5 Tips for Getting Your Business to Rank Locally

The way Google has their search engine results page (SERP) set up, local businesses have the advantage. Normally, the first three results are reserved for paid advertising. After that, local businesses are listed, leaving the bottom spots for organic results. Because of this, it is important for you to take advantage of local optimization no matter how broad your reach.  We think every company needs to follow these 5 Tips for Getting Your Business to Rank Locally.

Rank Locally to Drive More Traffic

Higher rank means more exposure. That is the first step in driving traffic to your website. If they can’t find you, they won’t come looking. 

Tip #1 – Put Your Address on All of Your Landing Pages

Google doesn’t know what your local market is unless you tell it. You should display your full address on every page of your website. Most companies place it in the footer. If you have more than one address, be sure to include them all. Higher on the page, you should make mention of the region, state, or city you serve. For instance, a carpet cleaning company in Philadelphia needs to have the word “Philadelphia” somewhere near the top of their Homepage, preferably as part of a headline or in bold print.

By doing this, the search engines pair the city name with your service. When a person living in Philly searches for carpet cleaning, your business comes up before a carpet cleaning service located in Los Angeles. 

Tip #2 – Make a Contact Page for Every Location

That’s right. If you have three office locations, then you need three Contact Pages. Each one should have a single address listed and include text relevant to that area. This helps broaden your reach so that you don’t get ranked for only one locale. Make sure your contact pages are not simply a “form.” Treat them like any other landing page. Use images and text to incorporate keywords and embed your contact form on the page. It doesn’t need to be long, but you should try to have about 400 words so Google can determine your relevance to a search.

Tip #3 – Submit Your Business to Google My Business

For most businesses, this is pretty simple. The person who “owns” the website simply sets up an account with Google My Business and submits the company information and the business address. You should do this even if you service clients all over the world. There are all sorts of SEO advantages to having Google regard your company as a “legitimate business.”

For every location, you should submit a separate Google Business listing.  Make sure you fill out your complete profile. You can include photos, videos, links to your website and even a description rich with keywords. Treat your business listing as if it was a landing page on your site and make sure you keep the information updated.

Tip #4 – Create City Specific Landing Pages

Let’s say you wanted to expand your service area into another city. In the past, you would advertise in that area. Essentially, city-specific landing pages do the same thing. Create a landing page that focuses on a specific locale and incorporates your keywords. You may not have an office in that location, but Google will associate it with your business. Consequently, when people from that area search for services related to your industry, you might be the one the search engine considers most relevant. 

I would not optimize for San Francisco if you are located in New York. There won’t be much to tie the two locations together. However, if your home office is in Seattle, you could optimize for Portland. Google gives a company about a 600-mile radius to define as their local area. That’s based on their maximum input in Google My Business.

Tip #5 – Use Your Testimonials to Rank Locally

Most businesses collect testimonials for their website. Instead of just listing the name of the company, be sure to include their location. It doesn’t have to be their street address. All you need is a city and state. This establishes that you have done business in those areas and further optimizes your web pages for local traffic.

There are a lot more tricks and things you can do to rank locally. Connect with us and let us help you improve your search presence on the web. More exposure means more potential traffic.