Are you looking to grow your business with Google local SEO?  Then this article is to provide you with 7 major tips to effectively take your business to the next level using this powerful internet marketing strategy. 

But firstly, what’s local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) in the online world?

Well, it’s about receiving organic (free) traffic to your website through local search engine “page results”.   In a more simple term, it allows you to generate free leads from search engines such as Google.  This happens when you optimise your website with keywords specifically related to your own local business and located area.   Keywords are of course the words that people type into their browser when searching for information on the internet.

Now, let me highlight seven crucial SEO basics for growing your local business….

Keywords Application

Apply relevant keywords throughout your website.   Include them in your titles, contents, image names and URL’s.  Imagine what people will search for online, if they are looking for information on your type of local business?

Well, online visitors will typically search for your industry type and location.   Let me give you an imaginary example.   Assuming someone runs a florist business in a location called Essex.   People can search the internet for relevant keywords such as “Florist in Essex”.   You can use this same approach to quickly optimise your own website and rank highly in the search engines.  Which means constantly getting free traffic to grow your business.

However, be careful not to stuff or insert your keywords too many times on your website.   Because you’ll be perceived as a spammer in the search engines.  And therefore it will weaken your ranking status in local SEO results.

Internal Linking To Your Site

The integration of internal links into your website is another way to really increase traffic generation.   This method will easily boost traffic to each of your site pages.   And you should make it a regular task to link to your archives when producing fresh contents to your site.   Do you realise why this is so important?..

If your site visitors click on previous internal page contents, it will improve your site’s popularity within the search engines.  This is an indication that your website content is very valuable. And of course, that means more free leads for your business in the long run.  However, don’t include too many hyperlinks into your web pages, as you certainly don’t want to put off  your visitors.  The quality of your site content is more important to your audience.

Sitemap

Creating a sitemap is also crucial for enhancing your Google local SEO rankings.  And why is that the case?  Because it’s a page listing and linking to all key pages on your site.  And this makes it much easier for the search engine spiders to crawl your site quickly.  In other words, your web pages get indexed and become visible much quicker by search engines if you create a site map.

Link Building With Authority Sites

To successfully market business online, one popular key tactic is link building with other sites that have authority in the search engines.    By that, I mean developing good working relationship with some highly ranked and quality websites in your industry.   So, how can this approach really benefit you?

The fact is when highly ranked websites are linked to your own site, this informs search engine spiders your web pages are valuable to the audience searching for information relevant to your niche.  If your link appears on popular websites, you simply have a winning formula to generate quality free traffic to your site.  But how can you set up this link building method?

You can personally ask the website owners of well respected authority sites if they could add a link to your site on theirs.  And in some cases, you have to return the favour.   This way, everybody is a winner!  Besides, many other website owners will allow you to do this without asking for anything in return.  There are so many options out there. Link building should certainly be a regular part of your local business internet marketing campaign. Because the more sites linking back to yours, the higher your search engine rankings.

Blogging

Regularly updating your site with fresh unique content will also increase your Google local SEO traffic.   It’s a known fact that the most valuable sites for users and search engines are constantly updated with new information.

One of the most popular ways of having regular content on your site is to set up a blog.  This is an excellent way to reach your audience and also create more link building opportunities both internally and externally for your website.  And of course having a blog will provide your site with a more personal voice and interactions with your users.

Local SEO-Friendly URL

Naming your website address with relevant keywords will make it search engine optimisation friendly.  Imagine someone searching online for a local business like yours and your URL matches their exact keyword phrase?   The point is if your site name and pages are keyword-rich, the more people will find your business.  As Google reward sites that are highly relevant to search queries.

Avoiding Flash

Flash does nothing for your search engine optimisation, even though it might look great on your site.  The key disadvantage of using Flash on your website is that you won’t be able to link to a single page.  However if you do have to use it, just make sure it’s in moderation for best search engine outcome.

By applying Google local SEO strategies to your marketing efforts, you can really move your business forward online.