A Complete Local SEO Checklist

Ensuring that your local search strategy is well thought-out is vital to making sure your business is found locally.

As a result of the constant changing of consumer behaviours as well as advancements in technology, taking advantage of new local strategies is a necessity for your business

With approximately 46% of all Google searches featuring local intent, consumers increasingly use GPS in order to find local businesses.

This means that hyperlocal strategies such as geolocation and GMB (Google My Business) as well as Google Maps are essential too.

Take a look at the complete checklist below to see if your business is optimised for Local Search:

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Optimising your Website for Local Search

• Your website should feature a contact, about and home page.
• Make sure NAP (name, address and phone number) are available for each location.
• Create individual location pages for each location. Vicinus can help your business show up in ‘near me’ searches and direct your customers to SEO friendly location pages without any detour. 
• Make clickable links for your phone number for easy access.
• NAP information must be consistent across your website.
• Add a Google Map to the Contact page. This makes it easy for customers to easily access your locations.
• Complete GMB listings page and verify the website on the listing.
• Use a schema structured data markup to help Google identify your local business.

Optimising Content for Local Search

Simply put, high-quality content creates links which is an important part of Google ranking.

• Optimise title tags, meta descriptions etc. with localised keywords. For example, ‘Coffee Shops London’.
• Use variations of keywords in text and blog content.
• Be consistent with the content you’re producing. It should be high-quality and frequently updated.
• Use visuals. Images and Videos are vital to optimising content. This can enrich it and make it more link-worthy.
• Create original content, don’t reuse other content.
• Clean up duplicate listings. Vicinus’s duplicate suppressor can help with this.

Optimising Citations for Local Search

Citations are references to your business’s name, address, phone number and website online. Also known as NAP+W.

• Ensure that your citations are updated with new and relevant business information.
• Utilise Vicinus to manage business listings from a single platform. This will provide real-time management of all your locations from one easy-to-use platform. As a result, it will help customers find only up-to-date and consistent information about your brand.

Optimising Social Media and Reviews for Local Search

• Re-use reviews on your business listings and social media on your website.
• Add your business on Yelp, Bing Places, GMB and more.
• Respond to reviews (both negative and positive).
• Develop a social media strategy.
• Post frequently and at optimal times on social media.
• Claim a profile for your business on major social media platforms. For example, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
• Link social media back to your website.
• Add NAP + W to your social media listing.
• Become verified on social media.
• Answer customer questions on social media.
• Add visuals to social media and listings.
• Encourage reviews on various platforms.