How To Improve Local SEO

Your Local SEO is the combination of factors that moves you to the top of the “Near Me” box that appears in the top of google with a map inset.

How to Improve Your Local SEO

• Run an ad on Google
• Register with “Google My Business”
• Positive Reviews across the internet
• Include your NAP on your website
• List local events that your company sponsors
• Geocode images
• Check that your website is mobile-optimized
• Make a backlink profile
• Use landmarks and neighborhood names
• Add driving directions to your Contact Page
• Make your site sticky
• Ad Local Links to your site

Google Ads

Want to cut to the top of the line? You can!

Set up a Google Ad that displays at the top of the “Businesses Near Me” box.

You can also set the ad to appear when people search for “near me” followed your type of business.

Check it out. Use “restaurant near me” and “dentist near me” as search terms. When you see results, you might see some at the top that have a small text (usually blue type) that says “AD”.

If your star rating is pretty good, it might be worth it to just pay for the ad. The main thing that people look at is the star rating.

When you set up Google Ads, you can set a budget and since the ad prices vary (according to searches, time of day, etc) , you just set the maximum price you will pay per day.

Then set your location and choose a radius surrounding your zip code.

Before you publish your ad, you need to determine which keywords to focus on. Do a keyword search here.

Complete Your Google My Business Listing

Home // Local SEO // How Can My Business Rank At the Top for “Near Me” in Local Search SEO?

September 6, 2019 By John E Lincoln

If you’re running a regional business and you want to reach people in your surrounding area, then you need to practice good local search SEO.

Part of that effort involves ranking when people search for “near me.”

In this article, I’ll go over several local search SEO strategies that can land you a top spot for “near me” searches.

How to Rank In “Near Me” Searches:

• Consider running an ad
• Complete your Google My Business profile
• Get positive reviews
• Include your NAP on your site
• List any local events you sponsor
• Geocode images
• Make your website responsive and user-friendly
• Build a backlink profile with geographic anchor text
• Use landmarks and neighborhood names on your site
• Include driving directions on your site
• Make your site “sticky”
• Get local links

In case you’re unfamiliar with “near me” searches, they work like this: people head over to a search engine and type in a  specific business followed by the words “near me.”

For example, folks looking for a dentist in their area might visit Google and enter “dentist near me” in the search bar.

Google will respond by returning a list of dentists near the person who performed the search.

By the way, if you take a look at data from Google Trends chart, you’ll see that “near me” searches have taken off in recent years.

So wouldn’t it be nice if locals were able to find your business when they perform a “near me” search related to your industry? Of course it would.

1. Consider Running an Ad for Local Search SEO

Let’s start with a shortcut. Did you know that you can run an ad that will display in local searches?

Yes. Yes, you can.

Even better: that ad can appear when people search for “near me” followed a type of business.

Try a couple of searches right now. Use “restaurant near me” and “doctor near me” as search terms. You might see a couple of ads in the local search pack.

These advertisements are easy to identify because the word “AD” appears on the listing. It’s typically in front of the star rating.

So if you have a business with decent margins and you’d rather not wait a while to see the results of your local SEO efforts take effect, consider just buying a spot in the local pack. That’s probably the easiest and quickest option.

The first step to setting up a Google Ad is to decide on a budget. You can start with as little as $10 per day.

Next, you can set your location and choose a target radius surrounding your zip code. Specifying a distance will help increase your conversion rate and up your chances of being included in “near me” searches.  

Before you publish your ad, you need to determine which keywords to focus on. For example, a barbecue shack in Memphis might use the keywords “best barbecue in memphis” in their ad to boost local search SEO. 

Now, you’re ready to create a profitable advertisement for your business.

2. Complete Your Google My Business Profile for Better Local Search SEO

It’s important to have a completed Google My Business Profile.

One of the factors used by Google in their algorithm for Businesses Near Me results is the information in the Google My Business listing. Without a listing, your business may not appear in results at all.

The primary information needed for local search SEO is your business name and address.

Some key points are:

• Is your business name EXACTLY consistent between your GMB profile and your website?
• Did you use your own image instead of a stock photo?
• Is your URL complete and correct?
• Did you drop “Inc.” or “LLC” off of your business name?
• Did you local phone numbers not 1-800 numbers?
• Is your business verified with Google?