When crafting a local SEO strategy for your business, we focus on 5 critical components that become the essential pillars of your local SEO campaign.
It doesn’t matter if you’re crafting your own local SEO strategy, or engaging a local SEO company like Australian Web Experts – these are the 5 most critical components of any local SEO campaign and definitely shouldn’t be skipped.
With 98% of Google users searching online to find a local business in 2022, it is more important than ever to ensure your local business ranks well within the local search results.
#1. Comprehensive Local Keyword Strategy
Selecting the ideal keywords for your business to rank for on Google is one of the major factors when crafting a local SEO strategy.
The first element of creating a local keyword strategy is to perform comprehensive keyword research. Our local SEO team starts with an audit of your local competitors, along with your own website.
From here, our local SEO experts create a list of the most ideal keywords for your business to rank for. These keywords will typically include a location element, since the most ideal keywords for any local SEO campaign is to attach a location to each of your keywords.
With this comprehensive local keyword strategy, our team is able to project monthly search volumes and the amount of local traffic your website and overall local SEO campaign can expect to receive.
A local keyword strategy is the beginning pillar for any successful local SEO campaign and should never be skipped by business owners looking to increase their visibility in the local organic search results.
#2. A Properly Optimised Google My Business Profile
A local businesses Google My Business profile is an integral part to their local search strategy.
There are a number of ways to optimise a Google My Business properly and these are best completed by a qualified local SEO specialist, however there are a few starting points that any business owner should consider:
- Ensure your Name, Address and Phone Number is accurate
- Respond to all Google Reviews
- Ensure your local businesses services and products are correct
- Update photos and regularly post updates; targeting your ideal local keywords
These are just some of the ways that business owners can optimise their Google My Business profile.
With any local SEO campaign that we undertake, we always recommend clients reach out to past and current clients to add positive reviews to their Google My Business profile.
Google Reviews can have a large impact on your overall local search presence and shouldn’t be skipped. Better yet, we always recommend responding to each review that comes through to show Google that your business is active.
#3. Location Specific Landing Pages
With your curated list of local SEO keywords, it is time to get to work. One of the best ways to rank locally in search engines is to create location specific landing pages; with a key focus on your local services.
A landing page specifically designed to target specific search terms will form a marketing piece to not only attract potential customers, but also assists Google in understanding your website and where to place you in the search engine.
Location specific landing pages can take time, effort and resources to design and develop. Not only do landing pages take a large amount of resources to create, they also need to be designed carefully to rank in the search engine for your desired keywords.
When searching for a local SEO or local search company, we highly recommend ensuring the creation of landing pages is included in the costs of your local SEO package.
#4. Local Outreach Link Building
Outreach to other local businesses, listing on directories, building citations and other local links are all important ways to build local relevance in the Google search engine.
While we never recommend spammy tactics for building links, there are critical links that any local business wanting to rank higher in Google search results needs.
For example, it makes a lot of sense for a local business to be featured on local directories and local listings.
With this one strategy (and there are hundreds of others), businesses are able to list themselves on directories within their local area that can provide them with relevance in their local area and the organic Google search results.
It is no secret that search engines love links, and local businesses should be performing local outreach and other forms of link building (such as placements within local listings) to maximise their position within search engines such as Google.
#5. Consistent Local Content Creation
Google and local customers love content. Local content creation allows a business to target additional local keywords, and also allows local businesses to engage with their audience.
A key pillar of any form of digital marketing is to produce high-quality, relevant content. Local companies are able to harness this powerful digital marketing tactic to engage with their customers and provide their website with further local relevance.
With any local SEO project we are engaged for, we aim for at least a couple of local blog posts per month. With these blog posts, we then recommend sharing them across your Google My Business profile and other social media accounts.
By crafting a local content creation schedule for your business, you are able to dominate local search results and provide your customers with value. It certainly is a win, win!
#6. Name, Address, Phone Number (NAP)
It doesn’t matter if it’s the contact details on your website, your Google My Business listing, social media accounts or local listings – businesses need to ensure their Name, Address and Phone Number is the same across the board.
Search engines like Google rely on third-party listings, as well as your own website, to determine the relevance of your website and where it should be placed within the algorithm.
If you are conducting local SEO across your website, you need to check third party listings to ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) is correct.
Often missed by SEO’s and business owners alike, this crucial component to a local SEO strategy can make or break an entire project.
In fact, and to extend further on the importance of this, after reviewing campaign data across hundreds of local SEO projects, we have identified that a correct NAP is one of the key ranking factors for local SEO.
Local Search Engine Optimisation For Australian Businesses
These are just some of the most critical components of local SEO. This list is in no way complete.
There are hundreds of different data points (including elements such as mobile friendly websites and mobile search factors) that Google will look at to place your business in the local search results.
If you’re like most Australian business owners and want to dominate local search, we highly recommend engaging a local SEO company like Australian Web Experts to help increase your overall local presence.
As Australia’s most competitive and trusted local SEO service provider, we know a thing or two about local SEO and understand exactly what it takes to get you to the top of these powerful local search results.
