Local search engine optimization is the active set of tactics and actions to make a website discoverable in search results for a specific geographic area. The goal of a local business is to be more discoverable than its competition.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an art and science used to assist search engines in directing targeted traffic to your website. SEO tasks often include creating high-quality content, optimizing webpages around targeted keywords and building backlinks with a purpose.
Authentic Content
Google uses a powerful algorithm to essentially program itself. Specifically, we reference an update that is referred to as “RankBrain”. RankBrain effectively helps Google understand the relationship between words. This helps Google determine the quality of content on a page.
For example, if you are attempting to rank a page on your site for the word “HVAC,” Google understands that an authentic conversation will have holistic content about HVAC will also contain semantically-related words like heating, cooling, air conditioning, ducts, etc. We not only find these words but determine how often they should appear in your content in order to establish a high-relevancy relationship between your landing page and search engines. Content should be written for the searcher not to try and trick the search engines.
Calculated and Controlled Link Acquisition
Links are an important part of good SEO and at one-time search engines ranked pages with lost of links highly. So naturally, when seeking SEO services you will still find many promises of gaining your website thousands of backlinks a day. And as typical when search engines find SEO abuses they create extremely technical algorithms to combat the abuse.
Links are effective when they drive results. 365 Locally seeks links for the purpose of getting clicks, revolutionary we know…
We also regularly review client websites for links that reflect negatively in search, yes those do exist—often are similar to those links you can purchase at a rate of thousands a day.
In-Depth Keyword Research and Analysis
Keywords become a critical aspect of our services as a lot of work we perform in your businesses’s behalf is centered on good keyword research. We score the keywords that will be relevant to your business and their potential to convert for your company. We match keywords with what is considered “search intent”—simply what was the searcher intending to look for in their query and we make sure the content served up by your website is the best to answer that search inquiry.
Technical Website and Page Audits
365 Locally diagnose and assess the complex and technical elements of your website related to performance and discoverability. As part of the ongoing service minor audits are performed regularly as part of the reporting process. The at timely intervals major audits are performed to check overall site SEO health and set new milestones for greater improvement. These audits identify areas that correct critical issues as well as spot areas for minor improvement that can lead to big wins.
Website ‘localization’
Most local businesses have figured out that letting search engines know what city, town, or area their business covers is an important part of getting found in local search. So they’ll place the obligatory list of coverage area and search engines have figured out that businesses have figured this out also making this an old hat trick. 365 Locally ‘localizes’ your website by including your city, county or region name naturally throughout your site content.
Optimizing Google My Business
Many organizations have heard of the importance of claiming Google My Business (GMB), often they claim ownership and maybe update a few items and then call it good. This level of effort is far from optimizing GMB. The best part of your company’s GMB is that it is Googles own product and in a sense Google’s online directory. Once your GMB listing is optimized there is still much this tools offers to let potential customers and Google know you are actively engaged in business in your local community.
Optimize for Google Maps
What local businesses need most to improve traffic to their websites is visibility on what’s known as the ‘local pack’ in search results. When local intent is perceived in a search for a local service provider, the results are often delivered in a format of three local companies accompanied by a map. Ranking visibly in the local pack drives a majority of business for those searches.
SEO work cannot be one and done
Here is where 365 Locally makes a huge difference for your local business. We set a strategy to improve in all these areas which affect local SEO and work on this over-time. We use data and specific process to keep these improvements ongoing. When performed effectively, search engine optimization can be among the best long-term strategies for small and medium-sized companies to organically achieve the results that matter to their business. Get in touch to have our SEO specialists perform a brief audit and look at your website for issues and improvement opportunities. After the initial audit, 365 Locally uses it weekly reports to as the guide for ongoing improvement.