What Is The Importance Of Local SEO

Every company benefits from an easily findable website. That is why it is important to invest in SEO. It just doesn't make sense to compete with big companies. In almost all areas, a multinational will beat you as a local player. They have more budget and often more expertise available. But where Bol.com or Wehkamp focus on the whole of the Netherlands, as a small entrepreneur, from Ridderkerk for example, you don't have to get to a number 1 position in Google throughout the Netherlands. As long as you are found in your region. That's exactly what local SEO is all about: optimizing your site so that your local or regional target group can find you.

1.  Start with MyCompany

You can easily pass on more information about your company to the search engine via Google MyBusiness . That starts with a physical location, but also think of contact details, opening times and photos of products or, for example, a menu. This makes it easier for customers to find you via Google Maps and the search engine.

Don't have a physical visiting address? Then it is smart to register with a company. This increases your findability on Google and your reliability with potential customers.

2.  Add the location to your page title

When you operate exclusively in a city, village or region, it is smart to let your online audience know. The page titles are displayed first in the search results. So this is also a good place to list the location of your company.

3.  Add the location to your meta tag

You can also mention the location of your company in the descriptive text of your page (meta tag). Because you have more space in the meta tag than in the page title, you can also mention surrounding places or well-known districts here.

4.  Create separate pages for different locations

Of course you can also create a separate page for each location. Do this in any case if you also have physical addresses in these places. These pages must not be exact copies of each other! Clearly indicate per location which services you offer.

5.  Relevant local content

The best thing for your SEO is to write relevant local content. For example, what is an interesting story to share with your target group? How did you help a customer there? Or how does your product match a local custom or party?                                                                                                                       

Image also plays an important role. Make sure that you also use photo material from the relevant municipality or region on location pages. An additional advantage is that you can tag this material with the location again via a description. So if you have an interest in learning about local SEO, then you must read tips for boosting your local SEO.

6.  Add local reviews

On each local page you can also add one or more reviews from satisfied customers from that city or village. This contributes to your credibility with the target group and it helps you with your ranking in the local search results. Be honest, a fake review is so outdated.

7.  Stay honest

Continuing with that: try to be as honest as possible when building your local search engine optimization. It may bring you more visitors in the short term by claiming that you operate everywhere, but visitors quickly see through this when they see that it is actually a company from another municipality. So do not under any circumstances use false addresses to describe the location(s) of your company.