SEO
Local SEO and traditional (or “national”) SEO are similar in many ways, but there are a few key differences.
Difference between national SEO and local SEO
National SEO is focused on optimizing a website for search engines on a national or international level. This type of SEO is geared toward targeting keywords that people across a large geographic area may be searching for. For example, an ecommerce website that ships products to customers all over the world would want to optimize for national SEO.
Local SEO, on the other hand, is focused on optimizing a website for search engines within a specific geographic area.
This type of SEO is geared toward targeting keywords that people in a particular area may be searching for. For example, a brick-and-mortar business that serves customers in a specific city or region would want to optimize for Brisbane local SEO.
One of the main differences between the two types of SEO is the use of location-based keywords. In local SEO, it’s important to include keywords that include the location in which the business operates, such as the city and state. This can help search engines understand that the business serves a particular geographic area, which can help improve its visibility in local search results.
Another key difference is that Local SEO takes into account Local Citations, Google My Business and review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. where National SEO doesn’t take those into account.
National SEO and local SEO can also be used together to reach a wider audience. A business that operates in multiple locations can optimize their website for national SEO and then use local SEO tactics to target customers in each specific location.
In summary, National SEO is primarily focused on optimizing a website for search engines on a national or international level, while Local SEO is mainly focused on optimizing a website for search engines within a specific geographic area.
Google My Business and Local SEO
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool offered by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. When you set up a GMB account for your business, you can provide information about your business such as your address, phone number, business hours, and website. You can also upload photos, create posts, and respond to customer reviews.
Google uses the information from GMB to create a “Knowledge Panel” for your business, which is a box that appears on the right-hand side of the search results when someone searches for your business by name.
The Knowledge Panel provides a lot of information about your business, such as the address, phone number, and business hours, as well as customer reviews, photos, and posts.
When it comes to Local SEO, GMB plays a very important role, it’s considered as the foundation of Local SEO as it provides the search engine with accurate, updated and reliable business information. As GMB is directly connected to Google Maps, it greatly affects the ranking and visibility of a business on the map.
Having a complete and optimized GMB profile can help your business show up more prominently in search results, especially in the “local pack,” which is the box that appears at the top of the search results for local queries and includes a map with three businesses that are closest to the user. Optimizing your GMB profile with accurate and relevant information, managing reviews, and engaging with your audience can help boost your chances of appearing in the local pack and drive more traffic to your website.
In summary, Google My Business is a powerful tool for local SEO because it provides a way for businesses to manage their online presence across Google and allows Google to understand your business information to Optimising the Search and Maps.
Optimizing your GMB profile and getting customer reviews can help boost your visibility in local search results.
Keyword research is an important aspect of local SEO
It helps you understand what your potential customers are searching for and how to optimize your website to rank for those keywords.
Here are some tips for conducting keyword research for local SEO:
When people search for businesses or services in their area, they often include the city or region in their search query. Make sure to include location-based keywords in your research, such as “pizza delivery in [city]” or “hair salon in [region].”
Long-tail keywords are more specific, longer phrases that people might use when searching for a specific product or service. For example, instead of just “coffee shop,” a long-tail keyword could be “organic coffee shop in downtown [city].” These type of keywords are considered to be more efficient in local SEO, as they can drive more qualified leads to the website.
See what keywords your competitors are ranking for and try to optimize your website for those same keywords, along with other variations that you think may be relevant.
There are several keyword research tools available, such as Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, that can help you find relevant keywords for your local business. These tools can provide you with data on search volume, CPC, competition, and more, so you can choose the keywords that are most likely to drive traffic to your site.
Make a list of all the services or products you offer and research keywords that could be associated with those services or products.
Once you have identified your target keywords, make sure to include them on your website in key places, such as the title tags, meta tags, headings, and throughout the content. However, it’s important not to stuff your website with keywords as it could negatively affect your website’s ranking.
By conducting thorough keyword research and optimizing your website with relevant keywords, you can improve your visibility in local search results and drive more traffic to your website.
Link building for local SEO
It helps to improve the authority and trustworthiness of your website in the eyes of search engines. The more high-quality links your website has pointing to it, the more likely it is to rank well in search results.
Here are a few link building strategies that can be effective for local SEO:
Submitting your business to local directories, such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, or TripAdvisor, can help you get value to your website. Please provide complete and accurate information on your business and request a link back to your website if possible.
Partnering with other businesses in your area can be a great way to get a backlink to your website. You can reach out to complementary businesses or those that are in a related field and ask if they would be willing to link to your site in exchange for a link back to theirs.
Submitting your business to directories specific to your industry can help you get a backlink from a relevant and authoritative website.
Sponsoring local events, organizations, or charities can give you a good opportunity to get a backlink from their website.
Blogging is a great way to create new and relevant content for your website and can also be a valuable tool for link building. By creating informative, interesting, and engaging blog posts and embedding links back to your website, you can attract links from other websites that find your content useful.
Encourage your customers to leave reviews on websites such as Google My Business, Yelp and TripAdvisor, not only it can help you build a good reputation but also it can help you drive traffic back to your website.
It’s important to keep in mind that link building should be done organically, Google’s algorithm can easily detect unnatural links and penalize the website for it. Also, you should focus on building a diverse portfolio of links, as having a diverse set of links is a good indication that a website is popular and trustworthy.
Local SEO and Directories
In general, submitting your business to local directories can be a valuable link building strategy, but if not done properly, it could potentially damage your website’s visibility in search results.
A few things to consider when submitting your business to local directories:
Not all directories are created equal in terms of quality and relevance. Make sure to submit your business to high-quality directories that are relevant to your industry and location.
When submitting your business to directories, it’s important to make sure that the information you provide is consistent across all directories. Inconsistencies, such as variations in the business name, address, or phone number, can be detrimental to your local SEO efforts.
Some directories might be low quality, have a high number of spammy links and no relevant content. Submitting your business to these directories can potentially harm your website’s reputation in the eyes of search engines, and might not provide much value to your business.
Submitting your business to too many directories at once can be seen as spammy, it’s important to choose a few high-quality directories and spread out submissions over time.
Some directories might use your business information for creating a profile, it is important to check these profiles for duplicate content and remove or update them if necessary.
It’s important to remember that the goal of link building is to get high-quality, relevant links from authoritative websites that can help improve your visibility in search results. Submitting your business to low-quality directories that are not relevant to your industry or location can actually harm your local SEO Brisbane efforts, so it’s important to be selective when choosing directories to submit to.
Local SEO services in Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland in Australia, and there are many local SEO services available in the area that can help businesses in Brisbane improve their visibility in local search results. Here are a few examples of local SEO services that are commonly offered in Brisbane:
Local keyword research
An experienced SEO agency can conduct thorough keyword research to identify the keywords that are most likely to drive traffic to your site. This can include location-based keywords, long-tail keywords, and keywords related to your products or services.
Google My Business optimization
A service can help you set up, verify, and optimize your Google My Business profile to improve your visibility in local search results.
Local citation building
This service help to create accurate and consistent business listing on relevant directory and citation websites. It can greatly improve the visibility of a website in local search results.
On-page optimization
This service can help you optimize your website’s content and structure to ensure that it is optimized for local search. This can include updating title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and other on-page elements with relevant keywords.
Link building
An agency can help you build high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites, which can help to improve your website’s authority and boost its visibility in search results.
Reputation management
A service can help you monitor and respond to customer reviews on various platforms such as Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor to improve your online reputation and boost your visibility in local search results.
A typical Local SEO package offered by Branding Experts in Brisbane can include:
A thorough analysis of your website to identify any technical issues that could be impacting your visibility in search results.
Researching relevant keywords that are most likely to drive traffic to your website and incorporating them into your website’s content and meta tags.
Optimizing your website’s content and structure to make it more search engine-friendly, including updating title tags, meta descriptions, headings, and other on-page elements with relevant keywords.
Optimizing your website to rank well in local search results, including building local citations in Brisbane and creating a Brisbane Google My Business profile.
Building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites to help improve your website’s visibility in search results.
Providing detailed reports on the progress of your SEO campaign and identifying areas where further optimization is needed.
Monitoring and responding to customer reviews on various platforms such as Google, Yelp and TripAdvisor to improve your online reputation and boost your visibility in local search results.