Local SEO Guide in Colombia: Position Your #1 Website on Google

If you are looking for how to position your website in your city through Local SEO, you have come to the right place.

El SEO Local te permite alcanzar clientes potenciales que están en tu área de cobertura.

¿Por qué deberías hacer una estrategia de posicionamiento local? Porque es altamente rentable para los negocios pequeños y medianos.

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, el 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.

Este tipo de búsqueda se caracteriza porque el usuario tiene una necesidad inmediata. Puede requerir un servicio o producto, como un restaurante, una ferretería o una farmacia.

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:

1. Juan, who lives in Medellin, needs to buy some essence for his electronic cigarette.
2. Juan goes to Google and types in “e-cigarette essences in Medellin.”
3. Google takes into account Juan's location and search intent.
4. 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 le muestra a Juan el resultado más relevante para su intención de búsqueda. Es decir, comprar esencias para cigarrillos electrónicos.

This same logic works for all types of products and services.

Elementos de una búsqueda local

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

Tres cosas antes de comenzar:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

Dicho esto, en esta guía recopilamos algunas de nuestras estrategias de SEO Local. Estas estrategias nos han permitido position more than 20 web pages at the top of their industries.

Sé consistente con tu 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

Registrar tu empresa en Google My Business es obligatorio si quieres hacer SEO Local.

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.

¿Cuánto vale estar en Google My Business? Registrar tu empresa y sacar tu ficha de negocio es 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

Para posicionarte bien en el SEO Local debes cumplir con algunas pautas, como:

• 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

Tus visitantes (incluido Google) necesitan saber quién eres y dónde estás ubicado. Así que es recomendable 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:

1. Go to Google Maps and search for your company (for this you must already have the Google My Business listing active).
2. Click on the side menu next to your business name and select “Share or embed map.” 
3. Select the “Insert Map” tab and copy the code. 
4. Paste the code into your website.

Crea citaciones en directorios empresariales

Una citación es una mención a tu empresa desde una página diferente a la tuya.

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.

Pero no cualquier directorio sirve: necesitas directorios, principalmente de Colombia, relevantes para tu sector.  Y que sean tenidos en cuenta por Google como autoridades.

And remember:

Make sure you link your website properly and maintain NAP consistency.

Create profiles on social networks

A good social media management es fundamental para conectar con tu audiencia. Pero además son muy efectivas a la hora de crear citaciones y darle una mano al SEO.

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

Los datos estructurados son contenidos invisibles para el usuario, pero visible para los buscadores.

Estos datos le ayudan a Google a entender a fondo de qué se trata tu página web en el momento de la indexación. En otras palabras: le facilitan la vida a Google.

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.

Si tu página es más atractiva en los resultados, aumentará el CTR (clic trough rate) o la tasa de clics. Y como el CTR es un factor de posicionamiento, mejorarás tu 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 analizará tu web y te dará recomendaciones para mejorar tu velocidad.

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.

De ser posible, inclúyela en tus títulos, encabezados, párrafos, URL y en las imágenes. Por supuesto, sin abusar.

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.

Las reseñas las puedes obtener en tus redes sociales, en tu ficha de negocio o en tu web. Pero es fundamental que incluyas estas reseñas en tu página web (con datos estructurados).

Estas reseñas serán doblemente útiles. Por un lado, te servirán para posicionarte mejor en Google. Y por otro, te ayudarán a cerrar aún más ventas.

It goes without saying: to get good reviews, you need to offer excellent service. And go above and beyond.

Realiza una auditoría SEO periódica

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.

Entender los errores y las oportunidades de SEO Local de tu página web es vital para seguir en el primer lugar de Google.

An SEO audit is an in-depth analysis of the points that affect web positioning.

Antes de hacer la auditoría de tu web, olvida todo lo que sabes de tu página. Haz un acercamiento desprevenido y minucioso del contenido y de los aspectos técnicos.

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.