7 Local SEO Strategies to Outperform Your Competitors

Did you know that 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information or that 69% of users look up nearby businesses online at least once a month? These statistics stress the importance of local SEO.

Local SEO is a necessity for every business in 2021—it does not matter if you own a shoe store or are a car mechanic. To market your small business online, engage professional SEO services in New York and focus on local SEO strategies. If not, you risk missing out on a large pool of potential leads.

Here are the seven best local SEO strategies you should consider:

• List Your Business on Google My Business

If you own a local business, it must be listed on Google My Business. Adding or claiming your business on GMB is also listed as the #1 ranking factor for local SEO and Google Maps in Moz’s Local Search Ranking Factors.

• Get More Local Citations

Setting up a Google My Business listing is only the first step toward establishing a solid local SEO strategy. Apart from that, you must also maintain your visibility on other online business directories like Yelp, FourSquare, and YellowPages. This is where local citations—references to your company on the Internet—come into play.

• Encourage Your Customers to Write Good Reviews

According to a Bright Local survey, 86% of all shoppers read online reviews when researching businesses. Furthermore, 57% of shoppers claimed they only pick a business with a rating of more than four stars. Reviews are a form of social proof—and they can also play a vital role in attracting new leads. Therefore, you should encourage your satisfied customers to leave positive feedback for your local business on social media and other online forums.

• Publish Local Content

Content is one of the most important aspects of any local SEO strategy. If you want more people in your area to know about your business, you must create content relevant to their needs and wants. For this, you will have to identify some of the issues that people in your area face.

• Get Quality Backlinks

You cannot rely only on your website traffic if you want to tap into a large audience. You must also reach out to other website’s audiences. That is where link building can help you. The first step in building a solid link profile is identifying high-domain authority websites in your niche.

• Create a Mobile-Friendly Website

Smartphones account for more than half of all website traffic worldwide. That means you cannot ignore smartphone users. Create a mobile-friendly website to cast a wider net.

• Research Local Keywords

The keywords you use in your local SEO strategy should be relevant to your audience. Use the Google Keyword Planner or another keyword planning tool like SEMRush to find keywords with a high search volume in your area.

If you want to get the most out of your local SEO campaigns, contact an experienced New York SEO consultant today. They can help you create local SEO strategies to boost your online visibility and generate more qualified leads.

SEO Long Island is a division of Cybernet LLC based in Long Beach, Long Island. We recognize the importance of good SEO to local and national businesses.