A bit ago, we released a part one blog post on local SEO, why it matters, and how to optimize your Google My Business profile to that end. Today we’re continuing that with a second look at SEO and what some important aspects are that affect your business’ online visibility.

So, what other factors play a part in local SEO?

Given how advanced Google and other search engines’ web crawlers are now, there are many details that go into how well your business fares SEO-wise. Practically speaking, it’s impossible to go over everything, but these are some factors that influence how optimized your site is for search engines.

Source: Moz

Link signals

External links come in two different forms, outside links linking to your own, and your site linking to outside domains. External links are not to be confused with Internal links, which are simply internal pages linking to another internal page. Like this link bringing you to our blog page.

Intuitively, you have much more control over links contained on your own site, i.e. the internal ones. In these cases, try as often as possible to have the link anchors — AKA the text that’s hyperlinked — use keywords that provide context for the page to which they’re linking. For example, if you’re a pet care site you might link on one page to another page about cat toys. In this case, it’s more effective to have a sentence like “We also have toys your cats will love” (link anchor being “toys your cats will love”) than “We also have cat toys which you can explore here” (link anchor being “you can explore here”). The first provides greater context for the web crawler.

Although you don’t have the same control over external links, they’re still most helpful if they follow that same approach regarding link anchors. Because of this, it’s helpful to maintain genuine relationships with other relevant sites that link to your own. (Just, ya know, don’t be weird and blatantly transactional about it.)

Pro-tip: you don’t want to link out to dead pages. We strongly recommend occasionally running audits to make sure none of the pages you are linking to (either internal or external) are linking to a 404 page.

Reviews

Reviews of your business can be found in different areas: on your Google My Business profile, other review sites such as Yelp, or embedded directly on your site.

Making reviews clearly visible builds up what’s called “E-A-T,” which stands for expertise, authority, and trust. This boosts not just your trustworthiness and credibility with people, but also with Google, too.

On-site optimizations

Like many SEO optimizations, this is a prototypical example of how, if you focus on improving the experience of people interacting with your site and business, it’ll naturally benefit your search engine visibility. Making your site as user-friendly as possible benefits potential customers, which A) they appreciate (even if subconsciously) and B) Google takes note of. Simple as that!

Optimizing your site itself includes making sure your page titles, meta descriptions, body copy, headers, and image alt tags are all properly optimized. Things that users see directly, like your copy and images, should be purposeful. Crucially, everything written, how it’s displayed on your site, and how you frame it should be deliberate! When you’re writing copy, ask yourself how this will benefit a visitor to your site or positively impact how they interact with you, your site, your product or service, etc. Filler content is a waste of their time.

Importance of a well-keyworded page title/meta description – Restaurant appears on the first page while competing with national listicle-type sites.

In your copy, include relevant keywords when possible, with a heavy focus on your services or products along with location — but don’t foist keywords into your copy just because. Just like filler content, this makes you appear amateur and like you’re trying to play the system which damages your users’ experience and (through extension) your search engine ranking.

If you’re not confident in your ability to design and write good copy — and often, even if you are — hire a professional. Cheaping out here might save you a buck, but it will make your site look unprofessional and (through extension) untrustworthy.

Lastly, you might be tempted to use keyword targeting for places you want to target but aren’t super close to. We recommend against this for most local businesses since, in most cases, a vast majority of your business will come from your immediate area. Obviously, there are exceptions to everything, but generally speaking, we find this to be true.

Citation building

Build citations for your site!

Citations are listings that help reinforce your name, address, and phone number, or “NAP.” By increasing these, you’re increasing not just your visibility, but the visibility of how people can further interact with your business and products or services.

If you’re not sure what citations to create for your business, a good starting place is simply Googling “seo citations for” and then whatever your industry is. That will usually provide you with some ideas to begin with. Moz provides citations by category on their site that can be helpful, too.

Site engagement

This means optimizing for things like clicks, CTR, bounce rate, pages per session, and average duration of sessions.

If you’re seeing high bounce rates and low engagement, that could indicate something with your site isn’t working as it should. For example, a common problem is a disconnect between what a user expects from your site versus what it actually provides.

Social signals

Lastly is social signals, which are all about your presence on social media and making sure it works in conjunction with the rest of your online presence. Even something as simple as updating your Facebook page’s “about” section to make sure it meshes with your established NAP is important.

Another small step that can make a disproportionate positive impact is engaging with users on your Google My Business listing, for example by responding to reviews. Generally, this is true for whichever social channels you have a profile on; interacting with your users on relevant social channels and being active with your content on these platforms helps keep people engaged while growing your visibility.

It’s important to note, though, that you shouldn’t feel pressured to create an account for every single social media platform that exists. It’s better to have well-maintained, active accounts on only a couple platforms than poorly-run accounts on a bunch of platforms. Quality over quantity, and all that.

In general, a lot of optimizing for local SEO comes back to presenting yourself professionally, communicating clearly, and being consistent and active. By keeping these principles in mind, you’ll be well-positioned to earn people’s trust and keep them engaged. And all that is a pretty dang reliable strategy to improving and maintaining your business online.