We’ve just examined why local SEO is important for every business, now let’s talk about at how businesses can improve its ranking based on their locale on search engines. Local SEO is influenced by several factors closely linked to online presence. For local SEO to work to its maximum capacity, the best plan is to optimize all of them.
Top Six Factors That Influence Local SEO Ranking
Google My Business
A crucial step that influences local SEO is when a company claims and updates their Google My Business listing. This makes a company look consistent and improves overall web presence. We’ll discuss more about how to work with Google My Business in the next part.
Gaining Citations
Any time a local business is mentioned online is considered a citation. Citations consist of a link to the website, but not in all instances. Examples of common citation sources include local directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Four Square.
Excellent NAP
NAP is an acronym that stands for name, address and phone number. Depending on the quality and quantity of the directory listings, it influences local SEO. The most key factor in NAP is consistency.
Stellar Customer Reviews
The more a business has customer reviews and higher ratings, the better the business will rank. Search engines are most likely to rank high on customer reviews with detailed feedback and four to five-star rankings.
Consistent Social Media Presence
When companies are active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it helps companies create personal relationships with customers and that can impact search engine results.
Links
The best quality of back links heavily influences search engine rankings because any connection to unsafe websites will serve as a red flag for search engines.