If you rely on local web traffic, getting seen locally on Google is really important for your business. Here are a number of ways you can improve your ranking on Google to get seen.

Set up a Google My Business profile 

Having a google my business profile can help to display crucial information that customers may want to know. This can include things such as contact information, reviews, location (can be exact or the general radius), images, FAQs and general information about the business.

Here are some tips on how to ensure your Google my Business profile to be as complete as possible.

1. Make sure it is set up and fully complete.
2. Ensure your NAP (name, address, phone number) are consistent across Google, your website, and any other directory. For example; your telephone should be the same structure (+44 or 07) and your address needs to be the same layout across every profile. 
3. Add a post or news update – doing this every week will have a positive impact on you google ranking – you might be able to update this with scheduling tools.
4. Think about your review strategy – encourage reviews and respond to them no matter whether it’s positive or negative. This will help with ranking and shows you are a trusted business and you are active. 
   • An example may be to set up an automated email after the service has been delivered saying “thank you.. please leave us review” and include a link that directs users to leave a Google review.  

Make sure your website is not holding you back

When we carry out SEO health checks, more often than not the website structure is the thing stopping the site from getting found. Google crawlers are pretty intelligent, however you need to lead the horse to water. Make sure your website is set up correctly, and ensure the following is set up how it should:

1. Make sure the URL and page title includes the key information (keywords) so as to tell Google what that page is all about. For example; if your website is trying to rank for ‘Web Design’, make sure the page title is set so as to include “Web Design | onefoursix | Northampton Digital Marketing Agency”. The URL should also be onefoursix.co.uk/web-design.
2. Each of the pages should have content laid out in a specific way, featuring header text (H1, H2, H3 etc) throughout. If you don’t have H1 or H2 text on your site then make sure you ask your web developer to address it (you may be able to sort yourself). H1 text (and H2/H3 etc) tells Google which parts of the content is title or header text making it easier for them to decipher what the page is all about. It also improves user experience, allowing your users to better understand the content being displayed.
3. Is your Meta Description complete? The Meta Description is the paragraph of text that displays below the title on Google – include specific key words to achieve the best results.
4. Check the speed of your website using GT Metrix (or other speed tools). Google will rank your website higher if it is quick so it is vital that it loads as quickly as possible. Ideally you want it to load in under 2 seconds, however unfortunately that is not possible for some sites with specific functionality.
   • If the website is running a little bit slow, contact your web developer and ask them to help speed it up. Tools such as GT Metrix will tell you what needs addressing so you will be able to pass these issues over to your developer to get sorted. One example could be that your images are just too large. Images ideally shouldn’t be larger than 100/200 kb.
5. A majority of websites should be ‘mobile first’ as this is what 70/80% of users will use to access websites. So when checking your website check it on mobile first, and remember; it might be mobile responsive but is it actually easy to navigate for the user? Google will prioritise mobile, so if your website is not mobile user friendly Google will potentially lower your ranking.
6. Check your ‘above the fold’ content. The ‘fold’ on a website is the point at which a user will begin to scroll. Key information should be above this point, hence us referring to it as ‘above the fold’ content.  Check out this article on Hubspot for ideas on compelling above the fold content. Not having key content above the fold could also result in users navigating off your website quickly due to them not finding what they are searching for.
7. Is your website information rich? Your website should be content rich, and this can be done by including FAQs, case studies, blogs, reliable sources and testimonials. This additional content will help address questions or concerns that the user may have. It also gives Google more information about that specific page, enabling them to rank it more effectively. The more content you have on your website the more the Google crawlers will give it more attention.

Consider Link Building

Google will rank your website higher if you have other trusted and high quality websites linking into your website. The art of link building is tricky and time consuming though, and might be something you wish to outsource. We have however put together a few link building strategies you can potentially do in-house. These include:

• Register on local and national directories. They don’t play as big part in SEO but they will still help in a minor way.

• Local PR helps to reach a target audience and create a buzz about your business it can also help your rankings. If you can create a good story and send it to a place like Northants Life, as long as its not sales related, you will probably get published which can help build brand awareness and get that much loved link. (PR again doesn’t have as much weighting now-a-days, however worse case scenario; you get some good local brand awareness)
• Try guest blogging. Asking to do a guest blog on someone else’s website can help build a good back link. For example a photographer might want to reach out to a marketing agency and say that they have a blog relevant for their site. This benefits both parties – the agency gets some good content to share to their network, and you get a good back link.
• Try to think about any potential collaborations or partnerships. Partnerships or collaborations in whatever sense will hopefully result in you  

Location based content

If your business relies on local custom but across a number of locations, you need to think about creating location based content. It can be challenging to rank for “Web Design Coventry” (for example) if you are a Northampton based business. So here are a few tips to get your website ranking locally, and in other specific locations using location based content:

• Make sure your website screams where you are based. You can also expand on the standard “contact us page” by adding in contact details at the bottom of every page. Check out the service pages on the Franklins Solicitors website. Every page has the phone number and locations, ensuring all pages have location based content.

• Create content that incorporates your location. For example; if you are a business in London you could create content about your surroundings, car parks/ restaurants/ bars near by that might entice people to visit you. Think outside the box!

• Get involved with local stories or hunt out local PR opportunities. 

• Set up location based landing pages. Location based landing pages are web pages of content selling what you do in an area you may not be based in, but do operate in. For example, check out one of our location based landing pages – SEO Market Harborough. This page screams ‘SEO services in Market Harborough’. We do not have an office in Harborough, however we do already deliver services in that area. 

Go crazy on content 

Content is king, and Google won’t rank you without good, very specific content. So the more content relating to your business and services that you create; the better. It is worth reviewing the pages you wish to have rank and consider “can I expand on this content”. Here are a few things you may wish to add in if you haven’t already:

• Firstly expand on your content. Check out your competition – have they written about something specific that you have missed? Add it in.
• Add in case studies. Case studies add proof that you can do what you say you do. It also adds in good specific content about your services.
• Add FAQ’s. More often than not users are searching for answers to questions on Google. Adding in frequently asked questions will introduce content answering questions being asked online.
• Link to other relevant content. You should be blogging or creating articles around topics specific to your business/services. Linking into these topics will help aid the user in their search for answers, whilst providing some useful internal links for Google.

Hopefully the above has helped you get your head around ‘getting found locally on Google’. All of these apply generally, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team.