While there are a few different SEO factors to consider for a local SEO campaign than a standard SEO campaign- like external location signals and my business signals- links and on-page SEO are still very important. The only difference is that the type of links you focus on will be different.

I will explain some methods that you can use to get positive results from your campaigns for local SEO.

First Things First

Before pursuing links, do some preliminary work on your website to get the best possible results, especially if you want to show up in the local pack listings.

Local NAP citations, local reviews and My Business signals are more important than link building for ranking in the above types of listings.

Google My Business

If you haven’t already claimed your Google My Business page, you’ll need to do so.

I won’t go into all the details of setting it up because there are already many articles that explain this process, like this one or this one.

All you need to know is that once you’ve set it up, you should include the following:

• Add a long, unique description that’s formatted correctly and includes links.
• Choose the correct categories for your business.
• Upload as many photos as possible.
• Add a local phone number to your listing.
• Add your business address that’s consistent with that on your website and local directories.
• Upload a high-resolution profile image and cover photo.
• Add your opening times/days (if relevant).
• Get real reviews from customers (I’ll come onto this).

NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number)

Being consistent with your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) across your website and other local citations is key.

Schema.org markup is a code that you can add to your website to help search engines understand your content better. Adding this code to your “NAP” (name, address, and phone number) can help search engines display your company information correctly.

Here’s the code that you can adapt to your own website:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/LocalBusiness">
<p itemprop="name">COMPANY NAME</p>
<p itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<p itemprop="streetAddress">ADDRESS LINE 1</p>
<p itemprop="addressLocality">CITY</p>,
<p itemprop="addressRegion">REGION</p>
<p itemprop="postalCode">POSTCODE/ZIP</p.
<p itemprop="telephone">PHONE NUMBER</p>
<meta itemprop="latitude" content="LATITUDE" />
<meta itemprop="longitude" content="LONGITUDE" />
</div>

All you need to do is change the text in bold to your own details — simple.

Local Reviews

If you want your business to do well in local search rankings, you should take the time to get local reviews.

It is important to note that this does not only mean Google reviews. You will also want to focus on getting reviews on your Yelp page (they are used by Apple maps), as well as other local directories. However, your first priority should be Google reviews.

Reach out to your current customers to see if they would be willing to leave you a review. You could offer them an incentive, like a discount, in exchange for their time.

Greg Gifford’s BrightonSEO talk gave the tip to create a page with instructions on how to review your business. This is effective when getting in touch with customers, especially the non-technical ones!

Local Link Building Strategies

There are lots of ways you can go about acquiring links, and if you want a lot of them, you can check out my guide on link building strategies. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to focus on acquiring links that are really effective for local link building campaigns.

Here are a few to get you started:

1. Go to Meetup.com and search for a list of local events relevant to your industry. Find those that have websites and contact them about sponsorship (most of the time you’ll only need to put on a lunch for them). If they accept, you’ll get a link from their website (local to you) and their Meetup.com page (highly authoritative, local link). 
2. Create a local resource from public data and reach out to local press to get coverage. That’s exactly what Krystian Szastok did and he got some amazing results (you really should read this case study).
3. Run your own local meetup or event and bring through links from the local event page.
4. Sign up to press request services to get quoted in local publications (huge potential for high authority, local links).
5. Run an AMA on Reddit (within a relevant subreddit to your industry) and within other local communities.
6. Line up interviews and columns within relevant online publications.
7. Give a discount to local organizations for your products/services in exchange for a linked mention on their website.
8. Enter local awards (or start your own if there aren’t any!).
9. Spend time dedicated to local PR outreach to get online and offline coverage in local news.
10. Run regular competitive link research and capitalize on any new opportunities that your competitors have gained.
11. Offer scholarships (you get links from local universities) or offer jobs to students (you can get links from their careers pages).

That should be enough to get you started!

8 Key Tips to Improve Local SEO in 2022

8 Ways to Improve Local SEO 1. Optimize titles and meta tags for local keywords 2. Research and claim local directory listings 3. Optimize your website for local search 4. Add location pages to your website 5. Optimize your Google My Business listing 6. Get involved in the local community 7. Build local links 8. Monitor your local SEO progress

1. Put Your Location in Strategic Parts of Your Site

Many businesses don’t include their location on their website, which can make it difficult for customers to find them. Make sure your location is visible and easy to find.

When deciding where to put your address(es) on your site, think about the most strategic places for this information. For example, if you’re a restaurant or food delivery service, you might want to put it on your homepage so that visitors will see it right away.

If you are a plumber, you may want to consider putting your location on an about page or in the footer, so it will not be lost in the sea of other content on your site.

You want to make it easy for potential customers to find your location quickly, without having to dig through pages of content.

2. Get Your NAP Right and Keep It Up-To-Date

Even though NAP stands for business name, address, and phone, you will still need to pay attention to these 3 aspects of your business in 2022 for local SEO purposes.

Your NAP information is the key data that appears across directories and search engine results pages. It is important to keep this information up-to-date and accurate. If you have recently changed your location or phone number, be sure to update your information online right away.

This is important because it will ensure that your business always ranks high on search engines like Google.

3. Optimize Your Website for Mobile Devices

More than half of all internet traffic worldwide is from mobile devices. And since most people use phones to search for local businesses, this is an important tip.

If your local business’s website is not designed to work on mobile devices, you are missing out on a huge potential customer base. Google has stated that all business websites should be designed to work on all devices, or they will be left behind.

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you should set aside some time to make it so. This involves having a responsive design, being able to handle mobile visits, and optimizing all content for mobile display. Doing this will improve your local SEO.

4. Encourage Online Reviews

Asking customers to leave reviews can increase your business because it demonstrates that other people are satisfied with your business – which means that more customers will be likely to use your business. Additionally, it provides other potential customers with the assurance to purchase from you.

There are many ways to ask for customer reviews. You could create a dedicated page on your website, include a review request form or widget, or even encourage face-to-face customers to write reviews. Just get creative and ask!

5. Optimize for Google Maps

Physical businesses that people can visit or walk into are more engaging, according to research. This is because people are more likely to Google search for local businesses when they are out and about.

Although people typically search for generic keywords on Google, they sometimes have a specific purpose in mind. If they want to visit your store, they can use Google Maps on their phone or tablet to find your address and location information.

This means that it is essential to have a strong presence on Google, which starts with optimizing your business for Google Maps.

The good news is that optimizing your business for Google search doesn’t take as much time as you might think. All you need to do is claim your Google My Business page and add as many details about your business as possible on your Google business profile.

You can improve your chances of appearing in Google Maps by including keywords in key areas such as location, hours of operation, phone number, and address. You can also optimize images and videos (although this is optional).

6. Consider Crafting Local Content

Make sure your content answers questions your customers are likely to ask. This will make it more useful and likely to be shared. Some questions you may want to answer include: Where is the best place to eat near me? Where is the best place to get a haircut near me? Where is the best place to go for a walk in my neighborhood? What’s happening this weekend around me?

This is an example of a digital marketing strategy that can be effective. By publishing articles and blog posts that provide helpful information on topics that are relevant to people in your local area, you can attract attention from individuals who are searching for this type of information online. By providing this type of content, you can establish yourself as a reliable source of information, which can help to build trust and encourage people to do business with you.

If you want to improve your website’s trustworthiness, try writing local blog posts. This will show visitors that your brand is legitimate and has valuable information. In turn, people will be more likely to click on your site in the search results and become customers.

7. Get Inbound Links from Relevant Websites

If you want to improve your chances of appearing in Google’s search results, try to get inbound links from websites that are relevant to yours. Inbound links are a sign of trustworthiness, so the more you have, the better.

In other words, if you want your website to rank higher on Google, try to get other websites within your niche to link to your website using relevant anchor text. For example, if you’re a plumber in London, you could ask other websites to link to your website with anchor text like “best plumber in London”.

If you get an inbound link from another website, not only will it improve your Google ranking and give you more traffic, but you may also get referrals from that website.

8. Use the Right Keywords in Your Title Tags & Descriptions

If you want to be successful in local SEO, you need to use location-centric keywords on your website and social media. This will ensure that you appear in the correct search results when people in your area are looking for businesses like yours.

If you own a restaurant in New York City called “Pizza Heaven,” you should include keywords like “pizza” and “NYC” on your website to improve your local rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs). This practice is known as on-page SEO.

A good way to improve your SEO is to include relevant keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, image file names, and image ALT tags. This is because Google uses these factors to determine what your page is about, so it is important to make sure they are relevant to your business.

If your business could benefit from improved local rankings, you should hire help! With the expertise needed to tweak your site, it’ll be optimized for all local searches.

Related posts:

Local SEO: 8 Marketing Techniques to Promote Your Local Business Local SEO: The Complete Guide for a Successful Ranking How to Analyze Your Local Organic Search Competition A Guide To Geocoding Images For Local SEO