SEO Practices for Brick & Mortar Businesses

SEO Practices

The small local business movement is growing, which means that to reach a local audience these business owners have to use search engine optimization (SEO) practices tailored to local businesses. Regular SEO practices, which are implemented for larger business websites, won’t help you reach your client goals as a local business. Local SEO is different from regular SEO in that, unlike regular SEO, the aim is to target local consumers instead of targeting an entire region, country, or global audience. Below I’ll explain a few ways you can implement local SEO practices to increase your consumer or client base.

Optimize Your Titles

Optimizing title tags is the first and most basic step when employing local SEO tactics. Adding your location in your title is a good move; once you add your city and state to a title it alerts people who search through Google that your business is a local one. Adding your location in your title will help if someone searches for a business within your city because it increases the chances of your business showing up in the search engine results. Here is an example of a perfectly optimized title that includes the location: “Online/private tutoring services – Dallas, TX – A to Z Tutoring Services!”.

fall scents for your home

Adjust Your Descriptions

Adjust your descriptions by adding your location a few times, not more than three or else Google will consider the description spammy. You have a maximum character range of 160-170, so try sticking to that range while incorporating your location. Your location is a keyword for those who search for a particular place, therefore, you should insert it in the first line of the description to make it more visible. An example of a perfect description looks like this: “Find the best online tutoring services for any subject in Dallas, TX. A to Z Tutoring Services! It offers a variety of subjects from math to chemistry all in one place!”

Optimize Your URL

You might be thinking, “I have a domain which doesn’t include a location”. Don’t worry! It’s just a good idea to own one that does. Your location is a keyword and to have a domain that includes a location in the URL is considered a “plus one”. One example of a URL that does contain a location is CookiesForCreamNevada.com. URLs like this one have a higher chance of showing up in search engine results than those that don’t.

Customer Reviews

When buying a product, most of us make a habit of reading and analyzing customer reviews before buying said product. The same goes for websites. Google includes customer reviews in their search results, so to check a brick-and-mortar business’s website for their services, a potential client can first check out their rank through search results, then decide whether or not they want to inquire about that business’s services based on their ranking.

Place Your Business in the Right Directories 

Placing your business in local directories and review sites like YellowPages or Yelp increases your chance of getting recognized locally, as both sites sort out businesses by city and state. They all showcase businesses in a way that can help boost your rankings online. Therefore, placing your ad in many local listings is a must. 

Also, placing your business in Google My Business is a must as Google captures businesses listed on Google My Business and starts showing them on their search engine, which helps display your website to a larger audience. Have you ever noticed that when you type a business’s name into Google, the business overview is placed next to the search results? This is what happens when your business is listed in Google My Business. For example, if you search “Florida SEO Expert” on Google, you would get search results that show overviews of SEO agencies in Boca Raton, Florida that is listed in the Google directory. 

Optimize Your Social Media 

Optimize your social media by adding content related to your business. Turn on reviews on your Facebook page so people can leave reviews about your service. Updating your business’s biography, short description, and long description by adding your location can give your social media followers an idea of where your business is actually located. Keep posting constantly so your social media pages remain active. Adding a location tag from where you post can also enhance your daily impressions. 

Conclusion

Regular SEO just doesn’t work for businesses that rely on local clientele. To attract an audience you have to go the extra mile and upload your business in review sites and local directories so your audience can view where you are. Also, be sure to keep up with keywords and your social media to better engage with your consumer or client base.

Richard Aumaitre is the CEO of the Florida-based company, Epic SEO. He has several years’ worth of SEO and internet marketing experience, helping small to mid-sized business owners grow their respective businesses.

 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SEO Practices for Brick & Mortar Businesses
Scroll to Top