Local SEO Strategy for Small Business

SEO is never created with a one-size-fits-all approach. A small business that needs local customers must tackle SEO in a far different way than a business that is using a global SEO strategy to bring in traffic from all over the world. To attract local business, local SEO requires its own set of keywords as well as participation in the search engines' own way of creating local listings.

Create Your Local Pages

One important factor in creating a local presence is to ensure that your business has local business pages listed on each of the three principle search engines. These are Google, Yahoo and Bing. On all three sites, you will have to fill out forms to have your business information listed with the search engine. This will greatly help customers to find you when they can search and find your address, your hours of operation, your phone number, etc. These pages should be optimized to make them easy to understand and to provide the maximum information for your potential customers. Part of creating these local listings is to upload many high-quality pictures to the pages. These should include what your business looks like from the outside, what you sell and anything else that can help sell your product. Also ensure that you place your business in the correct category. Search engines may not display your information if it is placed in the wrong category or not categorized at all.

Network with Other Local Sites

Forming a relationship with other local businesses can help you to earn more links on sites that talk about local businesses. More links equal a better search engine presence for your business. An easy way to get started in local networking is to follow local businesses through social media and to mention them on Twitter and link to them on Facebook. Developing a good relationship with the community can draw more attention to your business as well as earn you the links you need to propel your site higher.

Have Plenty of Content on Your Site

If your site is made up of pictures and a few sentences, you are missing out on many important SEO opportunities. Larger sites tend to rank better with search engines, and they provide you with more pages to use important keywords. A site that is contained in only four or five pages gives you little space to use all of the terms you should and to draw in all of the customers that you could. Consider expanding your site and having full pages of content that include both text and photos or video. Having a blog that is attached to your site can also give you a way to include more copy. A business blog also allows you to easily update your site regularly, and new content will bring in new customers to read the latest post. Be sure to use keywords to help customers find your site. Using a few local place terms as well as words that customers may be searching for can help them to find you more easily. Mentioning the area and the items you sell naturally within the page can add to its ranking and allow the right people to find it when they're in the mood to buy.