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If you are looking for how to position your website in your city through Local SEO, you have come to the right place.
Local SEO allows you to reach potential customers who are in your coverage area.
Why should you implement a local SEO strategy? Because it is highly profitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
Because?
Because it gives them the opportunity to go head to head against the giants in their industry.
Positioning yourself in the first results of a local search guarantees visibility and credibility.
More than 80% of users perform local searches. And, according to a Google study, he 50% of these users visit a business on the same day.
But what is a local search?
This is where things get interesting for businesses. A local search is aimed at finding businesses in the area near the user.
This type of search is characterized by the user having an immediate need. They may require a service or product, such as a restaurant, a hardware store, or a pharmacy.
But most importantly, you are looking for this service or product near your location.
Let's give an example, to understand this topic a little better:
- Juan, who lives in Medellin, needs to buy some essence for his electronic cigarette.
- Juan goes to Google and types in “e-cigarette essences in Medellin.”
- Google takes into account Juan's location and search intent.
- Google shows John a map with nearby e-cigarette stores. Below this map, it shows him the online stores that ship to his location.
Google shows Juan the most relevant result for his search intent. That is, to buy essences for electronic cigarettes.
This same logic works for all types of products and services.
Elements of a local search
When Google understands that the user is doing a local search, the results change.
The first thing Google shows are the promoted results (if there are any).
The map and the top three results will appear next. This is known as a 3-pack.
Finally, there are the organic results.
With this clear, let's go to the guide:
Local SEO Guide
Three things before we start:
- There are no two SEO specialists to do things the same way. There is no magic recipe for ranking your website. And, more importantly, you will not get to the top of Google by making little effort.
- It is also important that your website has clear objectives. In this guide we assume that you want to acquire new customers. If so, we also recommend our 5 steps to create a professional website that gets clients.
- In this guide we will tell you how to position yourself on Google, since it is the most popular search engine. But these steps will also help you position yourself on other search engines.
That being said, in this guide we compile some of our Local SEO strategies. These strategies have allowed us to position more than 20 web pages at the top of their industries.
Be consistent with your NAP
NAP is one of the most important elements in Local SEO. It comes from the English “Name, Address, Phone”, that is:
NAP = Name, Address and Telephone.
In all the places where you list your website, you must repeat this data no changes.
You have to be careful with upper and lower case letters, spaces in phone numbers, abbreviations. Everything.
An example of a suitable NAP is:
Happiness Restaurant
Always Alive Avenue 742
(4) 222 22 22
This information must be identical on all websites and directories where it is published.
What happens if we put for example “(4) 2222222” in a directory? Google will think that we are talking about another “Restaurante Felicidad” and not ours.
Sign up for Google My Business
Registering your company on Google My Business is mandatory if you want to do Local SEO.
What benefits do you get from being on Google My Business?
The most important thing is to appear on Google Maps. And by this I mean also being on Waze, Uber and all the apps that use Google Maps.
You will also have a tab where your customers can leave you public reviews. These reviews cannot be deleted or edited, but they can be responded to.
How much does it cost to be on Google My Business? Registering your company and getting your business listing is 100% free.
If you haven't done so yet, take advantage and Sign up for Google My Business.And remember to be consistent with your NAP!
Do on-site and on-page SEO
To position yourself well in Local SEO you must comply with some guidelines, such as:
- Descriptive, attractive and concise title: maximum 55 characters.
- Meta description with call to action: maximum 160 characters.
- Quality content: Don't copy content from another website verbatim. Create content that reflects the title and purpose of the page.
- Tag your content: Use headings (from H1 to H6). These help Google understand your content. Important: Use only one H1 per page.
- Correct keyword density: Don't overuse the keyword you're trying to rank for. Tip: Use synonyms and related words.
- Excellent spelling: Neither Google nor your visitors like bad spelling.
- Responsive programming: Complete adaptability to mobile devices is essential for positioning. What's more, if your website is not responsive, forget about positioning for cell phones or tablets.
- Short and descriptive URL: Try to keep your URL to no more than 4-5 words after your domain. For example: www.gulupa.com.co/seo-local-colombia.
- Quality photos: with “alt” and “title” tags. The name must be readable by Google. For example: tables-restaurant-happiness.jpg.
- Consistent NAP:Somewhere on every page, you should put your NAP.
Insert the Google map into your page
Your visitors (including Google) need to know who you are and where you are located. So it is advisable insert your Google My Business location on your website.
You should do this at least on your main page.
How can you do it? It's very easy:
- Go to Google Maps and search for your company (for this you must already have the Google My Business listing active).
- Click on the side menu next to your business name and select “Share or embed map.”
- Select the “Insert Map” tab and copy the code.
- Paste the code into your website.
Create citations in business directories
A citation is a mention of your company from a page other than your own.
An easy way to create citations is through directories. There are some free ones and some paid ones.
Among the business directories for Colombia we have Yellow Pages, Colombia Business and Tuibos.
However, depending on your niche, you can find different specialized directories.
But not just any directory will do: you need directories, mainly from Colombia, that are relevant to your sector and that are considered by Google as authorities.
And remember:
Make sure you link your website properly and maintain NAP consistency.
Create profiles on social networks
A good social media management is essential to connect with your audience. But they are also very effective when it comes to creating citations and giving SEO a hand.
Google+, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Pinterest, Tumblr. Create profiles for your company on all the networks you can think of.
Again: don't forget to keep your NAP intact.
Structured Data, Schema.org, and Rich Snippets
Structured data is content that is invisible to the user, but visible to search engines.
This data helps Google to better understand what your website is about at the time of indexing. In other words, it makes Google's life easier.
Good use of structured data can give you an edge over your competition. You can tell Google that a certain text is actually your business name (just like that).
In order to make this data readable by search engines, a universal language was needed. This is how Schema.org was born.
Schema.org standardized and simplified the process of marking up web content.
But what is structured data for?
Structured data does not affect your page ranking by itself. But it does make your page look more attractive in search results. Google does this by taking this data and converting it into rich snippets.
If your page is more attractive in the results, the CTR (click through rate) will increase. And since the CTR is a positioning factor, you will improve your ranking.
One thing leads to another.
This is what a page with structured data looks like in the search results vs. a normal one:
Which one would you click on?
Optimize the speed of your website
This is very important.
Google has made it clear that page speed is a ranking factor.
You need to make sure your design loads quickly, is responsive and legible. This is a must for your Local SEO strategy.
You must also have a first-class hosting service.
If you want to analyze the performance of your website, Google has a tool for you. Google PageSpeed Insights will analyze your website and give you recommendations to improve your speed.
Mention the name of your city
If you want to speed up your website's local ranking, make sure to mention your city.
This is an additional hint you'll be giving Google to understand your location.
If possible, include it in your titles, headings, paragraphs, URLs, and images. Of course, don't overdo it.
Include your customers' reviews
(Real) reviews from your customers will help you rank even higher.
Especially if they review you with 4 or 5 stars.
You can get reviews on your social media, on your business listing or on your website. But it is essential that you include these reviews on your website (with structured data).
These reviews will be doubly useful. On the one hand, they will help you rank better on Google. And on the other, they will help you close even more sales.
It goes without saying: to get good reviews, you need to offer excellent service. And go above and beyond.
Conduct a periodic SEO audit
And when you are ranked first, it is all over?
Well no.
Your competition will never rest and you will always have opportunities to rank for more keywords.
Understanding your website's Local SEO mistakes and opportunities is vital to staying on top of Google.
An SEO audit is an in-depth analysis of the points that affect web positioning.
Before you audit your website, forget everything you know about your site. Take a thorough, unprepared look at the content and technical aspects.
If you need additional help, you can also hire a Professional SEO audit company.
Need more help with Local SEO?
If you want to further improve the positioning of your website at a local level, we can help you.
Hire our professional services in Local SEO and dominate your local market.
