Improving the ranking in search engines locally Local SEO is one of the important areas in e-marketing, as it helps commercial and service activities to improve the order of appearance of their sites, in search results, to bring more local visitors to them during their search on the Internet, for a product or service, with certain words or phrases, and is distinguished from other areas of e-marketing that it helps sites attract potential customers Are interested in the product or service, and are seriously looking for details or prices to buy within your local geographic range.
As a local service or business owner, you may be wondering how you can attract more local visitors, by improving your ranking on Google, when they use keywords that match your business and website.
You might be asking yourself, why isn’t my business showing at the top of the SERP results page? You should know that there are three main axes of local ranking for SEO: proximity, ranking, and reviews, and the use of Google Maps – and its related tools, such as Google My Business – has become an essential part of any local SEO strategy, and when done correctly, these tools will give you a strategic advantage that helps you outperform the competition.
Here are 4 strategies to help you improve your ranking in search engines locally:
1- Optimize your website for local search:
Your first step in improving your ranking in search engines locally is to optimize the content on your website. The best way to do this is to use terms and phrases that the daily user may type in the search engine, and include them in the textual content of your site in a natural way, as this helps Google determine where you work.
To take full advantage of keywords, try using long words so you don’t miss any opportunity to match them with words that the user might type. For example, instead of using keywords like “Google Maps marketing,” use “Google Maps marketing services in [your location].”
2- Enable Google My Business tool on your site:
Google My Business is a basic free tool that all businesses should use, as it helps you put your business on Google Maps so that customers can find you when searching for businesses, such as your company, in the geographical area where you are located. With the right optimization, your business will appear at the top of the SERP results page.
So far, only 44% of companies use GMB Google My Business, and the reason for this is that many local companies do not yet recognize the importance of e-marketing, so advancing in the competition would be a smart move for any local business.
The GMB tool also includes several other options that will help you improve visibility in search engines locally, namely: Google posts, images, and reviews, and there is no doubt that updating posts and images once a week and responding to all reviews will help Google realize that your business is active, which enhances its appearance at the top of the search engine results page.
You should also pay attention to reviews, as the consumer is more willing to deal with a company that has 100 reviews, rather than another that only has 10 reviews, and it is not only about encouraging customers to write a review for your company, but you should also respond to any review, whether positive or negative.
3- Give sufficient information to communicate:
Providing sufficient contact data about your online activity is important to improve ranking in search engines locally, when building your business website, you must keep in mind what is known as citation website, which are not links, but rather references that contain information about your business name, address, and phone number, also known as NAP (name, address, and phone number). Google takes this data into account when deciding which website business will be displayed for geo-targeted searches.
4- Strengthening presence through local associations:
Backlinks – which you place on websites to point to your location – will strengthen your online position in the local market, as they are an important element that contributes to raising the ranking of sites in search results.
But keep in mind that having backlinks to your site on low-quality sites will do more harm than good, so be sure to choose the sites on which you will place backlinks to your site carefully, and try to contribute more to community posts to get more press coverage, through sponsoring events, hosting events, volunteering, partnering with local companies, and other similar activities.
