Use your Business Listing to Improve your Local SEO

| March 4, 2016

Use your Business Listing to Improve your Local SEO

Local SEO has been a great boon for all small businesses. It has allowed them to stand toe-to-toe with the big companies in their industry and earn considerable amount of revenue. Big national and international companies can’t really compete easily on the local level. After all, to do that, they would need to have a physical office in the market they are trying to penetrate.

This obstacle has allowed local businesses to thrive. However, the competition on the local level is fierce. To gain any kind of recognition here, you need to employ Local SEO tactics and strategies. That would ensure your business stands out amongst the competition.

The Local 3-Pack

If you’ve ever searched a local keyword, you’ll notice that under the ads at the top of the SERP, there are a few local results displayed. For example, if you type a local key phrase like art galleries in Greenwich Village, you’ll see Google Map listings of all of the art galleries located in The Village pointed out with red dots.

Underneath the Map, you’ll find the top three art galleries. They might not be the three best galleries, but they have some excellent SEO experts standing behind them. If you want to compete on the local level, you need to be featured amongst those top three results in the local 3-pack.

Your prospective customers will rarely, if ever, click on to expand the list. There are several ways you can appear on this list. You need to ensure that your overall SEO is top-notch to find any success here. However, along with that, you also need to ensure that you get the basics right.

What are the Basics?

The basics of SEO are simple to understand and very well-known. Your website needs to load quickly, have good content, have good structure, have keywords in URLs, etc. These are the basic requirements of SEO. However, local SEO has something to add to that. Local SEO basics are all about your business listings. Consider the following:

  • Claiming Your Business

    When you search your company name, it’s very likely that you’ll find your company or business location already marked by the pin. Google collects data from a variety of sources so if your company is listed on any online directory, Google will find it and place it on the Maps. When you find this pin, verify the address information and claim the business.

  • Register with Local Directories

    If you register your business with websites like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Google+, you’ll be able to solicit reviews from your customers. This would boost your reputation and bring more traffic to your website. It would also improve your rankings on the SERP.

  • Correct Your NAP Data

    NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. You need to make sure that this data is consistent throughout the web. If you’ve changed business locations or phone numbers recently, you should update your information promptly. The last thing you want is for your customers to stumble upon misleading data.

If you follow these steps, you’ll be improve your local SEO and bring considerable organic traffic to your website.