The Local SEO guide for business owners in Vancouver
In this article, we will discuss the basic principles of local SEO.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is the practice of optimizing a local brick-and-mortar company for location-based keywords, such as “locksmith New York”. Optimization of local search engines includes optimizing the company’s website and their Google My Business profile.
Why is local SEO important?
I want to show you some fascinating statistics to emphasize how huge SEO is for local businesses.
- 46% of all searches in Google have a ‘local intention’ (Search Engine Roundtable).
- Near me, searches have grown 150% faster than traditional, local searches (Google).
- 29% of all Google SERPs contain a local pack in the results (RankRanger).
- 74% of consumers who search for something locally on their phone visit a store that day. (Google)
So it is clear that local searches make up a large part of the SEO world. If you can get your local business for these searches, they will walk through your door a few minutes later.
How does Google display the SERP OR local searches with the map?
The map package is a set of 3 local business results with a map of their locations retrieved from Google Maps.
How to Do Local SEO Keyword Research for Your Business in Vancouver?
Local SEO keyword research is, in fact, a “one-and-done” process.
You don’t have to find new keywords all the time.
If you type your relevant keywords below-mentioned sites, you will find low competitive but high search volume keywords.
1. Yelp Suggest
2. Google Suggest
3. Local voice searches
4. The Google Keyword Planner
1. Yelp Suggest
Type a keyword that related your business and find your business keywords.
2. Google Suggest
Google Suggest can also work well for local searches to find suitable keywords.
3. Local voice searches
According to Google, 20% of all Google searches that are now being performed on mobile are spoken searches. So, on the Google Voice, and find what people search for.
The main difference between voice and keyword searches is that voice searches are usually longer and use natural language.
4. Google Keyword Planner:
The Google Keyword Planner gives you search volume data for specific geographical areas.
Most Important Local SEO ranking factors
I briefly discuss the most important local SEO ranking factors.
1 # Google My Company Profile
The # 1 ranking factor for ranking in the map package was your Google My Business Profile.
2 # NAPs
NAP quotes (name, address and phone number) are another important local SEO ranking signal.
NAP quotes are places where your name, address and telephone number are all mentioned.
Google uses NAPs to confirm that all your company information is correct. And the more often they see NAP citations for your company, the more certain they are that your address is where you say it is and that your phone number is correct.
3 # Online reviews
Moz’s local ranking factors study also showed that “Online Reviews” played an important role.
4 #General SEO
Creating content, optimizing your pages and building backlinks are still SUPER important for local SEO rankings. Especially for competing industries.
How to Optimize Google My Business?
Follow the below steps to optimize your Google My Business profile.
Keep everything 100% relevant
You must include information in to GMB that match your website, but it must also match your NAP citations on the internet.
When Google sees that your business information is consistent in your GMB, on your website and third-party sites such as Yelp, it signals to Google that this business is legitimate and their local info all matches.
Enter each data point:
Include all data in your GMB during account opening. And, update it if required.
Update business data:
Check again if your opening times, holidays and other basic business information are accurate and up-to-date.
When someone drives to your restaurant just to see a “Closed” sign, you can expect a bad review.
Receive more reviews
Whether an assessment is positive, negative or in between, I highly recommend answering each individual assessment.
On-site SEO for local businesses:
Write unique content for each location.
If your company serves Newyork and Washington DC, you want the content to be completely different for each page.
Use the scheme for local SEO
Schema makes your appearance on SERP more trustworthy.
Use Title Tag
The idea here is that you start your title with a strong, profit-based statement.
