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Hi, and welcome to the Ultimate Guide to local SEO. You're about to embark on the first step of your journey to becoming a local SEO expert as we share the latest cutting-edge techniques to take you from beginner to Pro. The good news is you don't need to have any prior knowledge of local SEO to become a local search master as our easy and fast unique learning format, will break down every important aspect of easily digestible sections.

In this course, you'll learn all the essential factors. Make up a good local SEO strategy, including keyword research on Google Maps, the importance of Google My Business, and more you'll learn how to optimize your website to push it onto the first page of Google. How behavioral signals can affect your local search score and how to get more inbound links and nap, citations to push, you up the ranks with our help, you'll know everything you need to about local SEO and will be armed with solid strategies. So you can improve your approach and increase your local search position using high-quality video explainers. You can watch it. We demonstrate core techniques. So you can see in real-time how to set everything up for Success, you'll access animated videos that will break down the most important aspects and help you quickly learn. So, you can put everything we teach into practice. All you need to do is be ready to learn, hungry for success, and determined to succeed. If you meet those three criteria, and you complete this course, you will have the right tools for great success.

Whether you're a local business owner looking to attract more visitors to your website or a marketer who wants to promote local brands. With this comprehensive course, you'll learn Pro techniques and strategies that will dramatically improve your local SEO approach.

Let's talk about why local SEO is important. Did you know that four out of five consumers? Now perform local searches. If your business doesn't have a solid local SEO strategy in place, you'll be losing out on 80% percent of your potential customers on top of this. 46% of all Google searches are now done with local intent, so it's crucial to adopt an effective, local, SEO strategy if you want to maximize the chance of your business, being discovered.

72% of all local Searchers will go on to visit a business within five miles of their location. You'll miss out on a lot of customs. If users can't find you or don't know you exist.

Local SEO isn't just about making sure your address information is correctly displayed, or you have a listing on Yelp or Google my business, although that's important it incorporates a combination of equally important factors from keywords to building inbound backlinks, optimizing your website for local search right through to your online reviews and social media content and engagement.

We will go into the most essential things. You need to know to adopt a good SEO strategy. We will help you lay down strong foundations that you will build on later in this course in a more in-depth explainer. Be prepared to put in a little effort, but if you don't get where you want to be straight away, remember, never be discouraged as it takes everyone a little time to see success. If you are prepared to learn and apply the information we share, you will be successfully, provided you're determined to do well with this course you're an excellent Advantage as we've drawn on our years of SEO experience to create materials that will ensure your ultimate success. Ready to get started on your journey, to becoming a local search Master? Keep watching, as we take a dive into the most important things you need to know.

So what exactly is local SEO?

Local SEO is the art of optimizing, the online visibility and discoverability of your business to customers in your physical location. It also helps online potential customers to find out where your business is located in real life.

Local SEO has a lot in common with normal SEO, but includes the promotion of your location information, which you will need to optimize your strategy around. When Google ranks websites for local SEO, it examines normal SEO ranking factors and a set of unique, local search factors. You need to score highly on both to do well in local search.

Here are some of Google's local search ranking factors where a person is searching from the amount of name address phone. A number of citations, your business has whether you have a Google my business listing your Google, my business profile keywords, how many positive or negative online reviews? Does your business have what keywords are used in your online reviews? How many check-ins your business has received, and how long do people stay at your location? How many times your local business has been shared on social media, your Brand's, Google Maps, or star rating? Other behavioral factors like purchases.

There are also some other key things you will need to do if you want to be successful with local SEO that you wouldn't have to bother with if you had a purely online brand.

For best results, you must optimize for the Google Map Pack. Get visible on relevant local reviews, and sites and use research tools like Yelp and Google to suggest selecting the best keywords to pair with your location word. Ultimately, your goal should be to rank high in local search. You can achieve this by following the tips and strategies in this video and in this course, doing this will help you tweak your approach. So that every time someone searches for a business like yours in your area, you appear at the top. Let's talk about Google Map Pack and organic local search results. When Google users make a local search, type a keyword followed by a location like plumbers London. Google returns three different types of results which are sponsored ads map pack results, Organic search results

We will be explaining how the last two types, of map pack and organic search, impact your rankings and laying out the factors you need to optimize to improve your local search score.

What is the Google Map Pack?

Google uses the map pack to return results, back to you, based on your nearness to their location. It displays the location of these results, in the form of a map and pulls the top three nearest, to your location. The map pack is a superb chance to generate tons of calls or website visits as Google displays, a call icon with results If users are on mobile or a website icon for desktop or laptop Searchers, let us tell you how to rank well with a Google map pack.

There are several key factors You need to optimize if you want to rank well on the map. At pack first is Google my business. Google pulls info from your Google. In my business profile to analyze your proximity categories and keywords like the keywords used in your business Title, it's important to put the most important keywords in your title as well as your description. You should also try and keep the photos on your Google, my business profile fresh and updated, second is links as Google assesses, your inbound, anchor text as well as you're linking, domain, Authority, and quantity. Third our reviews, Google will look at the quantity and quality of reviews you have as well as their diversity, and the speed with which you acquire new reviews, reviews have never been so important to rank well on Google to put you in the first position.

Google needs to see that your customers are happy and that you are the right match for local Searchers. Google also considers reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook as well as Google, my business reviews. Fourth is NAP, Google reviews. Your NAP data, which is your name address phone number, look at the keywords you have in your titles and assess your domain authority and latest citations. Google will analyze your ego which stands for internet Yellow Pages listing, as well as the amount of accurate name address, and Phone number citations your business has on other websites.

You'll learn what each of the map pack ranking factors is, and why they are important to your local SEO strategy. You'll also discover how to boost them, so you can appear higher in search results. Google has confirmed that to rank well in the map pack. You also need to do well in organic search results.

This means you need to score high on Google's traditional ranking factors to so as well as improve your local search markers, you must follow normal good SEO practices as well. You need to analyze your map pack performance to track how you are performing in the Google Map Pack. You can use the free tools, local Viking or local Falcon, which lets you get granular with your search results. So you can see where you really rank. This is important as your map pack ranking can change depending on the information entered, even sometimes from Street to Street.

So what are organic local search results and how can you rank well in organic local search results if you want to appear higher in local, organic search results within Google there are some important factors you need to optimize. First is links Google checks, your inbound anchor text. You're linking domain Authority, and you're linking domain quantity.

On-page. Google looks for the presence of name address phone number data, checks the keywords in your titles, and reviews your domain authority to score you highly. Google needs to be able to easily find clear contact information on all your website and business social media profiles. If you have a local business, pay special attention to your contact and how-to-find our pages, and always make sure you include both on your website.

The third is behavioral, Google assesses, your click-through rate looks at your mobile-to-call rate, and analyzes your check-ins.

Fourth is Google my business and Google reviews. Your business is in proximity to your stated categories, and your keywords, including the keyword in your business title.

And last Citation. He's up your internet. Yellow Pages NAP listing and looks at the amount of name address phone number and AP citation mentions your business has. Here are some more tips on ranking in organic local search.

If you have a local business, the most important thing to remember is that although you want to rank high in the map pack, organic search is still important. To optimize your organic local search rankings. You need to optimize your normal search ranking to just as you do if you want to boost your map pack ranking, that means you must do all the things you usually would If you were looking to boost your search results only with the addition of your location information, make sure your website, speed an image compression, are optimal your title and meta, data are accurate and relevant, and your keywords are carefully chosen. Optimize your Website Layout, so people can easily find the information they need and create high-value content with high Authority backlinks.

Learn how to optimize your website for both local and traditional search, so you can rise higher and local search results and get discovered by more people searching for brands in your sector, the area.

Now, we'll be talking about keyword research. One tool is Google Keyword Planner Google's Keyword Planner lets you search large amounts of data for Niche locations, so you can see which keywords will help you appear higher in local search, Google Keyword, Planner is most helpful. If you've already picked a selection of keywords and want to discover, which will perform better based on Data Insights. If you're stuck for keywords, Google has another handy tool You can use, they start with a website feature to access it You first need a Google account. Then you'll need to sign in to Google. Google Ads, once you're there, open the Google Keyword Planner and select discover new keywords, you'll then see two choices start with keywords or start with a website, click on the start with a website tab Then enter the home page address of a local competitor, and you'll immediately see numerous Google Keyword suggestions, these will all be based on the keywords, your competitors using on their page. This is an easy and fast way to get high-performing relevant keywords that will help your business stand out and get discovered in local searches.

Another tool you can use is Yelp, suggest Yelp has a handy suggest tool that works. Similarly to Google's suggestion, and you can use it to find appropriate keywords, that will get your business found when someone performs a local search to get started, just need to type in a keyword, a local customer might enter to try and find a business like yours. You'll then be shown a bunch of keywords, including keywords that won't necessarily contain the word you entered. For example, if you typed in London wedding, planner Yelp might suggest London events, organizer South London, receptions, or London parties, This gives you great food for thought and allows you to expand your keyword choice in ways You might not have thought of. You can also use Google suggest tool which is available directly via the Google search box to find relevant keywords for your business with Google suggest. It's important to ensure you use terms local customers will search for us, otherwise, you'll get much more General results.

Lastly, we have a voice search. Don't forget to choose keywords for Google local voice searches as these are important too, 20% of all Google Mobile searches are now voice searches and typically these tend to be longer than keyed in terms.

Let's talk about structuring your website for local SEO, start with creating a contact page. If you have a local brand, you must have a dedicated contact page. As people now want detailed information about your brand, including your contact details on your contact page, you should display your name, your phone email, and your business, full address, your name phone, and address details together are also commonly referred to as map data. If your email isn't, we will explain that data and why it's so crucial. The local search in more detail shortly, make sure your website and contact details are clear, display current and accurate, so people can get in touch with you without any issues after your contact page.

Make your phone numbers clickable as over thirty percent of all local searches are done via mobiles. It's important to be as accessible as possible to Searchers who want to connect with your brand easily. A way of doing this is to make your phone numbers clickable for mobile versions of your website. This saves people from having to take the extra step of copying your number and switching apps. When they want to call you, the Searcher will then get an automatic prompt when they click on the link that will ask them. If they'd like to place a call, make sure you make your phone numbers clickable via text links and not graphics as Google needs.

Able to crawl the data. You also should display your phone number at the head of every page of your website on a mobile device. These are now the primary means by which users conduct local searches, after that, at a location map to your site. In 86% of local searches, look up a business's location using Google Maps. It makes sense to add a map with your location to your website. That way people can immediately see where you're located without having to leave your site to look you up, embedding a Google map on your about or contact page gives you a two-for-one. As you can show your website, visitors where to find you and let Google know where you are located which will help with your local search score, to embed your Google Map, just search for your business location on Google Maps. Then click on the drop-down menu at the top corner of the screen, and select add badly. You'll get an embed code, which you can copy and paste into your site's HTML to display your location on your website. It is also important to incorporate. Schema.org was created to provide a Common Language between websites and search engines like Google and Bing.

Search engines understand what your website is about, so they can rank its relevance when returning results for local search. If you had the most relevant, schema markup for your local business, on your website, you'll be letting Google know, you are a local business and not a big Global brand including schema markers. Can help you confirm the nature of your business as well as its location to Google. And this may give a slight boost to your position in local search to add schema to your website quickly. You can make use of the many free online.

Schema tools that take the information You enter in, generate HTML, HTML code. You can then copy and paste this code, to the HTML head section of your website, Google structured data, Helper, and data highlighter will let you easily add schema markup data to your website, or you can use the free Jason generator offered by the schema app. Once you've added in your schema information, you can also use Google's data helper tool to test how it displays. Google's ad structured data, the tool helps, you add any type of structured data to an HTML website, the structured data, you generate using the tool will be eligible to appear.

Don't forget to test your data in Google structured data, testing tool. After you enter it to check, there are no errors.

After that, incorporate keywords in your site, and make sure your location keyword appears high on every page. Ideally, in your headline, optimize your homepage's title tag. Ensuring it is. Includes your location and two or three High performing keywords that are niche relevant. Don't forget your metadata as this helps you boost your click-through rate never overstuff your meta description with keywords though, instead make it catchy and short and include one mention of your location. When you sit down to write your meta description, imagine you're giving an elevator pitch to someone to convince them To visit your website or give your company a try. You can check out Google Ads in your local Niche to get good examples of short persuasive copy That will work, including keywords.

If you decide to use one, don't copy word for word, instead rewrite them, so they are unique. Also, ensure your website is mobile optimized, did you know, nine out of ten smartphone users perform local searches while they are out And about, if you have a local business, it's important to make sure your website displays and navigates. Well, on mobile devices. Many people will look up your information while they are on the Move. If You're building your website yourself, free tools, like WordPress or which, make it easy to get a sleek-looking mobile optimized website. So you Still need to check how your chosen template performs on smartphones and tablets. If someone else is building your website, let them know that it's critical your site functions Well, on mobile devices, if it doesn't, people will lose patience fast, and you'll lose custom. And lastly, check for errors. As with any SEO strategy, to score highly with local SEO, you need to make sure your website is online, and error-free consider improving your internal linking structure to make it easy for people to navigate to what they need and check your website and pages to make sure their online don't have any bugs.

You can use free tools, like screaming frog, to check your website's image links. And apps to see if you have any missing H1 or meta tags or 404 errors. Next up, we'll talk about NAP, which stands for name, address phone number nap, or name address phone number citations are placed on the web where three pieces of information about your business appear, which is your business name, your business address, and your business phone number. Google crawls These nap mentions when a gauge your local search ranking, and they are hugely important to your local SEO ranking factor, to score highly with this Factor. You must make sure your nap info appears on as many reputable websites as possible, and as accurate as every appears.

NAP citations are so important to Google that mismatched nap data contributes to 41% of all ranking issues, only real physical location data Council when it comes to Google's assessment of math, not PO boxes or virtual offices, make sure your nap data is displaying on all the important local business sites, such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. You can do this by claiming a profile there in filling out your information. So your net data will be accessible to Google when it crawls the relevant sections of the site. Don't just stop there. Oh though, get your nap data listed on as many high Authority places as you can. The more places it appears, the more Authority Google will assign to your business and the better Your local search ranking will be in Google checks. All your nap, mentions them to assess your Brand's location and to make sure your business information is accurate. If Google sees a lot of correct nap citations for your brand, they will give your business more priority in search as you will appear to be who, and where you say, you are nap, citations can be tricky to build up and create, but there are some useful tools that will help make the job easier as well as some strategies you can adapt to achieve more nap mentions. Here's a pro tip, which will tell you an easy way to review your nap and citation tools. Like, Loganix has helped you find out where your nap data, appears online. Making it easier to see how many citations you have, and where your information is listed correctly. If you've not done this before, but I've had a business for a while. You'll likely find, you have a lot of incorrect listings, identify all the places where you have outdated or incorrect map data, and make sure you update each one if you can. You'll be able to change your own nap information easily on sites, like Yelp. But if you've been mentioned on a local community Page by someone else, you'll have to contact the owner of the page and ask them to update your info.

Tools like Yext make updating your nap data, a whole lot simpler by automating the process So you don't have to manually. Reenter your nap information on every single site, as your exit is integrated with hundreds of sites, you can enter your nap data once and let your EXT updated on all sides that appear on.

Here's another Pro tip for you, try to get more local citations.

You don't have to search for brands in your Niche, any local Brands will work, as all you're trying to do is find sites that reach out to your community. Look through these results to find websites with citation opportunities, where you can display your nap data. Typical sites include local community Pages.

The Chamber of Commerce was many, local businesses are listed and local news or review sites were another sides. It could be suppliers or producers local figures or bloggers, or some of these sites. Might also let you feature your link once you have drawn up, a list of sites where you can feature your nap. Follow-ups are reaching out and asking if they consider listing your business as nap data.

Here's a rookie mistake you need to avoid, never post your nap data as an image, including on your own website, though, it might look attractive to search engines, but won't be able to crawl it, and you'll miss an opportunity to rank when you include your nap data on your site, make sure it's on the header or footer of every page too.

Let's talk about behavioral signals when it comes to local. Search ranking factors behavioral signals refer to the data. Google collects about the interactions. People have with your local brand, though it may be hard to define exactly what behavioral signals impact. Your local search ranking, they are a vital part of the SEO puzzle if you want to rise to the very top, it's estimated that having the right behavioral signals contributes, an 11% boost to your overall local search position. Behavioral signals like the number of check-ins to Your business now play more and more of a role in Google's local search ranking, this is because Google has one of the largest user data collections in the world And it's using this data to build an improved more realistic model of local search by examining a more accurate picture of Brands and Searchers including their offline Behavior. In many local searches, experts believe Google is increasing the importance of Behavioral signals to its search engine placement, as it creates, a more precise picture of Brands Based on data collected from real-world, activity, rather than web pages and text.

It can be tricky to identify every single behavioral signal, that truly matters to Google's, local search rankings, even among search professionals, there is much debate about which meaningfully impact your score. Despite this, there are some generally agreed upon signals that are widely believed to impact your local search position by learning what these are and how you can optimize them where possible, you can improve and enhance your local search score. First off, we have search location, Google attributes, and a higher score, for businesses closest, to a Searchers location.

It also applies a relevancy radius to every local business, and this varies in size depending on the sector. Brands like coffee shops and restaurants, have a tighter radius as there is more competition And so they typically serve a smaller area, a tennis court or cycling Park would have a much larger radius particularly if it's the only one of its kind around for several miles if your brand location Falls outside the relevancy radius Google assigns you will find it more difficult to be discovered with Google search, So what can you do to improve it? There's not much you can do to improve this Factor if you already have a location and don't or can't move. But if you're thinking of starting a new business, or moving to a new location, Google's relevancy, and radius may be a factor You might want to check and consider.

The second thing is branded search volume. The number of times people in or near a location search for your brand name is one of the most important behavioral markers for Google when it comes to local search businesses that pay attention to both offline and online marketing strategies and keep them consistent usually fare better in branded search, as many branded searches are performed by people who have first heard of You by word of mouth or offline advertising. Because of this, your branded search volume provides Google with an excellent, snapshot of how popular your business is in the real world. So what can you do to improve it to increase your branded search score? Do you need to First increase your business offline visibility? So people hear about you and then get online to find out, more hosting special community events or nights putting up posters or sending Direct Mail, Flyers could all encourage local searches for your brand, the best strategy is to create great products and services that people will love. So they tell others to spread the word about your brand. You can also help get the message out by letting people trial your products or sample, your service for free and can hand out samples in your local High Street or location or pass out discount cards or Flyers

Next up, we have click-through rate, your click-through rate or Center refers to the number of times, people have clicked on your listing or link to be taken to your website or page, Google hasn't given away Any specifics about this ranking factor and there's been a lot of debate about how much it affects your local. Search score evidence from respected search engine experts such as ran Fisher from moz.com demonstrates. It does have an impact though when it comes to local search Google Sees click-through rate as an indication that Searchers in a specific location, see your business as relevant.

So, how can you improve your Center to boost your organic click-through rate for local search? You need to make sure you have area Specific titles and tags and appealing, relevant meta descriptions on your web pages. Getting a significant number of positive Google. My business reviews will also help as more people will click through to visit your business page. If they see other people rate your brand highly.

 Fourth is personalization, thanks to Google services Many of us are always signed in to our accounts on every device We own in the behavioral data, we generate is being collected and analyzed by Google tracking collects, a lot of information including the websites we visited an and with our locations and invoices sent for brands to our Gmail accounts, whenever we make a local search Google takes this information into account before it returns the results. Brands We've previously interacted with online nearby businesses and businesses We purchased from all get priority in the tailored search results, we see. So, how can you improve this aspect of every search or seized a different result? So you need to concentrate on getting as many people as possible to look up your brand and focus on engaging with your customers. So they regularly visit your page and encourage them to spread the word to friends and family, so you attract more area-specific visits and generate data that Google will use to inform future search results.

Next up, we have a knowledge panel, interactions knowledge panels are displayed in Google search results Whenever users look up, people place information or things, and they give Searchers a brief overview of a topic. Usually, by outlining the most important essential information and can include contact details. Google automatically creates knowledge panels using Information drawn from several different sources around the web, including your Google my business profile, when local users search Google. Now displays a higher percentage of knowledge panel results which has resulted in a lower number of click-throughs to branded websites under 50% Currently the actions local Searchers perform Within These knowledge panels give a serious boost to your brand. In Google's eyes, the company uses them as a more serious indication of interest in your brand on a website. Visit, if you have filled out the contact, number option on your Google, my business profile Will appear as a clickable icon, and a search within your business is knowledge panel box. This gives mobile searches the option to call you via the knowledge panel Using Google's mobile click-to-call option to request driving directions, or click to book. When they do Google collects this data and counts it as an endorsement of your business from Searchers in that location, the most important knowledge Interaction is, when people request driving directions as this shows, Google they have a serious intention to visit that location. Google will evaluate the number of people from Geographic Cal's who make knowledge panel requests for your business, the information, Google collects will go towards, assessing your brand location, and relevancy, which affects where you rank when users make a local search. Here's what you can do, to improve it to ensure as many people as possible. Make a knowledge panel, and interactions with your brand, and ensure all you're online. Information is filled out, particularly the information in your Google, and my business profile. This will ensure Google has plenty to work with when it creates the knowledge panel results. People see, you can also offer people the option to book online If possible, as this option will be displayed in the knowledge panel. If your business offers it.

Sixth is the visits to your offline location due to Android and iOS user tracking through Google Maps as well as Google's online search and click-through tracking. The brand now has an almost total picture of both our online and offline Behavior, Google collects, location data on, all users who have Google Maps installed, whether they've searched for a business or not, if they visit a brand offline, they will be counted in the stats that show up in the popular time section on the knowledge panel.

Google also collects data on the length of time people stay at your location as well. As there are more or fewer people checked into your location than usual, Google can track many people Using Google location services installed on most Android phones. If the option is not disabled in someone, who visits your Google, my business listed business, their visit to, you will be counted by Google. Google also offers people the opportunity to Mark places that are important to them through its label places feature

Most experts believe it is highly likely that Google also uses this information for its local search algorithm to assess a local business's popularity and relevance.

Here's how you can improve it. To improve this Factor, You should try and encourage as many people to visit your real-world business location as possible and incentivize people to come to your offline location with sales discounts events, and appealing marketing. Try sharing enticing snapshots of your business on your social media feeds and website, and show people footage in images of your location. You can also offer a gift or discount to real-world customers so that if people come to you to purchase instead of buying from you online, they get rewarded.

Lastly, we have offline transactions, Google collects data on the purchases, people make offline and online. Through mobile payments, like Apple Pay, due to its recent partnership with several major credit cards.

It also now tracks 70% of all purchases made with a credit card, though, there is no exact data. The number of Mobile payment and credit card transactions Your business receives is highly likely to impact the way Google views, the popularity of your local business. This will impact how Google positions you in local search as it is considered an extremely high-quality personalized signal and is the ultimate endorsement of your brand though. It likely only plays a small part. The importance of these personalized transactions will increase over time as more people pay through their Smartphones and Google expands its tracking to monitor more transactions. So how can you improve it if you can boost this signal, you likely already have a thriving brand, as it means Plenty of people are buying from you. The only thing you can do here is to ensure you create a strong business using a combination of solid products and services, fair prices, and an effective marketing strategy. This is ultimately what will encourage as many people as possible to make a purchase with your brand, So spend time on nurturing customer relationships to retain customers as well as reaching out to win more. And of course, you must optimize both your local and general SEO approach to make sure your business details are easily discoverable in the first place.

Link building.

Now, inbound links are hugely helpful if you're trying to improve your local search ranking. As each one tells Google, you are a trusted local business. They can also help to boost your domain Authority. So you should persist and attempt to obtain as many as you can, as they will help you to raise your local search ranking with Google. If you're struggling to win, more inbound links, there are some things you can do to improve your chances. Here are the five best ways to win more inbound links. So you can rise to the top of local search results.

Here are our top Places to get more inbound links

Number one, ask people, you already know, sit down and make a list of everyone You have a working relationship with from your suppliers to neighboring businesses in your area. Once you've done this, go to their website and look for Pages where they could link to you, or where they already have other links listed from local or relevant companies. You might look for Pages where they have listed local resources or supplier Pages, where they post the URL, and Brands that manufacture certain products. After you've done this, get in touch, by reaching out with a short flight email to politely, ask them if they would post a link to you on their website of the relevant place, you've identified, it's easier to do this with people you know as you'll have a relationship with them, don't skip suggesting where they can post your link as you'll be more likely to get a yes if you make it easier for them.

Number two is the Chamber of Commerce, don't forget your local Chamber of Commerce As this is a great way to get your link on a high Authority website. It's easy to do if you have a real-world location, although you will have to sign up for membership. The steps you need to take very as they depend on each chamber and some do require Annual fees. It's worth doing what you need to do to become a member of your chamber of commerce. Along with a link for your local brand, you nearly always receive an app citation to Google Sees Chamber of Commerce inbound Links and citations is extremely relevant as their High Authority trusted site.

Third, you can sponsor a local event if you act as a sponsor for a local event, you'll nearly always wind up with a link on the event website and will often be able to list your nap information. If it's a regular long-time or established event, even better as this means, the website, your data appears on will have more Authority in The eyes of Google.

Fourth is the local news website, local papers and Community News sites always need fresh relevant content. If you have a local brand, they are a great way of getting inbound links from a Trusted Source. Do you have anything new going on with your brand? When you do, you should pitch it to your local newspaper. Whether you are reopening after a revamp or hosting, a special event. Make sure you inform people a few days ahead of the event. And take time to craft a short, but compelling, press release That lets reporters know what's going on, and why? It's relevant to the local Community. If your local newspaper does want to run a story on your business or mention your brand. Always ensure they have your URL, so you can get that all-important Inbound link.

Lastly, we have guest blogging to engage with online members of your local community who have a blog or website and build up a relationship. Once you've created some trust, politely ask if they consider offering you a guest blogging spot, make sure you have a couple of article ideas ready to pitch and offer them a spot in return. If you have a Blog achieving, a guest blog, Spot is much easier to do if you've taken some time to reach out and chat to people first. So communicate with local businesses on social media, and in the comments of their blog, to create a rep for being actively engaged Also helps cement you in people's minds as a relevant, local authority figure, post local news networks on local sites and provide useful resources and links and people will soon start seeing you as a valuable member of the local community. Here's a bonus tip to get more inbound links, and to use my stream to identify local influencers.

If finding it difficult to get relevant backlinks, and you're prepared to pay a small monthly fee, plus stream can help you quickly identify and connect with influential local online figures. If lets you search for local influencers, then contact and track them from one place. Plus, it generates reports on your Outreach campaigns, so you can keep on top of your link placement. Another bonus tip is to get more inbound links as you should do personal Outreach to local influencers. If you have a local business, draw up a list of local figures who might be happy to come and pay you a visit Then contact them via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook asking them if they will come down, you don't have to offer cash, but make sure you are polite, explain, why their visit would be relevant and offer them an incentive to visit you, you can offer them, a free lunch, free, hairstyle, or promotion, on your social media. If you have a big following if they agree to pay you a visit, make sure you take lots of images and even videos which you can then share on your social media remember to tag in the influence or two. So they can also repost and share with their own following.

We'll be talking about social media. Social signals like shares and follows don't have a direct impact on your local search score. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't engage, as social media is Still important to local search for a couple of other reasons. Viral social posts that pick up a lot of traction. May make more of a direct impact on your local search rank than another post though, this largely is because when you go viral you tend to get mentioned quickly on other local sites. The main thing you need to ensure you do is to optimize your social profiles.

Social media is a crucial piece of the puzzle when it comes to getting name address phone number and NAP citations, as every mention of your nap data is ranked by Google. This includes nap citations found on your Facebook business page and LinkedIn profile, as well as on other social profiles. Sign up for as many online, social business profiles as possible to give you as many possible chances to include your name, address phone number, NAP data, and URL in your bio as well as anywhere else. Relevant. Try to sign up for the Facebook business pages, Twitter Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Even if it is, just a list, of your name address phone number, and NAP information. If you don't have the time to post regularly, do every social Channel, you've signed up for 10, as opposed to the top of your profile, to let people know where to find you and where you're more active. The best strategy for posting content is to focus on one or two social media profiles So you can post regularly and often.

 

Keeping social channels currently doesn't have to involve making a huge extra effort, if you have a food business, for example, you could create a feeling Gallery, showing your food offers and then create engagement ads to push posts to people who live within a 3-mile radius of your local business. This can be a powerful way to reel in more customers. Even if social media doesn't impact your local search position directly, it will help you build your following. This will indirectly Actually when you have more mentions on local websites, your main goals with social media, for local search, are to engage with potential customers build, trust in the local community, and network with other local businesses and influencers. Do this And you will organically win more mentions and citations on local sites, including on local news sites, the more mentions your brand gets the higher, your local search score will rise. You'll also maximize your reach and attract more local interest, which will then directly improve your local search position.

The other way your social media will help boost your local search rank is when other people linked to it, as the links, you've added to your social profiles, add to your website's Authority and search, although this will only give you a small boost.

Google my business.

Now, if you're a local brand, having a Google, my business profile is not optional. If you want to rank, highly in local search. According to moz.com, is a local search ranking Factor study your Google, my business profile is the number one factor When it comes to ranking in Google's Map Pack, it's not enough just to have a listing every Section of your profile should be filled out You should try to gather as many reviews as you can. You need to post content regularly to your profile and share relevant news and updates about your brand. One of the best ways of creating content for your Google My Business profile is by posting images that show off your brand and its location, you can create inspiring galleries that feature your menu in issues or products, show off your team members and give potential customers, a peek behind the scenes at your business. Your Google, my business profile is also important as it displays whenever users search on Google Maps for local nearby Brands. When you consider, how many people look up the location of a local business on Google Maps. You can see why you must ensure your Google, my business profile is properly optimized.

Here are two top tips for optimizing your Google, my business profile.

First is keeping all your info consistent, Google scores, you're on this and your score affects how you rank So, make sure the details you put into your Google, my business profile lines up with the information on your website. Your info should also match any nap citations You have on other websites. Make sure your business address, is spelled the same way everywhere, as Google finds a confusing when different versions or abbreviations of your address or name appear.

The second is filling in everything. You get points for every section of your profile, you complete. So make sure everything is filled out. Don't forget to enter details into the category selection section as well, including secondary categories. Secondary categories, affect the keywords and search terms, your business can rank for it, but a lot of people make the mistake of leaving them out.

Fill out the Services and products section 2 to let Google know what you do and what you have to offer.

What about other online profiles, as well? As Google My business, You also need to claim an optimized Several other important online profiles, as these will often be displayed first and local search results. The top three profiles. You need to make sure are optimized for your local. Businesses are TripAdvisor, Yelp, and Facebook business pages. You should also ensure you are on any key local review sites. So when people search locally, you will appear to find out the local review sites you should be appearing on, try searching for Target location, reviews, or your niche.

Target location reviews, you don't have to post to them regularly, but sign up for profiles on social media sites, like Twitter, Instagram LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Ticktock. So you can post your name address phone number and NAP data, which Google can crawl. This will be counted as part of your name address phone number and NAP citations. So even if you never post most of the profiles, it's still worth doing. Make sure your location features in your bio and add Live Links were possible. All the content you post to your social media channels, channels should be in the same voice and style to ensure brand consistency, including your graphics. You can also incorporate relevant hashtags, that include your location, on Twitter and Instagram. Try searching trending topics using your local area or add your location to your hashtags such as the hashtag Branding Bradford or the hashtag Sussex Google Now considers the nap mentions in the profiles, you have on social media when it analyzes your local search score. So it's vital to claim as many online profiles as possible. Always include this name address, and phone number data, as each mentioned counts as a citation, including mentions on social sites like your Facebook business page. Remember, the more local sites you can appear on as a local business, the more chances, you will appear in search results, And the more chances you will have of people discovering your brand.

Next up, we have reviews. Did you know that research has discovered, 81 % of potential customers read reviews and look at business, ratings, and online reviews can make or break your business Especially if you are a local brand, and research has shown consumers turn away and look elsewhere. If you have negative reviews or not many reviews on the Other hand, if you get lots of positive reviews, this has a positive effect on consumer trust. It's also a good idea to respond to both positive and negative reviews researchers at moz.com, discovered this can help build trust and show engagement by replying to a negative review. Might sound contradictory. As you don't want to appear, You are arguing with customers who didn't have a good experience with your brand. If you take an apologetic and concerned approach or even offer a solution, though, it can take the sting out of the negative feedback. This will demonstrate to other people that You care and want to make things right there.

Three top tips for getting more reviews.

First is asking, at the end of all relevant online content, to ask your customers and visitors to leave you a great review. If they've interacted with your local business and haven't already commented, if you have a database of customer email addresses, you can cross-reference these with visits to your establishment and send out automatic emails asking people for their feedback. Make sure you ask customers to consider leaving a review when they are in your location and tell your staff members to Remind customers to do this.

The second is offering an incentive, obviously, you can And should never try to bribe customers to leave you. Good feedback, but you can encourage them to comment on their experience with your brand to do this. You could run a competition where everyone posts a screenshot of a review, get centered, or ask people to email you a link to their review in exchange for a discount off their next purchase, and last is making it simple. People won't leave you a review if they don't know how or where to give their feedback, so tell them exactly where you want them to go. If you're talking to them online in an email or on social media, you can include a direct link. They can click to leave you a review. You can do this for your Google, my business reviews by logging into your GMB account and generating a short link that you can pass on to your customers if you are trying to get offline customers to get online and leave you a review. Consider handing out cards with your review URL or ask them for their email and then send them a review request later.

Here's a quick guide to blogging for local SEO. Blogging is a crucial way to give a big boost to your search engine rankings, But there are some guidelines you should follow if you're using it to enhance your local SEO approach. First is to post local content, and blog, about topics that are relevant to your local audience, especially local things that have relevance to your Niche Sector to help generate content ideas, keep up with local and Community News and think of ways to spin it, to relate back to your brand. These might not always be obvious, but by using a bit of creativity, You can find fresh angles from which to generate blogs. For example, if you hear that your area is coming out of or going into lockdown, and you run a cleaning business, you could run an article talking about the importance of hygiene in the COVID-19 area. You can also interview local figures to get there, take on your brand, or ask relevant local experts, for their insight and opinion, then feature them on your website. Don't forget to take plenty of pictures and videos as you can post, short clips and images to Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, or tick top or longer videos to YouTube.

Host your blog on your website to get the biggest benefits from SEO. You should host your blog on your own website or domain. Not on a third-party hosting service, as well as the obvious benefit of having your own web address, which looks much more professional than having a free URL, hosting your own blog, boosts your Google rankings as the keywords and links in your content. Factor into Google's analysis of your site, when Google assesses, your site, to see how relevant your brand is to local Searchers. It looks at factors like your link Authority content, relevance, and keyword. Relevancy. When it decides, how to position you in search by having your own blog, You love your website's chances of appearing higher. This is because when you post backlinks and include keywords in your blog content, these will be factored into your site's overall SEO score.

The third is to include your location in your posts. You should include your local city and neighborhood in your content as much as you can, as well as any unofficial names or nicknames for your area. Not everyone uses the same name to search for your location. So cover all bases by incorporating all versions into your content. You can also include nearby towns or cities, as some people will travel to you, if your brand appeals, or if you offer a unique service.

Creating fresh content.

When you're running a local business often, you'll have different pages that basically say the same thing, just so you can rank for several locations. If you are doing this you must make sure every page is unique otherwise you'll end up with a poor Google score for having duplicate content. Take the time to revise versions of your articles and website landing page copy. So that each one First. Using this technique, you can even reach out to place You aren't physically based in and rank for them in organic search results. This could be useful If you also have an online business, where customers can order products, it could also help you reach out to more customers who will make the trip to your location. Remember, you won't be able to rank in the map pack for places where your business isn't located, as you need a Google my business profile for that. If you're struggling with local content ideas, consider showcasing customer testimonials happy experiences Or success stories, feature special events or profiles, and A typical day or night at your location. Always include relevant images with every blog you post, preferably multiple images, As this will help break up text blocks and interest. Lastly, don't forget keywords for every new blog. Your post is an opportunity to get discovered in local search, So make the most out of every single article, just like with the rest of your website copy. You need to optimize your blog, header URL, title tags, and meta tags for local search as well as your subheaders and body copy.

Here's a bonus tip for local SEO, your offline activity can boost your online ranking. Although most of your local SEO approach will be conducted on the web, you shouldn't forget to reach out in real life too. As this can help. Boost your online score. Ask your customers or visitors for reviews. Build relationships with nearby Brands, suppliers, and Distributors and get their contact and website details So you can link up online.

Let all your customers know that you're online by including your website and social media details on your offline, promotional material and encourage people to interact with your brand, on the web to encourage offline, customers and visitors to interact with you online. You could run special online, competitions and events, in which you promoted your physical location. You can also promote your website and other online contact details on your printed point of sale POS material, like invoices and receipts, don't forget to hand out business cards to all your offline customers and clients to The teacher, and your online information too.

So that has been all, thanks for reading.