5 Best SEO Tips To Improve Your Local Business

SEO Tips To Improve Your Local Business

You may understand what SEO is, but how exactly do you use it properly to make your local business stand out and see the results you desire? Luckily in today’s world, promoting your business online is becoming easier since smartphone users can conveniently search for related local content

We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 most important SEO tips to help you become more locally recognized and start seeing the business you poured your heart and soul into succeed. 

Your title tag is the clickable headline that appears on search engine pages like Google. This is the most important factor to consider since it’s what will make people click on it to explore your page. If your page shows your brand name without any keywords you’re trying to target within, then you’ll need to optimize your title tag, but keep it clear and concise. For example:

Old Title:

My Local Pet Shop – Home

could be changed to:   

New optimized title:

Pet Shop In Toronto | My Local Brand

A simple change like this lets customers know you have a local pet shop in Toronto named My Local Brand, but it’s also location specific to increase your position on Google for people making a general search for pet shops in Toronto. 

Heading Tags

Your heading tag is what appears at the top of your website. In this case it’d be My Local Brand. Not only should it be catchy, but it needs to target your keywords as mentioned above. When people search for local pet shops in Toronto, having My Local Brand as your heading isn’t enough – it needs something just a bit more specific, yet still brief.  

For example, when updating your headings you could make these simple changes: 

Old Heading:

My Local Brand

<h1>My Local Brand<h1>

could be changed to:   

New Heading:

My Local Brand – Come Visit Our Local Pet Shop In Toronto Today!

<h1>My Local Brand – Come Visit Our Local Pet Shop In Toronto Today!</h1> 

The <h1> is indicating the importance of your headings. If you have a subtitle you’d like to include, it’d have the numbers from two to six listed instead. This is particularly important because it will specify what the database (Google) should display and what keywords to emphasize.   

Schema Tags

Also just referred to as “Schema” or sometimes “microdata”, this is what you’re adding in your HTML when uploading a new blog post/article. But not only is it used to plug in data to provide more information in your searches, it also improves the appearance of your actual pages. Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as it sounds! 

For example, if you want a subtitle in a blog post to ask,

why support local?

You’d input something like:

Why Support Local?

<h2 style =”font-size: 25px; font-family: Montserrat” Why Support Local?</h2>

But in order to make it improve even more and have more information appear on a Google search for customers, you could also integrate something like;

<div itemprop=ratingvalue</span>stars> or <div class=“image-thumbnail” src=https://mylocalbrand/image/upload” etc.

This will include the rating of your business underneath your heading or subtitle that appears or a photo that relates to your blog post/business.  

Citations

Citations are a great way to establish, and add more authority, to your site. It helps build your business and ensure potential customers you’re legitimate when other platforms are referencing you. 

Partial citations don’t need to be linked directly back to your website though, which only includes parts of your NAP (name, address, phone number). A full citation will include a more detailed list which should match the information already listed on your website and other social media platforms. Consistency is key, especially when it comes to verifying and establishing your business.

The top 50 sites in Canada you should be signing up with are listed here: https://www.brightlocal.com/citation-builder/canadian-citation-sites/.  

GMB Optimization

GMB stands for Google My Business and this is one of the best ways to display all the information possible about your business so it also increases your chances of being found more easily by online customers. Your information should include:

1. Business Name

2. Category

If you own a local pet shop, choose those exact words as your category. Don’t just say “pet shop”. If you own a hair salon, your category will be exactly that, not just “salon”.

3. Service Area

Enter the city you’re in, the address and postal code, and any surrounding areas your business serves. Example: the GTA, or the Halton Region, etc.

4. Other Information

This could include business hours, phone number, products you sell/brand names and if you book appointments. Always keep this information up to date to keep your high rankings.

5. Services/Menus/Products

Add a menu or prices if applicable, or add products you sell here. You could add descriptions or promote sales for certain menu items/products.

6. Reviews

Reviews are a very important part of businesses, especially if you want to see yours pop up first on Google. Gather reviews from clients/customers and show the public you’re active by responding to all of them, whether good or bad. Having a high number of positive reviews highly increases your chances of gaining more customers.

7. Image Optimization

Upload images to appear with your page. This can include your logo, interior, and exterior. High-quality professional photos will catch people’s attention. Tag the images with relevant tags too like your location, business name, etc.

8. GMB Posts

You can have a brief post also appear to promote things like certain events, sale items, your specialty services, and more.

There are many different ways to optimize your SEO in order to bring success to your local business and, luckily for you, there are companies like Caseo that can do these five important steps, and a lot more, to improve your online presence for you. Caseo specializes in digitally marketing your local business every way imaginable within a budget that works best for you. As a business owner, time really does equal money. That’s why Caseo, the leading SEO agency plays a huge role in allowing you to focus more on yourself and your company, while we do all the hard work for you. It’s as simple as that!

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