Search Engine Optimization (SEO) goes beyond just on-page optimization. We know optimizing for search engines goes well beyond your homepage. Instead, it’s about developing content that captures your visitor’s attention and motivates them to convert. At the same time, the hardest part of marketing your business online is ranking in Google, and the local pack results are a great place to get some free traffic. Although you can’t directly control how search engines crawl and index pages, there are some steps you can take to improve their presence and optimize your local landing pages for search.
In order to optimize your local landing pages, the first step is to make sure you’re listed in Google My Business and other directories. For that, you need to be found by Google’s local algorithm to get on the map. This is done by creating a Google My Business listing and having it verified by Google. By verifying your business, you become eligible to have your business appear in Google Maps and other Google products like Google Local Search. You can also use tools like Yext or BrightLocal to manage your listings across multiple directories.
It’s important to include relevant local keywords in your content so that when someone searches for something, you’re one of the first results that pops up. When people are looking for something specific, they’re more likely to click on those results versus generic ones. Ensuring that relevant keywords appear throughout your content, including headlines, subheadings, bullet points, and text paragraphs, will optimize your local landing pages in terms of presence, rankings, and traffic. Your goal should be to include at least three unique local keywords per 100 words of text on every page of your website (not just landing pages).
Link building is an important part of any SEO strategy, and local businesses need to focus on building links that point back to their local landing pages. There are many ways to build links back to your site from other sites in your local area. You can create a website that ranks well for local keywords, then link out to other businesses in your area through blog posts or press releases. You can reach out to local business associations, chambers of commerce, and other organizations that would be interested in featuring you as a member or sponsor. This will help boost local landing pages for search and improve your rankings in the local search results for your target terms.
The next step in optimizing your local landing pages is creating original, well-written content that addresses your customer’s needs and is also optimized for search engines. The most critical part of your landing page is the top fold, which is where most people will start reading. The top fold should include compelling headlines that draw users in and make them want to continue reading more about your business. That way, they’ll stay on the page and convert into leads or sales.
The acronym NAP stands for “name,” “address,” and “phone number,” which are three things that can optimize your local landing pages for search tremendously.
It’s easy for readers to skim over a picture of your logo and store address when they’re looking at your website on their mobile devices. So, make sure the information is displayed prominently and clearly with text-based links.
In addition, search engines can’t read images as effectively as they can read text. With only text visible in an image alt tag, there’s no way for Googlebot to understand what that image represents or where it should go if it were clicked. This means that even if someone has linked back to one of those images, it won’t be counted as a link back. That’s because there’s no anchor text available for Googlebot to crawl through and match up with another website’s link anchor text. For optimizing a local landing page to its full potential, it’s best to include your NAP — name, address, and phone number — in the body text of each of your pages rather than relying solely on image alt tags.
Creating a URL structure that is friendly to Google will help the algorithm know what each page is about and serve it in search results. This means using keywords in your URL, avoiding dynamic parameters, and having an easily readable name for each page. This also means that if you have a long URL with multiple parameters, it may be easier to break that up into multiple pages instead. This is because Google uses the length of your URLs to indicate how authoritative each page is in its index and search results. So, you want to keep those as short and sweet as possible.
Schema markup helps Google understand what type of content is on your website. It allows you to provide information about your product/service, such as price range or location. You can also use it as a way to tell Google what type of content you want to show up in their rich snippets. Here’s how you add Schema markup:
Given everything you’ve learned here, it should now be clear that local landing page optimization is an effective and worthwhile use of your time. By implementing the above-mentioned practices and tips, we bet you a bottom dollar that you’ll be able to optimize your local landing pages in no time. Not only can you get traffic from the search engines, but your optimization efforts will likely increase the effectiveness of your campaigns, building your brand and driving more revenue for your business.
Need any help to start optimizing your local landing pages for results? Autus Digital can help! Drop us a line today.