What Are The Best Types Of Content For Local SEO?
What are the best types of content for Local SEO? That is a good question that small and mid-sized businesses should be asking themselves as they look to capitalize on the search focus that Google is placing on local. As a website development company we wanted to share our thoughts on the subject to help you position your business in a better position to capture the local market.
Goals for Local SEO
First and foremost you need content that converts users. Sure, many of you probably already realize that but it is worth re-stating because sometimes people get caught up in fads or concepts that might not be truly relevant to the local scene.
Let’s expand a little more on what your goals should be at a local level:
- Authority – Ideally you want to become the authority within industry who people turn to for trusted information. Now, depending on the size of your business you might not truly need to be the absolute authority but the goal should be at a minimum to become a top voice within your community.
- Geographical Reach – This really depends on the geographical circle your business services. It should also include territory you want to expand into. This is an important idea because you should also be looking forward. Now depending on where you operate and the size of your business your circle might be neighborhood based, for others that might mean the city or county you are based in. You want to use local geographical names within your content.
So how can you meet the goals? It is a combination of proper website design/implementation and regular content focused on the local level.
Basics for Local Websites
Every local business should have the following items on their website at a minimum. Along with content these basics will help your site in local searches.
- Home Page – While some people don’t always endorse a home page, it still serves as a valuable landing page and jumping off point for people to arrive at before journeying further into your business.
- Contact Information – Every website needs to have your business name, your address and the phone number listed. If you have contact emails, a fax number, or anything contact point make sure to add them as well. This information needs to be in HTML format to be crawled by search engines and consistent across all pages.
- Contact Us Page – This is in addition to having contact information in other locations such as the home page or footer. Along with the basics you should include a summary of services, a map of the location, directions from major traffic arteries, parking directions if needed, hours of operation and even an exterior photo if your business is not instantly recognizable for what it is.
- Reviews or Testimonials – Your site should include reviews and/or testimonials from satisfied customers to help increase trust.
- CTAs – A must for any page is having optimized calls-to-action.
- Products and Services – Your products and/or services should be clearly described along with images, price, specs, etc. Common FAQs, reviews and video demonstrations are also helpful.
- Policies – Things like return policies, customer service policies, and other policies related to business interactions with customers should be clearly outlined and posted. This helps both employee and customers as they set the playing field for the start of any interaction.
- Area Landing Pages – These should be used depending on your geographical reach and how the area is comprised. For example, if you service multiple cities you would want an individual landing page for each city.
- About Page -This is a great way to provide background information on the business, goals, awards, local connections, community support and the like. When focusing on Local SEO this is an important page because you can link to places like the local Chamber of Commerce and service groups you might be a part of.
In addition to the on-site aspects you need to ensure your site is optimized using all of the local business listings available to you such as Google My Business, Facebook, YP, Yelp, etc. On each site you need to include all of the vital information from the Contact Us page and make certain it is 100% accurate.
Ideas for Local Content
One of the most important aspects of local content is putting yourself in the shoes of the consumer. If you are able to do that then you can better understand the types of content you will then need to create to connect with them and showcase your authority.
- Knowledge – This is a common theme of Google searches; learning about something. What does the consumer what to know that falls within the authority of your business?
- Purchase – The consumer wants to buy something you sell. How can you make it appealing?
- Activity – People are always on the hunt to do things. What kinds of activities or services related to activities can you help with?
- Travel – When people go places they want places to stay, places to eat, things to do, and in some cases laces to buy products or services they might need on the go.
Within these categories you can craft local content in numerous ways from blogs to pictures to videos, which can be displayed on your site or social media accounts.
The bottom line is for some businesses Local SEO offers a great opportunity to level the playing field against large businesses and chains. By using the best types of content for Local SEO and optimizing your website properly you can look to outrank the big boys in local searches and get back some of the business they took from you in the past simply because of brand recognition.
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