Local SEO Guide, Ranking Higher in Google

So you want to rank higher in Google as a small local business? I have written a brief local SEO guide to getting you started.

The results that we get on the first page of the Google are based on the optimized keywords. Google or any other search engine will display only and only those keywords on its first page which is rich in SEO.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is a similar concept to regular SEO, but the only difference is the audience. SEO is a generalized term, which covers the search engine optimization on the international level. But on the other hand, local SEO only focuses on the audience of some specific region. Say for instance I am targeting clients in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Why Do I need Local SEO?

No matter if you run or own an online web store, pizza shop or some shipping company, Local SEO is critical. Investing your time and money on local SEO will bring your business associated website in top results among your local audience. In short, local SEO can help the local people find you more quickly.

We will be talking about local SEO. So, let’s get started!

In this article, we are going to cover the following points:

Keyword Analysis
Local SEO optimization
Content layout for those keywords
Title tags, heading tags, and meta tags
And few more things to reduce the bounce rate on your website
Google My Business Setup of your business

Keyword Analysis

There are many great tools available on the internet which could be used to find the best keywords for SEO in Dallas or part of any other country.

One of the greatest tools to find the keywords for the local SEO in keyword tool.io. This is a great tool to find the keywords for Google, YouTube, Bing, and Amazon or app store.

As we in this article we are learning about the local SEO for Google so I will not be talking about the other search engines. So, the first thing that you should keep in your mind is to look for the long tail keywords instead of the shorter ones. Long tail keywords are more specific and general so they could be ranked easily.

For example, you are working on local SEO and want to rank a Pizza website based in San Diego, CA so, the most appropriate keyword should be “pizza in San Diego” or “best pizza in San Diego.”

There are many other keywords finders are also available on the internet which could be used to find some handsome keywords. Two of them are listed below:

keywordtool.io
Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner Is a Great Starting Point

Google keyword planner is the best tool to carry out the keywords research. Following are the steps that could be followed to find the proper keyword for Dallas local SEO.

Access Keywords planner using your Google account.
Enter the keywords that are appropriate on your point of view
Keywords planner will provide you with the best keywords that are/were being often searched on Google.
It not only provides with the most searched keywords but will also give you an estimated competition for your specific keyword.

How can you know that which keyword you should use?

Now you have got a plenty of the relevant keywords but how can you decide that which keyword should you use in your content?

It’s simple, just access the Google and type your keyword/s that you want to rank, e.g., allintitle:”Keyword that you want to rank.” It will give you the total number of people that are targeting the same keyword. Below screenshot will make your concept clear.

What you will have to do is compare the number of searches with the total results, and if they searches exceed the total searches, then you are good to go.

You can still use a keyword having more results than the total number of searches but in this case, getting ranked will be a little tough.

Follow the same above procedure and get at least 2-3 keywords (make sure they are long tail keywords).

IMPORTANT PAGES FOR ANY WEBSITE

If you want to rank your website in the local market make sure that your website has the following pages:

Home
About
Contact
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Products or Services

Having these pages on any website is the start to getting Google’s attention. Google not only reads the homepage of the websites but it also keeps a keen eye on the hierarchy of the site pages. These pages should contain at least 400-500 words with detailed information.

LSI KEYWORD GENERATOR

Do your keyword research Research and then decide the terms that you will be targeting for your different offered services. You can go to the “LSI keyword generator,” type your keywords, and you will get some solid suggestions for your services. You can use some of them on your “Services page.”

SET UP GOOGLE MY BUSINESS ACCOUNT

Setting up a Google my business account can work for in getting ranked. Following are the steps that you should follow to set up a Google my business account:

Go to “Google my business” and log in using your Gmail account
Find create “business account” button
Fill in all information
Don’t forget to use the keyword in your business name that you had just researched using keywords planner
Add some identity photos (after setting up the account)
Get at least five reviews (five stars); this will give you a boost on the search engine
Get the URL for your newly created business location
Use it on your website (if you don’t know how to do so then consulting an expert would be the best idea)
One more thing, do use the same location on other indexing platforms too
Also, put your location on your Facebook business page

If you need support, check out this article on GMB Support.

Getting as many citations you can because the Google ranks only those businesses which have the number of citations more than other competitors. You can find the total citations for your or your competitor’s business easily.

For this purpose go to the white spark.ca and then access the “Accounts” page. Here you can type in a keyword for your citation, and it will automatically provide you with the list of the top citations.

GET BACKLINKS

Backlinks are considered as the backbone of any SEO technique, or you can also call backlinks as the backbone for the Dallas local SEO. In this technique, you need to get posted a link to your products, pages or website to the other high PR websites.

Backlinking is not a rocket science. But be careful and do not buy a load of spammy links.

you are getting.