Local SEO - blandford forum

SEO and Google Local optimisation are vital to any business which is targeting a specific geographical audience.

Google searches with local intent are more likely to lead to store visits and sales, google has altered their results pages to provide better local results for their users.

When a user carries out a location specific Google search, there is every possibility that the top 7 Google Places results will appear on the first page along with some ‘traditional’ style results. This means that if your Google Places listing is ranking well, it can provide some highly targeted additional traffic.

How do we improve your local rankings

Similar to traditional SEO, certain things can be done to improve a website’s Google Local rankings. Some of the work needs to be carried out on the listing itself whereas other elements are about building trust & authority.

As mentioned above, some of the work that needs carrying out has to be performed on the Google Places listing itself. This includes:

Correct category choices
Targeted business description
Appropriate phone number selection
Addition of images/video
Correct business address
Full listing completion
Listing Verification
This work will result in a strong, fully complete listing, which is favoured by Google. This work will also ensure that the listing is targeting your chosen terms.

Other Work

As well as whats listed above, there are many other factors that contribute to ranking strongly in local search. These include (but are not limited to):

Website amendments (to make your site more relevant to chosen terms and to improve consistency between your site and Places listing)
Building relevant citations to your listing
Ensuring consistency across these citations
Encouraging reviews for your listing