If you want to get your business going, you need to work on your marketing efforts. And today, one of the most important parts of marketing is what you do online. Proper search engine optimization is the bread and butter of any strong digital marketing effort. However, what you really want to try out is local SEO work.

Namely, small business benefits immensely from local SEO functionality. Unlike a large business that has the resources to invest in heavy-duty SEO efforts, local SEO helps you carve out your own niche, your own little slice of the market. It’s much more effective and can actually give you better results than those you would get through regular SEO. So, read on to find out the most important local SEO tactics.

First things first – you need to set up a Google My Business account. This is a completely free service that will help your business show up on local search results. While the actual process of creating this account might take a lot of time, its gonna be worth it.

Simply access the Google My Business page, fill out the form completely, and precisely, and that’s that.

Don’t make the common mistake of treating your about page as something purely inconsequential, something unimportant. This page should give clear information for every local office you have. So, this means store hours, address, directions, promotion, parking, Google Maps attachments…

Implement the right keywords here as well, and maybe add a short, concise history of the entire thing.

As always, good backlinks are key if you want to get the most out of your Search engine optimization efforts. So, if you want good, strong local results, you want solid localized backlinks.

Engage with influencers online, contact strong and reputable sites, have them send the information your way. Contact the right people, see if your content links to high-quality content. You want to build trust with Google’s algorithms, and this is one of the best ways to do it.

Keywords are, well, key for your SEO success. You want things that help tie your content with your customer base. So, what you need to do is use location-specific keywords. Don’t forget to include your location, your city, town, and address, whatever highly specific and geographically linked information you have. 

Mentioned hotspots, landmarks, and things generally near your business. Add references to anything interesting near your company, things that will help you stand out. Remember that keywords are essentially predictions of what people will search for with their search engines. 

You want your content to stay local just like your keywords. Namely, if you go too general with your content, you will end up competing with global and international companies. What you really want is for people to search for things that are vital to your area specifically.

As the Melbourne SEO experts put it, if you want good local Search Engine Optimisation, try to have content reflect current news, stories, and events. Don’t shy away from politics, but do try to be neutral. Then, if some big performer, band, or celebrity is coming to town, try to capitalize on that.

Next, you also want to create blogs that centre on fun things to do in your town. Maybe something about its history can tickle your fancy and get you the results you want and need. 

You need to optimize for mobile if you really want good SEO results. Namely, more and more people are exclusively using their phones to browse the web. Mobile optimization allows you to actually have people visit your website. A poorly optimized page is painful to look at, and difficult to use on the wrong device.

You want to share just how cool people think your business is. Don’t be shy, post and link to reviews that have good things to say about you. Furthermore, encourage people to leave a review or a comment on the quality of your business or products. This builds trust and rapport with your customer base.

Invest the effort into building several pages and websites, keeping one for every product or service you offer. Instead of lumping everything in together, you get the chance to really spread your SEO functions and get better utilization.

For example, if you have two offices, one in Melbourne, and one in Sydney, for example, why not split their pages? Sure, they will look similar, but they will also increase your chances of getting seen and found.

Voice search is an interesting little novelty that has sprung up in the past few years. Namely, as tech is advancing, so too is SEO. People are using voice commands to get their position across, to search the web and get what they want. By optimizing your keywords for voice search, you can increase your conversions and your visits.

Try to get your website address into online website directories. Yelp, MapQuest, Yellow Pages, Foursquare, these are all amazing places where you can leave your data. This increases the chances of your being found and built up your SEO.

And there you have it folks, a couple of ways you can get your local SEO up and running to the best of your abilities. Remember to create a good Google My Business Account, to optimize for voice search, to post reviews, and to, in general, be as thorough and as precise as possible.