As the nature of SEO continues to become more complex and competitive, brands and businesses are seeking new ways in which to make names for themselves. Unfortunately for many, competition in generic search engine results pages – even in niche ones – can often be difficult territory to break into if you are not already a known commodity. For this reason, an increasing number of people have turned to local SEO as one way to reach new audiences with less competition. Local SEO makes it possible to reach a more targeted audience and therefore increase the likelihood of clicks, purchases, visits and subscriptions. Today, we’ll talk about four very important local SEO tips that you’ll want to use in order to get ahead of the competition this year and beyond.

Segment Your Site by Location

When dealing with local SEO, it is important to explicitly specify where your business or brand is located. Likewise, it is just as important to emphasize where you brand or business services in the event that you don’t have a central or physical location. Because of this, you’ll want to be pinging servers on search engines with separate pages and sections for each location being targeted. This can be individual cities or states, depending on your exact audience and targets. If you have physical locations in these places, then be sure to include addresses, hours and other critical information.

Claim Your Business Pages

There are numerous websites and services through which you can maximize your local SEO potential. Websites and pages like Yelp, MerchantCircle and Google My Business pages have strong local SEO benefits and should be claimed as soon as possible. This will ensure that your business or brand is recognized by search engines as being a local entity and therefore relevant in local search engine results pages.

Generate Great Content for Each Location

While you can usually get by with copied content on the same website for each location served or targeted, it doesn’t make for the best local SEO performance. Content is king in the world of search engines today, and a website that creates customized content for each targeted location is sure to outperform the competition that overlooks this critical SEO tip. This content can come in many forms, including blog posts, videos, images, reviews and even guides for local businesses and attractions.

Push Customers to Review

Last but not least, any great local SEO effort wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of reviews from satisfied customers, subscribers and users. By pinging servers with legitimate reviews on the most prominent review platforms, search engines will view your brand as trustworthy and legitimate. This will help increase local SEO performance over time. While it can be hard to convince people to leave reviews, the effort pays off when consistently pursued.

How has local SEO been different for you when compared to more traditional forms of SEO? Tell us about your struggles and challenges below in the comments.