A Local Site, For Local People
May 14th, 2011 by Rory
With portable devices, such a smartphones, allowing us to access the internet from anywhere in the world, local search results are becoming much more prevalent in the SERPs. This is now being taken into account by those working in search engine optimisation as webpages are receiving the SEO treatment with regional identity in mind.
For example, a simple yet effective tactic is to link to your Google Places Page from your website. This is a great way to gain a powerful authority boost with minimal effort.
Keyword research, in terms of local SEO, has geography as the driver. It is these local keywords that will enable the search engines to determine the location of your business and have it rank higher as a local service. The search engines now have the ability to filter and prioritise search locally, so the creation of dynamic, readable content is essential.
It’s also crucial to make the address of your business clear to the search engines. Include the location in the title tag for the web page as well as dropping it in the content. Play around with variations in your anchor text as well. Using ‘Cheshire Pet Groomers’ is just one option while you could also use ‘Pet Groomers in Chester’, and other alternatives.
Link building can’t be overlooked. Links can convey location as well as service so getting highly authoritative links is as important for local SEO as it is for general SEO.
With 35% of searches on Google resulting in local search results being included in the SERPs, there is a fantastic opportunity to reach out to new business potential. Many businesses set out with the intention of building both a global and local presence. With a bit of hard work put into local search optimisation, this is now very achievable.
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