Local SEO ranking factors involve a variety of touch-points. They relate to helping you get found in your physical locality. This means listing things like your city, country, and region throughout your site and web presence. Here is a thorough list of local SEO ranking factors for 2018.
Search engines look at a variety of different factors to determine if you’re an active local company that has a real physical address. They look on your website, they look for your name, address, and phone number to be listed. They also look at online local business directories, reviews, and backlinks.
Local SEO and Listings
Local SEO includes your:
- business name
- address
- phone number
- description
- hours of operation
- method of payments available
- business categories
- email address
- website address
- logo or other photos
Having these identifiers listed consistently from one directory to the next helps you rank higher and get found.
These citations in local online business directories make up a large part of what Google and search engines look at. This determines how your website ranks in the local search results.
Duplicate listings, errors, and missing information
Be careful to not create duplicates of your online business listings. Your information has to be very consistent from one directory to the next. This consistency shows search engines that you are an established physical company with a physical address.
To make sure your information is listed in the correct directories, accurate, and not duplicated, you’ll need to claim these listings. This is the way to make sure that your information is consistent from one directory to the next. The directory list includes Google My Business, Facebook, White Pages, Superpages, Yelp, and the list goes on and on.
Local SEO rating and review ranking factors
Another factor outside of your website that Google and other search engines will look at are your reviews and ratings. Both the quality and the quantity of the reviews factor into your overall ranking.
Backlinks as a local ranking factor
Getting backlinks was a factor in SEO long before local SEO became its own category. Now, backlinks are still an important part of local SEO. Backlinks from companies in your immediate physical community do matter even if they’re not in the same industry or niche as you.
It is good to get backlinks from other establishments in your area. Companies in your area and in your industry can definitely have an impact on your local SEO ranking. These links can include local newspapers, blogs or local businesses in a similar niche.
Local SEO benefits
Local SEO is a big advantage for small companies because they can at times outrank their larger competitors that are farther away. Businesses with a local address can also appear on the map in the search results and with a specific listing above the organic listings.
In this way, you outrank competitors without having your content appear in the nationwide organic search results. You can get results due to having optimized your local presence.
Another local tactic is to do keyword research to find out what keywords your local competitors are ranking for. If you do some additional content optimization on your website, you could see big results due to having fewer competitors to outrank.
For more information on how to implement local SEO, contact us today!
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