The Ultimate Local SEO Checklist for 2024: 12 Steps to Success

There are millions upon millions of websites on the internet. Small business owners trying to promote their local stores may find it intimidating to compete in such a vast global marketplace. But don’t panic. Your business can stand out and connect with customers in your area. It’s done with local SEO. Even when competing with large brands and national businesses that have a significant online presence, local SEO assists local businesses in being found in search results. Although local SEO is not new in 2024, its importance continues to rise. Every day, more than a third of people use the internet to look for local businesses, and nearly half of all Google searches are for local information. Do you want to perform local seo that could lead potential customers to your website or through your doors? We share a twelve-point local SEO checklist for a successful local optimization.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a digital marketing strategy that helps to improve the visibility and ranking of a business in local search results, such as Google Maps and Google My Business. It is a method of search engine optimization (SEO) that increases your business’s visibility in Google’s local search results. It optimizes a brand’s online presence so neighborhood clients can find the brand through organic local search.

The goal of local SEO is to make it easier for local customers to find a business when searching for products or services online. By improving a business’s local search rankings, it can attract more website traffic, foot traffic, phone calls, and leads, ultimately leading to increased revenue and growth. 

Local SEO packages can provide local businesses with a comprehensive and tailored approach to improving their online visibility and search rankings in their target location. 

What is the Difference Between National SEO and Local SEO?

Companies like car insurance and online software providers, which provide services to anyone, want people all over the country or even the world to find them through organic search.

However, owners of local service-based businesses such as brick-and-mortar businesses do not require global customers to discover their business. All they require is to make sure nearby searchers locate their business. That is made possible by local SEO.

Also, Read: Local SEO vs National SEO: Which one to Choose? 

Why Local SEO is Important in 2024?

Businesses can reach a geo-specific target audience by improving their internet visibility through local SEO. Although marketers and webmasters place a greater emphasis on location-based keywords, ranking factors, and customer testimonials, the fundamental principles of traditional SEO still apply. It is all too easy to tune out when you hear the word “SEO,” but you could be missing out on significant ranking opportunities. SEO has the potential to yield significant benefits for businesses of all sizes.

A well-executed local SEO strategy can be the key to connecting with more potential customers than ever before as a form of inbound marketing. Ranking in Google alone will not be enough in 2024 due to the growing dominance of SERP features like image carousels, maps, lists, Knowledge Panels, dropdowns for “People also ask” and various forms of local business cards. These featured snippets must also be won by your business. You need local SEO to achieve that.

12 Point Local SEO Checklist to Improve Your Local Business

1. Setup Google My Business Profile

Create a Google My Business (GMB) account to begin implementing your local SEO strategy. Your local SEO can benefit significantly from a well-crafted GMB profile. It helps Google learn where your business is located, and it can also rank well on Google on its own.

Enter the name of your business. You can claim the Google listing for your company if it already exists. If not, you can make a new listing for your business.

Prepare a list of your primary and secondary categories. If you run a coffee shop, for instance, Google will know to recommend it when someone searches for “coffee near me.” This will help you get found when someone searches in that category. In addition, Google will permit you to include category-specific features in your listing, such as a reservation button for restaurants.

Add business address. You would want your address to be visible if you run a cafe or store where customers can walk in. However, if your office isn’t where customers go directly (for example, if you’re an accountant, housekeeper, or other similar position) your street address can be hidden. Google will just show the region you serve instead.

Add your business phone number. Include your phone number so that customers can easily contact you. If a customer tries to contact you and the number on Google Maps doesn’t work, they’ll think you’re out of business and you’ll lose a customer immediately.

Also Read: How to Track Calls from GMB (Google Business Profile) on Your Website 

Optional: Include your website. You can include a link to your local business website in your GMB profile. By incorporating a “Website” button into your listing, Google makes it simple for searchers to locate it.

Tip: Your local ranking on Google Search and Google Maps can be improved by verifying your business’s location in GMB.

2. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Add any extra data about your neighborhood business to your GMB profile. This will inform potential customers about your services and help Google fully comprehend what your company is all about. Furthermore, it’ll likewise make your page bound to rank and stick out. A well-designed GMB profile looks like this:

Add any extra data about your neighborhood business to your GMB profile. This will inform potential customers about your services and help Google fully comprehend what your company is all about. Furthermore, it’ll likewise make your page bound to rank and stick out. A well-designed GMB profile looks like this:

Add your hours of operation. Include your exact working hours, including holidays and regular hours. To avoid disappointing or losing customers, change your working hours on GMB as well if you decide to do so.

Add business attributes. Include any characteristics specific to your company. Are you able to deliver? Can customers pay with cards? These characteristics will assist your customers in determining what they can anticipate from your business prior to their visit.

Add products and services. This is especially helpful for businesses that provide services because it lets you tell customers about your products and services without having to have a website.

Add high quality pictures. Before they visit, prospective customers will be introduced to your business through appealing images. If you run a service-based business like a hotel, bar, or coffee shop, it’s especially important to have photos. You ought to include:

• A photo of your venue taken from the outside, so people can easily find it from the street
• Multiple inside shots so that people can get a sense of how the place looks inside (this is especially important for clubs, cafes, restaurants, and bars)
• Images of your products. After all, your food is what makes your restaurant or bakery successful
• Photos of the team/employees. The personal side of your business can be shown by including pictures of your employees working. This is especially true for professional services (such as accounting firms and advertising agencies)

Tip: Unsure of the kind of pictures that should be included in your GMB profile? Take a look at the photo guidelines provided by Google.

Write a “From the business” description. Try to incorporate local keywords connected with your business to assist clients with finding it in search. For instance, if you are a law firm in New York, you could include keywords like “experienced attorneys in New York”.

Keep track of your responses and questions. Your clients can pass on inquiries regarding your business for you to reply, or on the other hand, you can add questions you believe are significant for your clients and respond to them in their stead. However, keep in mind that your customers can also respond to these inquiries. Therefore, keep track of the aforementioned questions and ensure that each response is 100% accurate.

Maintain an updated GMB profile. A GMB profile is not set up once and done. Check your Google listing to see if your business’s name, phone number, or service offerings have changed. Indeed, even the littlest subtleties that don’t get refreshed, like shutting 30 minutes sooner, can adversely affect your business, audits, notoriety, and rankings. Additionally, check your profile on a regular basis to ensure that there are no incorrect details because anyone can suggest changes to your business listing and Google may accept them.

3. Publish Posts on Google My Business Profile

Google My Business can also serve as your company’s social media profile. Updates, promotions, offers, events, news, and brief informative articles can be posted. These posts can boost your Google search ranking, and when someone opens your Google Maps profile, the most recent ones will appear. Some ideas are as follows:

Updates. Briefly shut for renovation? Have your business hours changed? Post an update to your GMB profile to inform customers.

What is new? At your local business, show off new products, such as new menu items for a restaurant or new book titles for a bookstore. You can even inform customers of new services by posting about them.

Special offers. Promos like a 15% discount, a two-for-one sale, or free shipping can bring in new customers. Include a catchy title and the offer’s validity period. These kinds of posts will even have a “View offer” button added by Google.

Events. You can easily attract attendees to a local event by using your GMB profile. You can add pictures and videos to get people excited if you have a well-known band playing at your bar next weekend or are hosting a big concert.

4. Encourage Customer Reviews

Customer reviews do influence rankings. Your chances of ranking higher on Google increase with the quality of your reviews. Don’t ask for reviews in exchange for discounts or coupons, and don’t set up a review station at your location. This doesn’t mean you should try to cheat the process. This could and will result in a penalty from Google. You could instead try the following:

Give your customers an amazing experience. The best way to get reviews is to provide excellent customer service, which goes without saying.

Please remind your clients to write reviews. Ask your customers at your location if they enjoyed your service and let them know that you would greatly appreciate a Google review if they did.

Make a short URL. Create a link for reviews to make it simple for customers to leave feedback. You might transform it into a QR code that you can put around your area. For instance, if you own a restaurant, you can leave a flier with a QR code on each table.

Ping customers via SMS or email to provide feedback. After a customer has visited your business, you can notify them via text message, email, or mobile app if your business has an app. For instance, if your gym has an app, you can set it up so that customers are prompted to leave a review when they leave.

Respond to reviews regularly. When a business owner responds to a review, customers appreciate it. A basic card to say thanks can go far to show everybody that you care about your clients. Additionally, you ought to respond to both favorable and unfavorable reviews.

5. Build Citations in Local Directories

Citations are mentions of your NAP (name, address, and phone number) in business directories, websites, and social media (such as Facebook, Yelp, and the Yellow Pages). They also make it easier for Google to verify the address you put in your GMB profile. Citations can have a significant impact on your Google rankings. They can also serve as backlinks because they frequently include a link to your website. To build citations correctly, you must carry out the following:

Conduct a citation audit to check for duplicate, incorrect, or out-of-date citations. You can conduct an audit with the help of Moz Local tool. The majority of smaller local directories get their citations from large aggregator websites. You can begin building additional citations once you have a list of websites.

Create citations manually. There are lists of directories where you can manually submit information about your business.

Verify your citations. Ensure there are no obsolete, erroneous or copy references on any of the sites you get included on.

Update your citations if you decide to make significant changes to your business.

Tip: Maintain consistent NAP information across the internet. When citing your company’s data, always adhere to the same exact structure and spelling. Google as well as potential customers will find this less confusing.

6. Leverage Social Media

Use social media to boost your online presence even though it has no direct effect on your search ranking. You should actively maintain your profiles on a number of social media platforms. Because popular social media websites have a high domain authority, these profiles can serve as very credible NAP citations. As a neighborhood business, you ought to essentially have a social profile on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are a number of ways it can help your business’s local search engine optimization. First, you can include your business address on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, which can almost look like their own little listing sites.

Furthermore, social media platforms regularly appear in local search results for your business name, so by having profiles across various social media platforms, you can give your business more reach on search results pages when an individual looks for your business. It’s also important to keep in mind that, while search engines are still the first place people look for businesses, social media is becoming an increasingly popular option. Therefore, if you invest in leveraging social media to its full extent, you can improve your chances of being discovered by potential customers across a variety of channels.

7. Do Research on Local Keywords

Now, let’s talk about your website’s local SEO. Conducting keyword research for your local SEO is the first step here. The keyword research here, however, is different from local SEO, as you primarily need to rank on service keywords. Let’s say you run a New York City-based accounting firm. You should aim to rank for keywords like [service type] + [location], such as “vegan restaurant new york,” rather than educational keywords like “how to do accounting.” Here is how you can conduct keyword research for local SEO:

In order to keep track of your research, create a Google Sheet.

Find keywords. Start with popular search terms that you want to rank for. For instance, if you are a London-based law firm, you would want to rank for keywords like “law firm london,” “immigration law london,” and “litigation law firm london.” After that, run these keywords through keyword tools to discover additional related keywords that you can add to your sheet.

Also, Read: 8 Best Local SEO Tools to Make Your Business Rank Higher in 2024

Monitor your rivals. Find out which keywords your local rivals are ranking for using keyword tools and add new ones to your list.

Omit global keywords. Attempting to rank for global keywords like “best law firm” or “litigation law” might be tempting. But do not attempt it, global keywords are fundamentally more challenging to rank for. To be fair, they are also useless for a local business because 99.99% of people who search for “litigation law” do not look for a London law firm.

8. Perform On-page SEO Optimization

After you’ve gathered your keywords, it’s time to implement SEO best practices on your website:

Title tag: In the HTML title tags, include the page’s primary keyword.

Meta description: Include the primary keyword in a brief but comprehensive description for each page.

H2 headings: In H2 headings, use the primary keyword and variations of it.

Images: In some of the alt text for your images, include the primary keyword wherever appropriate.

Use short URL slugs such as “yourbusiness.com/dry-cleaning/,” as opposed to “yourbusiness.com/book-the-best-dry-cleaning-in-town/,” if you run a dry cleaning business.

Link your pages together. The majority of your websites should have relevant links to each other. When crawling your pages, this makes it easier for search engines to find all of them. Google cannot view some of your pages if there are no links to them. It also helps with ranking because pages with more value rank higher. Additionally, when other pages link to one page, it gains value.

• For instance, it is recommended that you include a “Services” dropdown in your website’s navigation bar to link all of your services. A “Locations” dropdown lets you link to different locations if you have them. The majority of your pages will be linked together if you include your locations and services in the footer.

Use schema markup. The structured data markup code that you can add to various parts of your website to tell search engines what those parts are is known as schema. Your name, address, phone number, working hours, ratings, and reviews can all be tagged. Google will have an easier time finding your data and including it in rich snippets as a result. The process will be made simpler by Google’s excellent Structured Data Markup Helper tool.

9. Create Landing Pages

Your website should have the following pages in order to rank well on Google:

Landing pages for locations. Each of your locations should have its own landing page on your website. If you were a Queens, Salt Lake City, and Brooklyn based interior design firm, you would create a new page for each location such as the following, /interior-design-queens/, /interior-design-brooklyn/, and so on.

Landing pages for services. In addition to locations, develop landing pages for various service categories. Creating a service page for each keyword you discover is where the keyword research comes into play. To return to the example of the “law firm in London,” you could create pages for: /migration-law-london/, /litigation-law-london/, and so on.

• Additionally, a contact capture should be included on each service page. This could be a small contact form or a simple “Contact Us” button. Visitors to your website will leave if they are unable to easily get in touch with you.

About page. You are introducing your business to someone who may not have seen it before on this page. Give yourself credibility by including details about your business, such as your mission, areas of expertise, and greatest accomplishments. Talk about your employees. However, a well-written “About Us” page is more important for a law firm than for a typical local business such as a bar.

Contact page. It is essential to have a page where potential clients can get in touch with you. Include your phone number, email address, or contact form so that anyone can contact you. Also, link to your contact page from your service and location pages to make it easy for people to contact you.

10. Build Local Backlinks

Getting other websites to link to yours tells Google that your website is a reliable resource, which improves Google’s ranking of your pages. For local SEO, here are some pointers on how to create backlinks:

Search for other nearby businesses with blog posts and work together with guest posts or ask them for links. For example, in the event that you’re a tour business in New York City, you can try to find 1) travel bloggers in New York City, or 2) activity reviewer blogs and converse with them about likely collaboration.

Reverse-engineer your competition. Find websites that link to your rivals. Contact them and request that they link to you as well.

Write guest posts on popular publications and include a link to your website. Examples would be companies in niches that are similar but not competitive, a local news website, etc.

Feature on podcasts. Become a podcast guest by finding people who interview people in your field.

11. Create a Fast and Mobile-Friendly Site

The quality of your website’s design has a big effect on your search engine optimization (SEO). Google performs mobile-first indexing. Therefore, your rankings will suffer greatly if your website cannot be accessed on mobile devices. To determine whether your website is mobile-friendly, use Google’s own tool. Speed is another major factor. Most visitors will simply leave your site and visit your rival’s if it takes 30 seconds to load. Therefore, here are some solutions to both problems:

Compress images. Pictures of a smaller size will load faster, especially on mobile devices. You can use the plugin Smush to compress your images if your website is built with WordPress. You can even set your images to “lazy load,” which means that they will only load as the user scrolls down the page.

Remove code that isn’t being used. Browsers will take longer to load your website if it contains unnecessary code. Eliminate any unused CSS and JS records.

Compress your HTML, CSS, and JS files so they load faster.

Improve CSS delivery. Combine it in an external stylesheet rather than using it directly in your HTML code. Instead of including CSS code in your HTML code each time you want to use it, you can then reuse it from your external file.

12. Use Local Ads to Drive Traffic

Advertise locally. We know from personal experience that running local ads can help many local businesses make a profit. How can you accomplish this?

Google Search Ads: Simply target keywords you want to rank for with ads. Without having to spend five to six months trying to rank for a keyword, this is also a good way to see how profitable it can be. For example, in the event that you’re a dentist in California, you can run promotions for the keyword “dentist california”.

Google Maps: Running ads on Google Maps is particularly valuable for location based organizations. No matter how many reviews you have, your listing will appear above the others. Walk-in businesses especially benefit from this one. For example somebody researches “restaurant new york” and just decides to go with whatever pops on top.

Other Important Points to Consider for Local SEO

• Choose the Right Business Category

Choosing the most relevant category for your business is an important step in doing local seo. In terms of SEO, selecting this category is equivalent to selecting the primary target keyword for your website that best describes your product or service. In order to label your business, there are many categories available. You should pick a category that is relevant to your company as well as a popular search term. For instance, you might think of using either “Fishing Camp” or “Summer Camp” for a summer fishing camp. But if you check these keywords in a keyword tool, you will find that “Summer Camp” has more searches than “Fishing Camp”. Potential customers who are looking for you online will appreciate the details you add to your profile because they might be able to find answers to some of their questions or concerns about choosing your company.

• Get Backlinks that Includes Your Location

Backlinks, or links from other websites to yours, are absolutely necessary for your website’s overall visibility in search results. As previously stated this is due to the fact that Google views them as “votes” for your website and gives higher positions in search results to websites with more links as long as the links are from relevant, high-quality websites. Backlinks, as you might expect, play a huge role in local SEO as well. You should occasionally encourage anyone who is willing to give you a backlink to include the location of your business in the backlink in order to improve your performance in local search results. Search engines will notice this because it emphasizes your business’s location.

For example if you own a bike shop in Brooklyn, this would merely entail attempting to establish connections to “bike shop in Brooklyn” rather than “bike shop.” We say “occasionally” because you don’t want to overdo it. Too many location keywords in link building can look like spam, give search engine algorithms red flags, and get you penalized. Last but not least, it’s a good idea to get backlinks from nearby businesses if at all possible. This may indicate to search engines that your website is relevant to a specific region.

• Create Quality Content Specific to Your Area

In search results, websites with in-depth, useful articles on topics that people are actually interested in, tend to do well. There are two main reasons for this: First, they are frequently keyword-rich, increasing the likelihood that your content will match a variety of search queries. Second, if they are particularly useful resources, owners of other websites will establish “backlinks” to them, which, as previously mentioned, results in higher placements in search results.

Local SEO follows the same guidelines, so if you write high-quality blog posts about your business niche that include your location, you might do well in local search results. Again using our bike shop example, blogging about good cycling routes in the region where the shop does business might be one way to gain some traction in local search results for bike-related services. This makes it more likely that cyclists in your area will find your blog post and learn not only about a great new cycle route but also that your company sells and services bicycles.

• Get Local News Coverage

It is definitely worthwhile to approach local news outlets and request content or coverage of your business. Many of these news sites will be happy to give you a backlink because of the local angle. This backlink could give you a lot of link juice. A backlink from one of these news sites, even local ones, can significantly improve your position in search results because they typically have a lot of authority because many other sites link to them. Google’s algorithms can also link your website to a specific location, based on the context in which these links appear, such as on local news sites that cover your area.

• Use Geographic Markup in Schema

Schema.org enables you to provide search engines with information that improves their comprehension of your content. This, in turn, enables them to provide users with the most relevant search results. These search engines can also display additional information about your content in search results, such as star ratings, pricing information, pros and cons, and reviewer details, by including Schema code in your content. You can use a specific type of Schema known as “geographic markup” for local SEO to tell search engines and users more about your business’s location. When it comes to local search results, including it can benefit your business. So ensure that you do. But, before going overboard with Schema markup, it’s a good idea to read through Google’s instructions on how to use it so that you don’t end up creating spam content.

• Sponsor Local Events

Sponsoring events is not only a great way to give back to your community, but it also promotes your company, guarantees valuable links to your website on the event page, and can get your business mentioned in the media. Traffic is boosted by each of these. Start small and don’t limit your sponsorship of local events to funding. You can support occasions by giving snacks to participants if you run a catering service business or provide stationary supplies if you have a stationary store.

Final Thoughts

For digital marketers, search engine optimization (SEO) can sometimes feel like a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, so it’s not surprising that some tasks get put off. Local search engine optimization is on your plan for the day, yet for reasons unknown, it continues to wind up as a second thought. But if you decide to allocate some time and effort for your local seo strategies, you will reap great benefits such as making your brand name bigger in your community. We hope your business will benefit from the implementation of these 12 essential components and strategies, which will assist in the development of a robust SEO strategy that will actively bring in business and enable your business to achieve its objectives. Think about it like having somebody working for you constantly, without you paying them. That’s what having high search engine rankings can do for your company.

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