In the digital age, getting to know about a local business has become easy. No doubt why 97% of people do that. In terms of your business, this implies that local consumers are looking for items and services nearby to their home and office on a daily basis. Hence, it is inevitable to realize the magic of local SEO can do for your business.
The local listing on search engines is your best bet when it comes to finding a nearby brick & mortar store. Over the last two years, searches for “near me” or “close by” have increased by more than 900 percent, according to Chat Meter. The search results get flooded to direct people through its open doors.
It is no shocker that 64 million websites use WordPress as a content management system. Every website owner wants to rank high on SERPs irrespective of the fact that they operate a local business or merely have an online presence.
So how to stand out from the rest of the businesses in a competitive world?
Below we share the best methods to optimise your WordPress website for local SEO so you can outperform your competitors and boost your revenue.
Let’s understand what Local SEO is.
In contrast to standard SEO, local SEO focuses on marketing your physical location in local searches. In other words, it enables potential consumers to access information about your physical store in search results and visit in person.
When a customer searches using geo qualifiers like city, province, postal code, or words like “nearby” or “near me,” Google interprets the search as a local one and returns results from that region.
Local SEO is crucial for a variety of reasons,
- To get a better ranking
- Create a positive first impression
- Increased sales
- Free advertising by ranking high
Here are some tried and tested ways to make an SEO Friendly Website through local SEO tactics.
Ask Customers For Genuine Reviews
Customers will examine ratings and reviews of local companies to judge their quality 93% of the time.That is why it is critical to have reviews of your business on numerous platforms. These reviews not only assist individuals in deciding whether or not to do business with you, but they also assist Google in ranking you for the correct results for the appropriate audience.
Sending an automated email campaign to consumers who purchase your products or services online is one of the simplest methods to solicit feedback. If you have consumers sign up for a rewards programme in person, you might send them an email asking them to evaluate their purchase.
Google itself is a wonderful platform to encourage reviews. Furthermore, because Yelp reviews always display on the first page of Google, concentrating on increasing these ratings is a smart tactic. Even when difficulties develop, it’s critical that you contact all reviewers and attempt to portray your company in a favourable way.
Use local words on website content
It’s critical to improve your website’s content to contain local information if you want to achieve both online and offline sales. For example, the homepage of your website should clearly describe who you are, where you are situated, and what you do. Google will crawl and index your website in order to get the most relevant search results.
Utilize local terms on website
You should also edit the title tags, header tags, and meta descriptions on your website. These components are used by Google to determine the content of your website. You’ll score higher in local search results if you incorporate local material (such as keywords and localities). The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress is one of the finest ways to optimise this information. This plugin includes sections for entering keywords, SEO titles, SEO slugs, and meta descriptions for search results.
List on Google My Business page
You’ll need to create and maintain your Google business listing if you want to appear in the coveted Google 3-pack and improve your SERPs. Google 3-pack is the top three slots in local search results that feature small tidbits of information about each business, assisting clients in getting to their front doors.
When it comes to creating and maintaining your Google My Business profile, here are some recommended practises to keep in mind:
- If you have numerous locations, create each one separately and manage them all from a single account.
- Use main and LSI keywords to increase your chances of being ranked on Google listing.
- Even if you can’t discover a precise match, choose the category that best describes your company.
- Update any changes to your business on a regular basis to ensure that you appear in the proper search results and that your consumers always have the most up-to-date information (e.g., location, phone numbers, email, etc.)
- To boost aesthetic appeal, provide photos.
- Customers should be encouraged to post Google ratings & reviews to rank on Google listings.
Install Local SEO Plugins on your WordPress website
Not just local SEO tactics, but local SEO plugins also help you to build a SEO Friendly WordPress website. Here are a few WordPress plugins for local SEO,
WP SEO Structured Data Schema
We recognise how challenging it is to deploy structured data and schema on a website. This is why this plugin can be used to make it simple for site owners to add schema for organisations, reviews, restaurants, services, and local businesses to their websites.
WP Google Maps
Adding a Google Map to your website that search engines can crawl is another wonderful approach to get recognised in search results and help your local SEO efforts. This also makes it simple for those performing local searches on the road to locate your business.
Content Optimization
If you have your store at various places in the city or country, it won’t make sense to direct the customer to one webpage. Instead create different web pages specific to the location, and use local terms so that you could rank upon them and reach customers.
Another effective strategy for an SEO-friendly website and to ensure your site’s content is indexed, create an XML sitemap listing your site’s content. Yoast SEO can assist you with it.
You can construct an XML sitemap in one click, which search engines may use to assess your site’s data and appropriately rank you.
Mobile Optimization
88% of people search local businesses through their smartphone and either contact or visit the business within 24 hours.
Optimizing your mobile site has been more important than ever since Google launched its mobile-first indexing initiatives. You should anticipate your SERPs to suffer if it doesn’t like how your mobile site functions for users.
The easier it is for consumers to read your website and acquire information about local businesses, the better. Use the built-in responsive previews in the live customizer if you’re not sure what visitors will see when they visit your site on their mobile devices.
Website Speed
If you follow all of the above local SEO tips but don’t optimise your website to load quickly, you’ll never appear in local search results. According to 47% of consumers, they look for a web page that loads in two seconds or less.
Google’s favourite child (website) is the one that loads quickly and offers a positive user experience to its visitors. So, using one of the many free speed-testing applications accessible online, determine the benchmark speed of your website.
Conclusion
It is important to market yourself in a competitive local market. For businesses that cater to local customers, it is important to get out there and be visible. Hence, these local SEO tips will help you create a SEO friendly WordPress website.
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