How To Rank Using Local SEO

So in Part 2, we’ll continue to look at how to rank using local SEO.

It’s now the turn of your website, which most people forget about, as they think local SEO and getting into the Google Map Pack is all about optimising their Google My Business profile, but they’re missing a big part of the puzzle.

So let’s crack on and continue with our Local SEO Google Maps Checklist to help you dominate your local market:

THINGS TO DO FOR YOUR WEBSITE

[1] Go to Google’s mobile testing site HERE to check your website is mobile friendly, as most local searches are made using a phone. If it is, great. If it’s not, time for a website redesign I’m afraid, as it really is that important (Check out the best website design company if you’re interested).

[2] Go to GTMetrix to check how fast your website loads, as it is a Google ranking factor and if people have to wait more than 3 seconds for your web page to load, they’ll leave. Make sure you change the setting to the UK. Anything 3 seconds or under is OK. If it isn’t, then it needs to be fixed (Contact us if you need any help with this).

[3] Include your location + GMB business category in your Meta Title and H1 tag. Also include it in a H2 tag and a few times throughout your content, but don’t go overboard.

[4] Using your location as anchor text, make one outbound link on your web page to that town or city’s official website e.g. ‘Plymouth’ would be linked to the Plymouth City Council website.

[5] Upload all the videos you made for your GMB to YouTube. Make the video file name, YouTube title, & description: Town/City – Category Title – County – Postcode – Business Name. In the Location option on YouTube, add your town/city. Add your full URL in the YouTube Description to link to your web page. Embed the video on your web page (Contact us if you need any help making videos).

[6] Include your business name, GMB business category, phone number, address and business hours EXACTLY as they are on your GMB profile in your footer.

[7] Link the address on your website to your GMB page (Get the link for this by clicking ‘Share your Business Profile’ in your GMB dashboard).

[8] Embed a Google map on your website (Go to your business listing on Goggle Maps, click on ‘Embed’ and add to your web page).

[9] Add an image of your town/city on your web page. Make sure it is geotagged and use Town/City – Category Title – County – Postcode – Business Name as the Alt tag.

[10] Use local business schema on your website (Use a free WordPress Plugin like RankMath to do this).

[11] Add some Blog posts about you local area, including the town/city name and names of surrounding areas. Post about local news, charities and community events, and tie them into your business.

So that’s your website done and dusted, but don’t put your feet up quite yet, as there’s more to do.

Don’t forget to check out Part 1 of this series How To Rank In Google Maps Using Local SEO and Part 3 is the final (but crucial) stage of this Local SEO Checklist, where we’ll show you how to rank using local SEO, is creating Citations and Backlinking, which is the #1 most important element of search engine optimisation, so make sure you do not miss the next post.