7 SEO Strategies to Optimize Your Local Business Website

In the last year (has it really been a year since we first went to COVID-19-mode ?!), we've heard a lot about the #ShopLocal movement. Especially on holidays, people were focused on buying gifts within the community to support small businesses.

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) found that 90% of Canadians had intended to do local shopping during the 2020 holiday season, and 83% preferred to purchase manufactured goods in Canada.

Now that we are past the holiday season, it is important for small business owners to think of ways to promote themselves locally in 2021.

If you run a store-front business or provide service in a specific geographic area, it is very important to focus your marketing efforts on getting local website traffic.

Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to increase your visibility and reach your target audience. To help you achieve your goals in 2021, here is how to rank locally:

1. First, list the areas you want to target.

For example, if you were in BC Let's live in the Lower Mainland, you can include keywords like "Langley", "Abbotsford", "Surrey" etc. in your website content.

Include your city, the nearest major metropolitan area, and your province. Now, start creating long-tailed keyword phrases for each of them. Let's use the example of "Interior Design". Instead of just using that keyword phrase, you can target "Surrey Interior Design" and "BC Interior Designer".

2. Write a web page or blog post dedicated to each local keyword phrase.

Now that you have your list of keywords to target, it's time to start writing!

To optimize your website for local search, sprinkle keywords and geographic locations in your website copy so that search engines will put you at the top of their search results. Remember not to place your content with keywords.

3. Write and post new local content regularly.

Adding new content to a website, especially in the form of value-added blog posts, is essential for every website.

When you create new location-based content with your keywords, it makes what you're saying even more valuable — whether it's about something you're doing in the community or a new local service Be for review.

4. Add your business address to the footer of your website in the text.

If you're wondering how to rank locally, don't forget to include your address on your site! This not only serves as a clue that shows Google that you are a local business, but it also shows visitors to your website that they are in the right place.

Even better: embed a dynamic Google Map to help customers find your location, display your location with pictures, and build trust and credibility.

I know that 2020 was a challenging, stressful year. Many small business owners have had to cut their budgets and are now wondering where to spend their money to move forward.

Customer behavior also changed. Pandemic and the company referred to it as the "homebody economy" in their research on consumer behavior during the epidemic. He defined it as "the intention to leave the house to shop for most needs but to maintain less busyness in shared services."

5. Use Google My Business.

Google My Business helps small business owners stand out in search engines. More than five billion searches are done globally each day via Google, whether through search results or map queries.

This means that a large audience can find your product or service quickly and easily. This not only increases your visibility, but it is also a free way to optimize your website for local search.

6. Take and share local photos.

Think beyond the text as you optimize your website for local search. Take photos of your business to present and share authentic photos instead of stock photos.

Make a point to take pictures of your business things within the community. Then, name these pictures when you post them on your website or blog with file names including your local keyword phrases.

Why? Because all the images used on your website have local keyword phrase file names and alt tags.

So, if someone goes to Google Photos search and looks for "the best interior designer in Surrey", if you have a photo with that filename, your image will come out on top.

7. Take advantage of the power of review sites.

Create free business accounts with some of the biggest review sites like Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages, Insider Pages, Angie's List, etc. and help your customers and regular people with your business.