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5 Tips for Optimising Your Website for Local Search

Google has frequently told us that almost half of all searches conducted have a local intent of some kind. You will probably recognise this from your own searching habits. Even those with strong knowledge of their local area conduct local intent searches to make their lives easier – whether that’s to find a service such as a mechanic or plumber or to locate a retailer, restaurant or leisure venue.  

What’s more, local search intent is high, with 72% of consumers who conduct a local search then going on to visit a store within five miles.

Make sure that finding your business is as easy for searchers as possible with these five tips:

  1. Claim Your My Google Business Page
    Step one is the probably the most obvious and yet it’s estimated that over half of all businesses have not claimed their Google My Business page. Jump on that as soon as possible and make sure all the information is provided and accurate. Don’t forget to check back in regularly to ensure this is always updated.
  2. Update Your NAP Citations
    NAP simply stands for name, address and phone number. The important thing about your NAP citations is that you need to ensure they are accurate and match up not just on your website, but absolutely everywhere else online as well. This includes your Google My Business page, your local directory entries, social media posts and anything else you can think of. Don’t allow for any inconsistencies as this can discredit your local profile and hamper local search ranking improvements.
  3. Use Local Business Directories
    Local business directories stand alone when it comes to having the potential to supply you with traffic. At the end of the day, while SEO for major search engines is no doubt your priority, you want to take every chance to appear wherever people might search for you or your services. The other benefit of taking time to register with local business directories is that you’re going to generate backlinks and content around your business on a contextually relevant website to your local area.
  4. Encourage Reviews
    Reviews are widely considered to be one of the most powerful SEO ranking factors in recent years. Reviews will increase rankings, but they also provide a boost in genuine purchase consideration from your visitors as well. Nothing is quite as persuasive as positive peer reviews. If you can get these from local sources, even better.
  5. Create Local Content
    Don’t neglect your website content as this plays a big role in local search visibility and consumer conversions. To boost local search rankings, make sure some of your content is produced with your location in mind and the associated keywords that come with that. Local news, events or even case studies can all be powerful local search content.

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