If you cannot serve globally, there is no point in appearing in search engines globally. You should focus more on an optimized local search if you want to reach out to your target audience. Improving your ranking in locality is very important because this is exactly where you will be getting your clients from. Mobile search has also gained a lot of popularity so people will be having an access to internet all the time. Also, if someone is using mobile search they prefer to visit the very first web results so you need to work on improving your ranking in local searches. Getting found by local customers is much more than ordering brochure printing and distributing the brochures in your area. You must be found in local web searches too.
A few easy and wise decisions can really help you in optimizing local search for targeted traffic. In this article, we will be discussing a few easy tips which can prove to be really beneficial for you in gaining traffic from local area.
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Usage of Location in Keywords
As a web master, you will surely be aware of how Search Engine Optimization works. If I have to define it precisely, it depends a lot on your content. Ranking well for local search is no rocket science. If you are aware of SEO, you can do it easily. All you need to do is use your location name just like you use keywords for global search engines. To improve your local ranking, consider your location as a keyword and use it in your content as much as you can. Not only content, your headings, meta-tags and the anchor text of back-links should also contain the name of your locality. This will make a huge improvement in your ranking.
It is totally understandable that using the name of your location might mess up your entire sentence. At times, it sounds so obviously incorrect grammatically. If you are a perfectionist you can surely use “in”, “from” in the sentences for instance, ‘Graphic designer from Canada’ or ‘poster designing in Australia’ instead of using ‘Graphic Designer Canada’ and ‘poster designing Australia’. Search engines normally omit such words while searching so it might not affect your ranking a lot but yes, it will affect your ranking in one way or the other. So, it is entirely up to you to decide if you want heave traffic or if you want to sound grammatically correct.
If you are not really comfortable using the location in your content as you think it might not sound appropriate, you can still use the name of your location on your main page. You can even add images with the location name on your page. If you are a good designer, you will use your keyword, images in a way that on visiting your website, people do not feel bombarded with your location name. Keeping a balance is also very important. Not only this; adding a map to your location also a great way to attract more clients your way.
Apart from all this, the best way to use your keyword (location name) on every page is to give away your contact information on every page. This way, you will be using your keyword in a very subtle manner and people who will visit your profile would be able to contact you without any issues. As mentioned earlier, you need to avoid keyword stuffing because too much usage of a keyword will be considered as spamming and search engines might block you. So, using keyword in an appropriate manner is very important.
If you have a business in different locations, you are not supposed to put the location name as a keyword in a single page. You should try and design different pages for different locations. You can even get a separate domain for every city. Keeping things separate is very important otherwise you will end up confusing your visitor and you will lose out on traffic.
Learn How to Incorporate Rich Snippets
If you have been into SEO, you might be aware of Rich Snippets. This is one of the great ways to optimize for local search. If your website contains d content, these Symantec tools are best for you. Rich snippets will basically help Google in finding out that that you are a local company.
However, before incorporating any kind of rich snippets into your profile, you need to understand the type of your site. They are not meant to accommodate every site. Your website needs to have a structured content in order to be able to incorporate rich snippets because without structured content, your ranking is not going to increase. Also relying on rich snippets is not a very good idea. Search results depend a lot on the search engine itself.
Incorporating rich snippets is not going to take a lot of your time and effort. Since the information being used will be the existing one on your page. You can even find handy tools which will definitely help you a lot in incorporating rich snippets.
Go for Local Directories
There are a lot of ways to go local and all you need to do is find them. A little hard work can bring a lot of local visitors your way. Getting good back links from different local authorities can prove to be really beneficial. You do not have to have all your important keywords in your anchor text for this. These back links, if of quality, will definitely bring a lot of new visitors your way.
If you are looking for some direct exposure to local audience (both direct customers and indirect customers like printing houses), going for local directories and search engine is the best way. You need to submit your site to such local search engines so that local can people can have access to your website with ease. Local directories such as local Yahoo, Bing local and Google place are a few good names for optimizing your local search for targeted traffic.
Don’t forget or ignore yellow pages or even web directories. They might not be that popular but they are still very handy when it comes to reaching out people. You can definitely attract a lot of your local audience with the help of web directories and yellow pages.
Getting Help from Social Media
Social media is one place which can never disappoint you. These are the alternatives which are bound to be explored. Your social media profiles acts like your business cards where you can simply join your local regions on Facebook and twitter and promote yourself as much as you can. This is the best way to get heard by your local community as these days; people trust social websites more than any other online platform. While you are registering your profile, make sure you enter your location so that people don’t have to guess your locality.
You will also have to advertise yourself in order to reach out to audiences. PPC is a good way of advertising yourself locally.
Conclusion
Always remember that you need to have a good ranking locally and with very little efforts you can achieve it. Optimizing your search locally is worth it as you will be able to reach out to the people who are of your locality and will trust you more. Also, as you must have read optimizing local search for targeted traffic is not that difficult. A little effort, determination can take you a long way.
