Local SEO is perfect for businesses that wish to target the local customers and increase ranking online. Unfortunately, the slightest mistakes in your local SEO efforts can lead to severe consequences for your rankings and, by extension, your company. Best local seo company toronto, Wisdek has revealed that these are some of the common mistakes that businesses make that affect their local SEO. Below are 15 local SEO mistakes that might be harming your business and ways to avoid them:
- Incomplete Google My Business Profile
The Google My Business or GMB profile is the foundation of your local SEO efforts. Never leave any field empty; include your business’s name, location, contact number, website, the period of operation, and categories. To interact with your audience, it is recommended you post new pictures and content often on your GMB profile.
- Inconsistent NAP Information
NAP specifically means the Name, Address and the Phone number of your business or the products you deal in. In local SEO, it’s important for businesses to maintain a synchronicity with all of their listings. If the information is not consistent in the NAP, then there will be caching of the different details and this will affect the ranking of your website. Companies should make sure that the details of their NAPs match by conducting a cross check on all the directories, social media profiles, and the company’s website in random periods of time.
- Ignoring Customer Reviews
This shows that customer reviews are very essential in the local SEO strategies. It is said the positive reviews can help in increasing the credibility of your business and make it rank well locally. Get your satisfied customers to leave reviews on your GMB page and also be keen on responding to positive as well as negative comments on the page. Such an interaction proves to the potential clients that you do respect their input.
- Lack of Local Keywords
It is also vital to use local keywords in your business so as to enable you to capture the market. It is important to have the location and services related terms to be in the content of the website, meta description, and titles. For example, if you’re targeting local SEO services for small businesses in Toronto, then keywords such as “best local SEO Toronto” should form a natural part of the content that you are writing.
- Neglecting Local Backlinks
You can increase your local SEO by getting backlinks from other local sites that are of high authority. Concentrating on getting high-quality backlinks, engaging with local businesses, bloggers, as well as the news sites. These links make your business popular to the Search Engines and it’s an indication that your business is credible in your local market.
- Not Optimizing for Mobile Devices
One vital fact to bear in mind is that the majority of local searches are done through mobile phones. In case your website is not mobile-friendly, you are capable of losing a lot of your clients who prefer using their mobile devices to access the different internet services. Make sure your web layout can adapt to any screen size by the use of the mobile first approach, has a fast loading time and the most important thing is the user experience.
- Forgetting About On-Page SEO
On-topic optimization is very important for increasing your local ranking. Ensure that the website’s copy is stuffed with local relevant keyword phrases; the site is well structured; relevant Meta tags, headings and Alt image texts. Not only does an optimized site make it easier for search engines to find your site and rank it more favorably but also makes navigation easier for the user of the site.
- Missing Location-Specific Pages
Organizations that operate different branches should ensure they have distinct landing pages for every branch. These pages should contain location specific keywords and present information about the location such as the address, phone number, opening hours among others.
- Overlooking Social Media Presence
The users’ activities in social media can have an influence on the local SEO performance. Just keep it updated and active along with a closely followed web presence with accurate NAP information as on your website and GMB list. Interacting with your visitors and clients on social networking is also sure to increase traffic to your site and improve your local rank.
- Not Utilizing Local Schema Markup
Schema markup assists Search Engine in indexing your site and the content on the page. The local schema markup can also improve your local search rankings by passing more information about you to the search engines including the location, opening hours and other services offered.
- Ignoring Local SEO for Small Businesses
Local SEO, as explained above, is not only for big enterprises but also for small businesses. Local SEO for small businesses is therefore all about the changes you are likely to make on your website and other online offerings with the aim of targeting customers in a specific geographical locale. The strategies that have been discussed in this paper can help small businesses to fight for their stakes with their counterparts within their regions.
- Poor Website Speed
The speed on which a website loads is very important to the search engines in ranking them. This has implications in that slow loading of pages results in deterioration of the experience of the visitor who may leave your site. The Inspector tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights should be used to determine your website’s performance then follow the recommendations in order to increase the loading time.
- Not Tracking Local SEO Performance
This feature is significant in the sense that it helps in tracking performance and noting down on areas that need some enhancing. That is why it is crucial to use other platforms such as Google Analytics to monitor traffic rates and other similar parameters such as bounce rates and other conceivable conversions. By reviewing these metrics on a periodic basis you can fine tune your Local SEO strategy.
- Failing to Secure Your Website
Website security is one of the ranking factors that determine your local SEO. Your site needs to be safe so make sure that the website’s address begins with https. Apart from enhancing your website’s ranking on the search engine, a secure website also convinces your visitors to transact with your business.
- Underestimating the Power of Content
Local SEO is one of the most liberal elements that focus on content. Continuously create new good quality and useful content that would address the needs of your local target market. Marketing a business through local keywords in blog posts, articles, or guides helps boost the company’s visibility to clients and establishes it as the industry front-runner.
Local SEO – How You Can Boost Your Business Leads and Sales
Local SEO is therefore an ideal tool for any company that wishes to improve its visibility among target clients within the region. Since 97% of local searchers are in the buying mood, harnessing the power of local SEO and growing it will definitely boost your sales. Do not succumb to these common SEO pitfalls to avoid slowing your business’s growth. Choose the services of Wisdek, the leading local SEO Toronto specialists for a comprehensive local SEO approach that would see your business ranking high in local search.
Visit today to get more details about Local SEO services that we offer and how it will help to unlock full potential in the regional market for your enterprise.
