3 Simple Local SEO Tips To Help Your Small Business Website In 2022
Published by Daniel Dahlen on
In my previous two posts I reviewed where to start your small business digital marketing efforts and 3 basic things you can do to improve your small business website and today I’d like to take a closer look at a few small business SEO tips to help your website rank better in your area.
Over the past 13 years I’ve helped many small businesses – in many industries & locations of the US gain top rankings in their area.
Each of those businesses had their own customized SEO roadmap & path toward top positioning, but there were some pretty basic tactics implemented that were the same for all of them (at least at the start) as mentioned below.
While the tips below can help your website rank better, your particular website may have different needs ( both technical & creative ) that could affect the way your site ranks, but applying the quick wins below should be a great starting point regardless.
Claim Your Small Business Online Listings & Social Media Accounts
If you have a local business and that means that it’s most likely being listed in online directories (whether you know it or not).
Many online directories generate listings for your company automatically (pulling your information from many different local databases), which allows them to expand their listing reach.
While many of these can be “low quality” (to put it nicely), there are some that are important to make sure you claim:
- Google Business (Formerly Google My Business)
- Bing
- Yahoo
- Yelp
- …and too many more to list here
These are also places where many of your online reviews will be submitted by your customers, so claiming your listing allows you to moderate (and report) reviews that come in.
The other places where reviews come in are on social media.
The reach of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc is so far that at least getting your listing/page setup is generally a good idea (depending on if your customers are active on them) and can help fake accounts from being found by your customers.
Update Business Address & Contact Info
Once you claim your listings, keep your address & contact information up to date.
This can be a long process, but it’s important to keep those records up to date in case your customers happen to find your listing on those platforms.
Needless to say, keeping your address updated on your website is also a must, and helps keep your listings in sync with your small business website.
Join Local Business Organizations & Accreditations
This tip may sound like an offline marketing tactic, but it actually can have SEO ramifications for your website.
Local business organizations like your local Chamber of Commerce, industry-specific associations ( think local restaurant associations ) and other local organizations designed to promote local businesses typically will have an online directory listed on their website.
The ones that do have an online directory will most likely allow you to add your company website & contact information.
Picking up links to your website from local organizations & websites are helpful for SEO, especially in the early days of your website.
These organizations usually come with annual fees, but between the events they host and the links you pick up from their sites that fee entirely justifiable for your local business.
Quick, But Important SEO Wins
While applying these quick SEO wins for your small business may seem simple, doing so can get you off to a great start in gaining visibility in local search.
