Local On-Page SEO Optimization – Complete Local SEO Guide

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Chapters

Local SEO

1. What is Local SEO?

2. Local On-Page SEO Optimization – Complete Local SEO Guide

3. Local Business Link Building Ultimate Guides to Creating Backlinks

4. Local Listings and SEO

5. Local SEO Google Ranking Factors 2022

6. How to Rank Higher in Google Maps? – Strategy Guide 2022

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To maximize the effectiveness of your local SEO campaign, it’s imperative you optimize the pages on your website. This gives search engines a better idea of what your site is about, and you’ll naturally rank higher for your chosen keywords.

It’s not only about pleasing the likes of Google, either. The more your page content is fleshed out and optimized, the better the chance that your target audience will find what they’re searching for. Along with an increase in leads and conversions, this can result in organic backlinks, social media shares, and other marketing goodness that will boost your SEO efforts.

Before you can enjoy the benefits, there are several steps you want to take to enhance your local on-page SEO.

This local on page SEO guide is here to help you navigate these steps. If you have been looking for a complete on page SEO guide that makes local SEO for beginners incredibly clear, this is the one you need to pay attention to.

Create Content-Rich Local Pages

As a starting point, you have to produce content that will appeal to both search engines and local users. The good news is that thanks to the continual refinement of Google’s algorithms, the focus can be on primarily writing for your target audience – and not just stuffing in as many keywords as possible. Keyword stuffing is not an on page optimization technique to do – this is one of the local SEO basics you must remember when writing your content.

With that said, local keywords still play a key role in the content you produce. They should be used as a general basis for your pages. For example, if you run a plumbing business that covers Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, and Derby areas, any city landing pages SEO content writers produce for you should include relevant keywords. For Manchester, it could use the keyword “plumber in Manchester” as its main focus, while Derby would be “plumber in Derby”.

Yet along with your website’s main pages, you can utilise your blog to become a local authority in your industry. This can be done by posting about topics that go beyond what is sold by your business, such as industry news and opinion pieces. Plus, if you’ll struggle to find the time to produce regular blog posts, or you simply don’t feel confident in your abilities to craft compelling content, there are professional writing services available. Experts will know how to perfectly craft local SEO city landing pages and so much more.

There are, of course, tools out there that can help you develop your local SEO landing page content, like the Yoast local SEO plugin to help you with optimizing your website, but experts are the best option for you.

Optimize URL, Meta Description, Title Tags and Headers

Along with optimizing the body of content for each page, there are also various other elements that need your attention. Just remember: each new page created is an opportunity for your business to be found in search results. As a result, you need to refine all aspects of the content so it appeals to the Google SEO guidelines.

As you produce each piece, page or blog post, ensure you optimize the URL, meta description, title, header, and any images. To do this, simply implement high-volume local keywords while following general guidelines for each component. If you can make these on page SEO basics one of the standard stages when creating content, you are on the right track to finding success with the SERPs.

Convert with Effective Calls to Action

You’ve managed to attract people to your website. Now what? Well, you want to convert these visitors into loyal customers! The first step towards this is getting them to invest interest in your business, whether this is by making a purchase or providing their email address.

One way of converting is by utilizing influential calls to action. First, guide the user through your services and why your business is the best in the area, and then hit them with a CTA so they know what to do next. This could be a ‘Request a quote’ button, ‘Learn more,’ ‘Shop now,’ etc. Just ensure the CTA is prominently displayed so it won’t be missed by visitors. As local on page SEO techniques go, this could really make a difference in how many visitors convert into paying customers.

Feature Reviews and Testimonials

Reviews and testimonials are effective promotional methods. If you post glowing feedback that paints your business in a positive light, this will understandably fill potential customers with confidence in your products and customer service.

Gaining customer trust is a big step in turning leads into conversions. Out of all the points on this on page SEO optimization guide, you may push this one to the bottom of the priority order, but it would be a mistake to do so. The reason why is simple: Google highly regards reviews. Most customers shopping online will turn to reviews to make sure what they are buying is worth their money, and so Google took note of this and now expect your website to have reviews. They want to ensure their users have the best experience, and displaying the best results with reviews gives them a great chance of success. More than this, though, by having reviews on your site, Google can understand you more. Having a review strategy in place as part of your onpage optimization campaign is a must if you want to nail your local website optimization.

Incorporate Google Maps

If you read any localized SEO guide, there is always one point that shows up, and there is a good reason it does. When someone is interested in visiting your business, they’ll want to know where it is located. While you can provide your address, it makes sense to go a step further and embed Google Maps when applicable. Whether you are looking at on page or general local SEO, every Google Local SEO guide will recommend that you optimize your business for Google Maps. It is the best advice a local business can take on board when they want to make a name for themselves, grow their business, and make a good impression on Google and customers alike. In fact, any brick-and-mortar business needs to be implementing the best local SEO practices.

Think about it: you don’t want people to leave your website prematurely. Plus, if users decide to search for your location on Google Maps via their own initiative, this opens up the possibility of them coming across a competitor instead.

By including Google Maps on your website, people will be able to find your business effortlessly. This is an easy local SEO optimization technique to bring on board.

Create Multiple Location Landing Pages

If your business serves multiple locations, like the plumbing business example touched upon earlier in this on-page SEO guide, it makes sense to produce a landing page for each location. This gives you the chance to rank organically in numerous different areas, which will naturally assist with your search visibility.

For example, the landing pages could take a structure like this:

co.uk/location-1
co.uk/location-2
co.uk/location-3

When doing this, remember to make each location page unique. Duplicate content is only going to hurt your rank as opposed to improving it. If you read an onpage SEO guide that tells you it is ok to do this, you could face serious consequences if you listen to them, including Google penalties. You need to follow an on page SEO optimization guide that has been written by SEO experts who fully understand the industry, like ours.

Ensure Your NAP is Displayed and Consistent Across the Internet

Your NAP, also known as name, address, and phone number, is a facet of local SEO you cannot forget. If potential customers are searching for these details, it shouldn’t take them long to find them on your website.

As opposed to including it as an image, the NAP should be added as crawlable HTML text. These details are typically located either on a website’s footer or header. Also, it’s important the NAP is identical to, say, your Google My Business profile. Consistency across the internet helps out Google and increases your search ranking, and you can guarantee you have NAP consistency by using an SEO NAP checker process. This involves Googling your phone numbers, address, and business names and finding out if there are any inaccurate listings. For example, your business may be called “Fisherman’s Farm,” but there are spellings including “Fisher Man’s Farm” or Fisherman’s Farms” out there that are incorrect.

You will need to discover how important these inaccuracies are. This means you will need to check Google’s keyword search results. There are tools out there that can help you, like SEMrush and Moz Local UK Search.

NAP consistency is one thing that you can have more control over, and if you take away anything from our guide to on page SEO, it should be this.

Be Mobile-Friendly

Last up in our local SEO onpage optimization guide is being mobile-friendly. When it comes to local SEO, having a mobile-friendly website is essential. Research suggests that 88% of consumers use their smartphones to conduct searches about local businesses. Because of this, your site has to be optimized for those using their mobile devices.

Fortunately, mobile has been an important element of website design since 2015. Check every Google local SEO guide 2015 -2022, and mobile-friendliness will be included. This means that most website building platforms already include mobile-friendly designs as standard. If your site was built some time ago, however, it could be due to an update or even a complete redesign to ensure you are meeting these local SEO optimization standards.

Moving Your Local SEO Campaign Forward

As the above points in this comprehensive local SEO guide highlight, local on-page SEO is far from a straightforward process. Many different elements need to be incorporated to maximize your visibility on Google. Thankfully, you don’t have to go it alone. Our managed SEO campaigns mean you can rank ahead of your local competitors, as our experts will transform your pages and and use on-page optimization techniques to their full potential.