence in select searches. There are many review sites, events portals and customer shopping platforms to consider contacting and listing yourself through, with many of these capable of pinging to Google additional relevance regarding your brand’s positioning in local search results. Bigger names include Google My Business, the Yellow Pages, Yelp, and others. As long as your messaging and contact information is consistent across all sources, you will discover that such efforts provide crucial benefit in the long-term.

Update and Improve

Once your local SEO infrastructure across the web is created and deployed, you’ll want to improve it over time in every way possible. Search engines value enhanced content – detailed descriptions, pictures, links, and localized references/examples in all of these categories – so give them what they want! In the cases where applicable, user reviews can also dramatically help SEO rankings and inspire trust in those who read them: be sure to promote and develop this area by encouraging customers to leave reviews across the web. Additionally, it’s very important to maintain updated information on these directories and review portals, as these indicators across the web will contradict your website if not updated at the same time. This can lead to less than stellar SEO performance in local searches.