The advent of people using their smartphones to look up information has meant that local search engine optimisation (SEO) has become a growing force.
Over half of smartphone users will now seek out information about local businesses before visiting and the likelihood of a sale is increased too. This is excellent news for British companies.
To learn more, here is how local SEO can assist British businesses.
Higher Ranking for Local-based Search Queries
Local businesses that are unfamiliar with how local SEO works are often missing out. While searches for both their brand and related queries for their business languish back on page 5, their competitors are fairing better.
Working with an SEO Agency is a useful way to dip the toe in the SEO waters when you are unfamiliar. A team that specialises in improving local results is an excellent way to do so. They will be well acquainted with the steps necessary to put the organisation on the map.
There are companies out there who are willing to help you should you need to outsource your work. Importantly for you, there are plenty of options to choose from. DigiVisi are an SEO Agency that provides a complete service to SMEs in the UK. They can deliver excellent local-oriented results and have the testimonials to prove it.
Brand Reputation Management
Keeping the brand safe is necessary to avoid major issues for companies. When failing to monitor and respond to public complaints on social media, Google Reviews, and elsewhere, companies put their brand reputation at considerable peril.
Monitoring what’s said about the company, checking for Google Reviews and other reviews posted recently about the business is essential. Setting up accounts to respond quickly to comments or to raise an objection if they’re factually inaccurate avoids reputational issues.
By doing so, SMEs are being proactive with their brand to avoid it being tarnished unfairly.
Link Building
Link building with local SEO revolves more around obtaining local citations and other indicators about the location of the business than traditional link building.
However, strategically adding link building into the mix, especially with a local slant, can be effective. Working harder to rank for “near me” voice queries and others that are inherently targeting local search information can enhance search results for a business.
Any link building – links from other websites to your website – must necessarily be done carefully to avoid receiving a Google penalty. Therefore, often less is more and a balanced hand is required to steer these waters.
On-page Optimisation
To get good results for businesses, it’s also beneficial to optimise what is on the home page and other pages on the site. It depends on how well the site was originally developed and any updates along the way whether it’s well optimised or not.
A skillful local SEO practitioner can perform an audit to review where the site standards presently, isolate key mistakes that need rectifying, and get it on a better footing. Only when an audit has been performed on an existing site can troublesome areas be resolved that may have continued to prevent the business from being noticed by the search engines.
British businesses need to consider how local SEO can help to increase their sales. Also, it’s just as relevant as a shopfront as it is when they’re an online-only business focused on local customers.