What is the Need of SEO Hierarchy for Local Businesses in 2023?

Focus on prioritizing the SEO hierarchy of needs for local businesses in budget and how you can improve your chances of ranking higher in local search results.In 2022, nearly all consumers, up to 98%, trust on the Internet to search for information on local businesses. Not only this, approximately 87% of consumers are leveraging the power of Google to search local businesses for the purpose of availing their products or services, and this number is still growing tremendously.

For local businesses that are working with limited resources, it can be a challenge for them to determine where to focus their marketing efforts. However, if you ensure that your business is discoverable online, you will reach much closer to your success.

SEO for local businesses, which are looking to make a boom online in the market, is one of the most effective marketing activities that can offer significant returns on investment over the long run. Businesses with limited budgets have always set their mindsets to avail the affordable local SEO services from the leading SEO experts. In this blog, you will explore the SEO factors that are essential for your business’s rankings on SERPs.

What are the foundational SEO factors?

 

To stand out in the search results, local businesses need to take into account the following areas

• Google Business Profile

Ensure that your profile is complete and up-to-date with accurate information about your business.

• Reviews and ratings

Encourage customers to leave positive reviews on platforms which can help boost your local rankings.

• Quality content

Create content that is relevant, informative, and engaging for your target audience. This can include blog posts, videos, infographics, and more.

• Internal linking

Make it easy for customers to navigate your website by linking to relevant pages within your site.

• Webpage and website optimization

Optimize your website’s technical elements, such as page speed, mobile-friendliness, and metadata, to improve user experience and search engine visibility.

• Inbound links

Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, as this can signal to search engines that your website is authoritative and trustworthy.

By focusing on these areas, you can enhance your local SEO efforts and increase your chances of ranking higher in the search engine results pages.

Boost Your Local Business Online with These 6 Must-Do SEO Tactics

For local businesses to make an impact on search results, it is crucial to optimize two specific areas:

• The Google local pack / local finder or Maps

This is where Google displays local business listings and maps in response to a search query. Google considers several factors, such as relevance, distance, and prominence, when ranking local businesses in the local pack.

• Google organic listings

This is the section of search results that appears below the local pack or maps. Google uses a variety of signals, including the “blue links,” to rank organic listings.

By focusing on both the local pack and organic listings, local businesses can increase their visibility in search results and attract more potential customers. You can also enhance your local pack rankings and organic listings with the help of essential SEO strategies.

Enhance Your Local Pack Rankings with These Essential SEO Tactics

• Google Business Profile

To improve their local pack rankings, local businesses must focus on creating, verifying, and optimizing their Google Business Profile. This can be accomplished with the help of GMB SEO. The three essential optimization techniques for a Business Profile are described below.

1. Choose the most relevant primary category for the business and add two to three categories that are most relevant. The primary category plays a critical role in the local pack rankings.
2. Fill in the Google Business Profile as completely as possible. Provide a compelling description of the business and its offerings using rich keywords in a natural manner.
3. Ensure the business name, address, phone, and website are accurate. Having a physical address is a key signal to Google for ranking, as it considers businesses closest to the point of search.

• Ratings and Reviews

When it comes to local business rankings, ratings and reviews play a crucial role. Google takes into account the quantity, quality, and number of reviews, as well as the numerical star ratings to rank local businesses.

Some actionable tips to help optimize ratings and reviews of your website are:

1. Encourage customers to leave reviews by sharing a link with them. Regularly receiving new reviews helps signal to Google that the business is active and trustworthy.
2. Avoid offering incentives for leaving reviews. Instead, focus on ensuring a business’s review profile represents an honest and authentic image of the business.
3. Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to show customers that the business values their feedback. This can also help improve the overall sentiment of the review profile.
4. Consider displaying third-party reviews on the business’s website or other platforms to provide additional social proof and value to potential customers.

Improve the Rankings of your Local Businesses Organically

• Quality Content

The quality of content written on a website is crucial for ranking high on search engine results pages. Google’s search quality rater guidelines can help businesses understand how to provide a positive user experience and demonstrate their expertise. Service pages should have sufficient content to be helpful to customers, and studying top-ranked competitors can help determine how much content to write on the web page. Creating content that contributes to the local community and showcases the business’s expertise can establish a business as a local authority and attract local links toward it. To optimize the content written on the website, local SEO for small businesses play a major role and ensures that their content is written from a trustworthy and authoritative source.

• Internal Linking

Internal linking is an important aspect of optimizing a website for search engines. When a website has a substantial amount of useful content that is well-organized, it becomes more relevant to search engines.

SEO siloing is a technique used in search engine optimization that involves grouping related web pages into hierarchical categories through directories and links. This means that the way a website’s directories and navigation are set up can impact its search engine rankings.

Siloing simplifies the internal linking system by connecting similar pages, allowing search engines to discover more relevant content and gain a better understanding of what the website is all about. In addition to this, it provides users with an easy-to-use navigation system that helps them find the information they need.

Google considers the whole website to decide its ranking instead of just considering a single web page. It is stated in the search engine optimization starter guide of Google that easy website navigation helps customers to find information easily as per their needs.

“The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors quickly find the content they want. It can also help search engines understand what content the website owner thinks is important. Although Google’s search results are provided at a page level, Google also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger picture of the site.”

When it comes to organizing a local business website, the site would be structured based on key elements such as individual service pages and location pages. When creating a section for each location of a business, it is imperative to ensure that each section is unique to avoid any duplicate content issues. This means providing specific and relevant information for each location, such as the address, hours, contact information, and any unique services or offerings. By making each location section unique, the website can provide a better user experience and avoid any negative impact on search engine rankings due to duplicate content. This approach can help improve the website’s organization and make it easier for users to navigate and find the information they need.

• • Webpage and Website Optimization

For local businesses that are setting up their foot in the competitive market, there are several key things they can do to optimize their website for SEO.

1. Use relevant keywords in meta tags and web page content (including headings and anchor text) to optimize local web pages.
2. Implement local business-type schema on web pages to provide additional information to search engines and searchers. This includes minimum details such as business name, address, phone number, and website.
3. Ensure the website is mobile-friendly, as most local searches are conducted on mobile devices. Google provides tools and resources to help with this. Additionally, enabling HTTPS to make the site secure is important for optimization.

• Inbound Links

To establish trust and credibility as a local business, having quality links from the local community is crucial. Creating high-quality and relevant content that is specifically targeted to the local community can attract natural links. Links from unique IP addresses and domains for a particular geographic area are the most valuable for local SEO. Other strategies to earn local links include joining local organizations, being listed in local directories, hosting or sponsoring local events and promoting them on the website, starting a blog, or being featured in local press interviews.

Conclusion

There are numerous SEO techniques that local businesses can use to improve their website’s search rankings. However, there are a few ways that will provide the best return on investment, whether implemented independently or with the help of professional services. By concentrating on the local SEO hierarchy of needs, businesses can establish the appropriate SEO fundamentals and enhance their chances of being competitive in search results.