Want to Grow Your Small Business? Use These 6 Local SEO Tips

When we talk to new clients here at Feedback Wrench, one of the first problems we tackle for them is their search engine optimization strategy. And more importantly, their local SEO strategy.

While these might just sound like marketing terms, they are vital to helping small businesses attract new clients. For prospects to find your business in an internet search, you need to show up as high as possible in the search results, ideally on the first page. Why? Because people rarely scroll past the first page of results. It’s true! Think about the last internet search you did. How far down did you scroll? See. It matters.

But, relax. We can help you create your local SEO strategy, just like we’ve done for our clients. Check out our local SEO tips below – and look at the client examples we’ve included!

Why Local SEO Matters

Let’s start with the basics and dig into what we mean by “local SEO.” We know you might be tired of your marketing team or agency constantly talking about search engine optimization (SEO) and how you need to focus on keywords and metadata. 

Hint: We only nag you about it because it is THAT important. Your SEO determines where you show up in a Google search. As we mentioned above, you want to be on that first page.

And now we’re taking it a step further with local SEO. 

This helps you show up high when a potential customer searches for a service “near me.” When looking for a business to perform a needed service, users will often put their location into their search inquiry to ensure they find the top local companies. When they do this, you want to make sure your business shows up.

When Google ranks businesses, they look at how near your business is to the searched location, how closely your business matches the services they are looking for, and how reputable your company is.

This sounds like a lot, but we’re going to give you some easy tips to follow to help you crack this code!

#1 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Create Location Pages on Your Website for Key Service Areas 

The first tip we want to share is to create location pages on your small business website for every city in your service area. Why? Because it will boost your local SEO. 

This lets you target specific locations in URLs, page titles, meta titles and descriptions, and headers throughout the page.

It might seem tedious – and we know, it can be a lot of pages in some cases – but it works. Check out these examples from some of our clients, like UpFront CPA’s Lake Buena Vista, FL page and Asnani CPA’s Fremont, CA page. 

Minnesota Landscapes also does a great job of this. Check out how they integrate references to Mendota Heights throughout their city page.

When creating these pages, it’s essential to make the pages really feel local. Adding the city name throughout the page, using references that locals will understand, and using photos of the city will make the page feel authentic to users.

#2 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Create a Backlink Strategy with Other Businesses

The key to boosting your local SEO is to get backlinks. In a nutshell, you need to find reputable sites that will link back to your website. Doing this gives your site more authority, and it will show up higher in internet searches. 

The key to creating a backlink strategy is to find businesses or websites that make sense for you to partner with. Then, you can approach them with a proposal – if they link to you, you can link to them on your website. It’s a win-win! 

For our accounting clients, the easiest approach is to find a business in one of the industries they serve. For example, if they work with construction companies, they can approach a local construction company and see if they will link to their site, and vice versa. An easy way to do this is by writing a blog related to the construction industry and linking to the company. (Like how we are strategically linking to our client sites in this blog. We can show off their good work, and they get a backlink). 

#3 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Ask for Customer Reviews

When Google ranks local companies, one of the criteria they use is how reputable the company is. They base this off of how many Google reviews the business has, and how positive they are. 

This makes it crucial for you to get reviews from your clients. We know, you’re busy. But this is REALLY important. And it can be a quick and painless task if you set up a process. You can send out emails to your clients immediately after you complete a job or service for them and ask them to leave a review. If they don’t do it, you can send them a friendly reminder a few days later. Once you put a process in place, you will begin to get regular reviews, and your Google ranking will start to climb. 

Check out Passageway Financial and Performance Financial’s review pages. Notice how many reviews they have, and how frequently new ones are added. This will help them rank higher in local searches.

#4 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Put Local Content and Roundups on Your Website

In addition to creating location pages for each city in your service area, it’s also important to reference the city throughout the website. 

You can use tips from Whyte CPA, and how they use the phrase “Tax Strategist Near Phoenix” on their Tax Reduction Planning page. Pulver CPA also does this well, using “Bookkeeping Services Near Miami” on their Bookkeeping page.

Adding city names and keywords to your headers throughout your home page and service pages will help increase your Google ranking.

#5 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Use Blogs and Articles to Target Locations

Another local SEO tip is to target key locations in your blogs and articles. When writing a blog, target one of your key cities and put it in the headline and the headers throughout the page. This will give you an SEO boost. 

As an example, see this blog from Passageway Financial, “10 Best Bookkeeping Services Near Minneapolis.” They are sharing relevant information, and are honing in on their Minneapolis audience to increase their chances of showing up in an internet search.

#6 Local SEO Tip to Grow Your Small Business

Target Service Areas in Remarketing Efforts

Our final local SEO tip is to target key local cities when remarketing content. When someone visits your website or clicks on your ads, follow up with an email or ad that mentions their location. Seeing their city in the subject line of an email can make them more likely to open it as they will feel the content is customized to them.

Conclusion

We hope these quick six local SEO tips help you boost your small business’s Google ranking. While this is a great start, our team has a lot more knowledge to share with you to help you grow your business. Contact us to learn how we can help you attract more customers and increase your profits.