Getting local SEO for multiple locations can be difficult for a number of reasons. While the initial thinking behind a local SEO campaign might be to build up one site with a particular service area and then promote your web presence to all the other areas, this is not necessarily the best approach.
For many business owners, their company spans more than one location, with operations in multiple storefronts and sometimes even warehouses. This type of business requires multiple SEO solutions in order to maximize your online marketing reach. In fact, this optimization strategy is actually considered a part of your strategic marketing plan.
If you have a business looking to attract local customers then you should be following the metrics Google My Business has to offer. That's why you need to keep an eye of Google My Business insights.
It is imperative to understand that while optimizing for a specific local market segment may bring you immediate success, it may do nothing to optimize your overall online presence. In the past, it was necessary for a business owner to build up a webpage with local search results, only to have it appear higher in the rankings on the national or international side of the search results pages due to an improperly optimized URL.
Nowadays, however, a multitude of issues must be addressed if you want to rank for multiple service pages. In this article, we'll discuss some of the most common challenges associated with optimizing for multiple locations.
Proper Links Structure
Many companies think they are doing the best possible job of optimizing for their local market only to discover later that their URLs are incorrect. A common problem is that business owners don't realize the significance of localizing their URL, especially when conducting local searches on Google or Yahoo. If you don't have a localized URL, you will probably not see your listing's rise in the rankings of the major search engines.
Sitemaps
If you don't already have site maps on your website, it's time to create them. Google and Yahoo will provide directions to your main web address once visitors arrive at your site via a web browser. If your URLs are incorrect, your local customers may not be able to find you in the search results. To solve this problem, you should also update all the links on your local web pages so they point to the right pages.
Meta Tags
Even if you are optimizing for local searches, you need to make sure you have properly organized meta information and keyword tags. Metadata is the information given to the search engine spiders that determine which keywords to list in your site. This is another way to tell the search engines what your page is about. Meta tags, however, can be difficult to understand if you're not familiar with them. Fortunately, there are web developers who offer free web-development services to create your website in accordance with industry standards such as HTML, cascading style sheet (CSS) and external linking structures. You can also hire someone who specializes in local SEO to optimize your site for local customers by providing local reviews on your site.
Business Listings
Another challenge when optimizing for multiple locations is that you need to be listed in all the major directories that are used by potential customers. For example, if you have a business in Canada, your business listings should be in both Canadian and US search engines. If you do this consistently, your website will be found by more people and your rankings will increase. Your web developer can help you choose which directories and which listings to submit your site to maximize your chances of being listed in the top positions.
Brand Recognition
If you already have a website for local SEO, it's time to update it for multiple locations. Most experts suggest you move beyond optimizing your website for one location to building two separate local webpages. The first local page should focus on the area you are trying to serve with your product. Use local SEO copy to build brand recognition and your credibility. The second local page should focus on the benefits of your product to the local residents.
Optimize your WebPages
Local SEO is a great way to increase traffic to your web pages and it can also increase the number of customers you have. To optimize your site for multiple locations, a good local web developer will optimize your website as part of a multi-location business web marketing strategy. The benefits of optimizing your web pages for different locations include greater usability by local consumers and higher rankings on the search engine results pages. To make sure your web pages are optimized for multiple locations, find a local expert in your area who can help you implement an effective local SEO marketing strategy. Optimizing your local SEO for Google Algorithm and focusing on location-based mobile searches are the two most important tasks for this.
Additional resource: How A Social Media Campaign Can Be Managed At A Low Budget
Additional resource: SEO Service For Your Small Business
Keywords for Local SEO
Local SEO keywords for business are just as important to your overall goal as global keywords would be. You will find that the two go hand in hand when it comes to marketing your products or services online and offline. The keywords you use in local SEO need to be specific to your market, and therefore, they should also have some sort of correlation with what your target customers are looking for. That being said, your keyword research for local business should be quite specific as well. The most logical place to start the research for keywords for local business is to do some type of keyword research on your local market. That way, you can see what keywords your potential customers are using when searching for a company like shifted magazine that can cater to their needs.
Since your keywords for local business will be geared towards the people in your local market, you should be able to gather some good information about what those keywords are, and how popular they are. There are some free resources available for you to gather this type of information. In addition to that, you can make use of the traffic reports from search engines like Google and Yahoo to gauge how popular your keywords are. This information will help you make the determination about what keywords for local business are the most useful and popular.
When you have this research in hand, you can then proceed to optimize your website for the keywords, and you can build a great foundation for your business with the keywords you choose. Remember, however, that there are going to be some competitors who are using the same keywords, so you have to work to differentiate your website from theirs. In addition to that, make sure that your website is optimized properly so that you get results, too.