The world has transformed over the past couple of decades. It has done so in a rapid fashion. Individuals asked each other different questions to relying on search engines to answer all of their burning queries.
While we know about various search engines, one of the primary search engines we will find ourselves gravitating to would be that of Google. This search engine came about as one of the latter search engines during the advent of search engines but took the lead due to its design.
When you are thinking about a topic and need, you seek Google search results to find a local business or online provider that can meet your needs.
Indeed, Google has come a long way since its start and is now a household name where billions of people ask questions about products and services that can help them. This makes Google a fantastic home to prospective customers. Small business owners who offer required services need to rank top whenever their service is requested on the search bar.
With hundreds of businesses offering similar products and services, how do you increase your rank on Google to attract exposure that comes with clients?
Here is what you need to know to improve your position on the Google search engine results page (SERP) without spending a dime.
Include related keywords and topics to your website
Understanding the right keywords the average internet user will opt for whenever a particular product or service is necessary. Therefore, business owners should research these keywords and ensure they are properly included in their business pages for better ranking. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the idea of focusing on these keywords on web pages, product descriptions, and websites to increase their ranking whenever they are called upon.
It is necessary to be aware that digital marketing, specifically search engine optimization, is not about keyword stuffing. It is about creating content and optimizing your content on your website to appeal to the users.
Those local search results that resonate the most with users will also connect with the search engine’s algorithms.. Providing the potential customers with the right information is highly critical to be viable in local search results.
Ensure your business site loads quickly
The average human attention span is 15 seconds; this means your prospective customers have less than 30 seconds to judge what you offer before deciding on staying. Ensure your site load time does not exceed 15 seconds, as this can cause disinterest immediately, diverting them to your competitor.
Google will ensure that the Google search results that it presents to users will provide them with a fantastic experience. This means that the search engine giant wants to make it to where the local business that presents a simple and fast business site is the one that the potential searcher sees first.
Remember that search engine optimization is about accounting for relevance, experience, usability.
Optimize your title tags
Your business website is like its home address; hence, a descriptive, unique, and optimized title tag can make or mar the entire page. Ensure your title tag explains what your business offers to prospective customers.
These nuances are present within digital marketing that will genuinely make a difference for you and your customers. This allows you to be found and helps your customers take advantage of your wonderful services as they see you on their local search results.
Publish More Long-Form Content Pieces
There is something with Google and its love for long blog content as there have been several proven connections that blog post with over 1100+ words ranking top 10 on Google searches.
Think about a prevalent issue correlating to your business and write an extensive blog post covering all the needed details and solutions to them. This comes back to relevance and how it matters to your ranking and presence on Google Search Results.
The search engine appreciates long-form content with keyword-rich content because it shows that you address a particular problem or issue. It signals that you are interested in this matter and that you could be an expert when it comes to these matters.
This long-form content matters in search engine optimization because it indicates that you are genuinely interested in solving issues related to your customers. If you can do that and if people spend quite a bit of time on your web page, that indicates to the search engine that you are helpful and add to the user experience.
Place important content or information first
When creating a blog post or article, ensure the required information is placed on the top domain and highly optimized, rather than the sub-domain to draw the readers’ attention. If prospective clients do not see the required info immediately, they will likely leave.
Again, this critical aspect of search engine optimization is also about thinking about human behavior. Individuals are going on the search engine to search for answers. When conducting a local search, they want to find answers to specific questions right now.
They may want to find out if the business offers a specific service or what time that business is open and closed. Your business page must think about the target audience and present business hours, the business location, integrate Google maps, and give them exactly what they want as quickly as possible.
Create awareness on social media
There are hundreds of social media platforms with billions of users ready to acquire new information and try new products. Create a business account on these social media platforms, showing what your products can do or what you can offer them. Also, put your website’s link on these platforms by fixing them on your bio and under every business post so that interested viewers can click on the links.
This can help you link-building opportunities and help your audience find the right information on your business page.
Content marketing
Content marketing is a way of creating awareness of your products by creating content that may be written (blog posts and articles), visuals (YouTube videos), and oral (podcasts). They also include sending newsletters to your subscriber’s mail and giving updates on new products and amazing deals.
When you think about this aspect of content creation, you will want to focus on elements like the rich snippet, long-tail keywords, high-quality content, specific keywords and offer valuable information every time to obtain more traffic.
Remember that your click-through rate and your ability to attract more customers in San Francisco or other areas will require the right level of engagement with your new customers.
Pay attention to what your customers want in the local area and offer local content that matters.
Ensure your website link is a.com URL
Researches show 84% of Google’s top-ranking pages have a .com in the URL. Although your website URL type does not negate its ranking, it’s best if you can use a .com URL for ranking and branding purposes.
Ensure your website is optimized to be mobile-friendly
Over 50% of internet users operate from their mobile phones as smartphones are easy to carry about and simple to operate. Ensure your small business website is optimized and interfaced to be mobile-friendly and responsive enough.
The user will need to have a fantastic experience by browsing through your business profile, consumer your business information, and looking at your local content.
If an average user finds it hard to understand a website on their mobile, it’s more likely they abandon it. In this situation, you can offer high-quality backlinks, conduct link signals, internal linking, and deal with negative reviews but still find that you are not converting users.
While you would have done what is necessary to obtain organic traffic, if your website, the user destination, is not viable on mobile, it can certainly pose problems.
What can you do to ensure proper search engine optimization in these local search matters? How can you differentiate from local business websites and genuinely stand out with your SEO strategy?
You can include plugins like WPTouch (works for WordPress websites only) that automatically make your website mobile-friendly.
General Hacks For Search Engine Optimization And Local Search Visibility
Other proven hacks to increase your Google rankings include:
- Create a buyer persona, showing your desired audience and targeting all contents to suit their taste.
- Conduct keyword research as you go about link building and using other local SEO hacks
- Use XML Sitemap Generators that show Google the exact content on your website.
- Provide backlinks to your other content and products in your new content.
- Use catching headlines to attract traffic to your website content
- Outreach to other well-performing business owners to promote your posts and earn backlinks
- Write guest blogs for popular sites and backlink to your website.
These are general local SEO hacks that can make a difference for your local business.
Contact Waller Digital for Your Search Engine Optimization and Local Search Needs
If you are looking for help with local search, local SEO, keyword research, link building, Google ads, and SEO growth hacks to improve your website visibility, our team at Waller Digital is here to help.
Whether you need assistance with relevant keywords, website traffic, setting up your Google My Business and verification, or need help with particular keywords and improving your search rankings, our team at Waller Digital can help!
Waller Digital is headquartered out of Fayetteville, Arkansas. We are dedicated to enabling any organization in Northwest Arkansas to have the best digital presence in their field.
