You have a website, and you are active on social media. You advertise your business and yet, you are still not getting the inquiries from the right people. The first time you have someone form America ask you about your building contractor business in Blenheim, you seriously need to consider looking into a great local SEO strategy. 

In the article below we cover some of the finer points of a local SEO strategy, and how you can start on yours. Read on to find out more...

What is SEO anyway?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a group of activities used to improve the quality and quantity of website traffic. It involves all actions that get people onto your website, and optimizing these to make sure you get the people you want to view your website and ultimately do business with you. It makes your website visible to searchers and search engines through things like content, technical setup, metadata and links. 

What is metadata? 

Metadata refers to the information provided on the website that you can't see. These would include things like meta descriptions, alt tags and keywords. Search engines use this information to understand what your website is about and to give a description in the search results of your page.

Why do you even need SEO? 

Without SEO practices, the chances are that the right people won't be able to find you online. You can always use Google Ads, right? Well, not so much. While having an ad campaign will help you get your content onto the search results, it will only work well if your SEO is up to standard. Google Ads rank your page according to it's relevance, authority, click-through rate and landing page experience. Thus your SEO will impact whether or not your ad is even considered in an ad auction, and having no SEO in place can even increase your costs on Google Ads. 

So what is a Local SEO strategy?

Having optimization across your website and other online sales channels will greatly impact your searchability. One of the things that most businesses lack is a focus on their location, which can be especially important if your service or product is only available locally. One example of this is a local restaurant - their product cannot be packaged and shipped across the world. They need to make sure that their local community is aware of them with thorough local SEO. This might include a Google My Business page, a social media presence and some advertising. It should most definitely also include a local SEO tactic on the website. This will also eliminate traffic from places that they don't serve, far away from their physical address. This way you target your local audience, and not the entire world. Some of the areas to optimize are:

• Business name
• City name
• Address details
• Contact details
• Content with the local address details
• Contact page
• Google My Business page
• Google Map
• Inbound links
• Reviews or Testimonials
• Social media
• Blogs
• Directories

By optimizing all of these areas on your website and other online assets, you are increasing the likelihood that your target audience will find you and do business with you. Taking the time to focus on your local area within your SEO activities, page by page you are building authority for search engines and a presence for your audience. While this is a time consuming exercise, it will pay off. By looking at your Google Analytics and Google Ads Quality Scores, you will be able to see the pages that need your attention first. You will also be able to see the results of your efforts in the traffic numbers, and soon the return on all your SEO efforts will be evident in your sales. 

Need help getting started? Contact DMM to start your Local SEO Strategy today.