It’s a new year, and a great time to review your Local SEO strategy. What worked, what didn’t bring results, what changed in the SEO landscape — all of these should inform your plan of action going forward.
With such a broad and ever-changing field as SEO, there are always a lot of tactics to consider implementing. However, the following 3 areas should top your list of priorities, if you want to improve your rankings or keep your position at the top of Google results.
3 Steps to a Strong Local SEO Strategy
#1. GET YOUR GOOGLE LOCAL LISTING IN ORDER
If you have a local business and can only implement one thing, my number one SEO tip for 2022 is to get your Google My Business (GMB) listing categories in order. GMB elements (which include categories) have the greatest impact on local pack rankings. You can select up to 10 categories, with your primary category having the greatest influence on your rankings. Choose wisely but remember, you can change and add more categories later.
#2. BUILD QUALITY CITATIONS
Don’t let Google make you lose sight of your other local business listings, aka citations. Your goal is to have 20-30 citations on quality platforms such as Yelp, MapQuest, Superpages, CitySearch, FourSquare, InsiderPages, etc.. Make sure you use consistent information and spelling. And don’t just list it and forget it— keep your citations current and updated with recent project photos or service changes. I know this can be a drag, but your business visibility increasing by 50% is worth it, isn’t it? For the most current citation report, use Yext https://www.yext.com/pl/rtxt-cps/index.html (It’s not a perfect tool and it often misses listings, but it will give you a general idea of where you are.)
#3. GET CLIENT REVIEWS
Online business reviews aren’t just a trust signal for your customers — they can also provide potential SEO ranking boosts when used effectively. Data shows that a staggering 87% of consumers read reviews. Third-party reviews are one of the offsite SEO-related signals (aside from citations, social media presence, backlinks, and many others) that carry more than 50% of the ranking factor weight (the other half goes to content and website SEO). Getting reviews and then featuring them on your website and social platforms should be a big part of your marketing strategy in 2022.
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