SEO Maidstone
OA Design Services provides SEO in Maidstone and we can help you get the results you need to take your business to the next level
We offer full SEO services and we are based in Maidstone. This page aims to give you more information about what local SEO is and how you can use it to help your business get more sales and leads.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO or in this case SEO Maidstone refers to the optimisation of search visibility for your online business to a searcher based on your present location. It is the best for businesses with physical locations such as a pharmacy shop, grocery store, restaurant or a service area business that operates within a particular location such as a home cleaning company, a tree surgeon in Maidstone or a Plumber in Medway. Local SEO, therefore, is focused on highlighting the attributes of local businesses.
What is the difference between SEO and local SEO? SEO focuses on optimising your website to rank higher for the entire online audience whereas local SEO focuses on a specific geographical location based on where your business operates or where you intend to base it if it is new.
How can I do Local SEO? Local SEO can be done by claiming Google places for your business page and ensuring that business information such as opening and closing hours, address, and contact details are attached. Information on your location provides Google with a better understanding of your business and signifies that you are relevant to any localised searches about your industry.
How do I dominate local SEO? You can do this by optimising the information about your business by referencing keywords and by associating your listing with the correct local category. You can also create a listing for each of your physical locations and encourage your customers to leave reviews.
Why is Local SEO so Important?
Local SEO plays an important role when it comes to optimizing the performance of various businesses. Since websites are said to be the second location for local businesses, local SEO will make it easier for users to interact, locate and benefit from what your business offers in terms of products and services. Local SEO packages are simply an extension of your business.
Using different local SEO packages is important because they help local businesses make profits with the online exposure they provide. When traffic to your site increases, your site listing climbs higher in the search engine results. So, how important is the local SEO if your business has a physical location?
Recent research shows that 78% of local searches via mobile and 61% local searches via laptop led to purchases offline. This is to say that immediate visibility for your business is largely attributable to local SEO. Providing the right information to the right audience, therefore, leads their online searches right to your local business.
Local SEO Ranking Factors
Google records approximately 3.5 billion searches daily with thousands of the searches attributable to local businesses. This means that there is a great opportunity for anyone optimising his or her local business. It also means that if you haven’t started yet, this is the time. To drive more local leads to your local business, however, you will need to consider the local SEO ranking factors discussed herein.
Proximity is one of the strong factors SEO companies Maidstone use for impoving rankings because it determines where your business appears in the search results. If your business is in Maidstone, it will only appear in search results of customers who are searching for businesses in that locality. Google My Business profile information will also lead your business website to rank high in search results but only if you fill in the right and correct information in your local listing sites. Make sure that your address and any other contact information are correct and authentic too.
Reviews are another SEO ranking factor that can play a vital role for SEO Maidstone to drive more local traffic. As a result, the more reviews you earn for your business website, the more leads you get. Mobile-friendliness is another important SEO factor, especially with the increasing popularity of mobile phones. This factor ensures that your business site is configured to offer a greater mobile experience. Configuring your business website to be more user-friendly helps to keep users engaged on your site for longer, thus improving your local SEO ranking.
Why your Business needs a NAP?
NAP is an industry acronym that refers to the name, address and phone number, which is the identifying information for local businesses. Note that your NAP needs to be similar across different online platforms because search engines like Google use NAP listing precision to create trust with their users. In fact, Moz local reveals that NAP is a key factor when it comes to creating good quality local citations for your business. Therefore, your nap citation needs to be consistent to generate on-page and citation signals, all of which go into creating a strong local presence.
How do I make sure my NAP is perfect? You can do this by visiting your Maidstone online business, checking your business is listed on major directories and confirm that your listings are correct. Some of the directories that you need to review include Google, Bing and Facebook, Yelp, Checkatrade, Yell or Trustatrader. You can then go to the incorrect listings and amend them so that they are matching everywhere. Moreover, make sure to update your business listing whenever your business information changes. By doing so, you send a strong signal to search engines that your business is verified in a specific location and that prospective customers can trust your ability to serve them.
Have enough citations?
In local search ranking, SEO citations play an important role. Ensuring that your name, address and phone number are consistent across the major search engines determines where your business ranks in the local search engines. Moreover, how your business information appears in Maidstone will affect your prospective customers’ trust. Most small businesses in Maidstone use top citation sites like Facebook, Yelp, Yellow Pages, and Mapquest. But are they attracting enough citations?
It is estimated that for local businesses in Maidstone to rank first, they have to use an average of 86 citations and more. Agencies in Maidstone that make it in the top 10 often have an average of 75 citations. OA Design Services a Maidstone SEO Company believes that there is no straightforward formula for coming up with the number of citations that your agencies in Maidstone should have in order to rank top in the local SEO result. However, the best point of reference should be your local competitors. If your competitor has a presence in a particular citation site, it would be wise for you to get a citation there too in order to compete effectively.
What are your customers saying about you?
What your customers are saying about your business influences the first impressions of other potential customers. This affects your online pages directly since the internet is public. Although the reviews of your customers make a small percentage of your online presence, they still affect your sales significantly. As such, you must always pay attention to your site’s online reviews.
The reviews are intended to provide potential customers with precise information about your products and services before they make any purchase. This is the point where customer reviews start impacting your SEO ranking. Moreover, the quantity, frequency and diversity of the reviews that your business receives will determine whether it becomes listed in the local pack. As part of our packages OA Design Services can give you basic SEO training in Maidstone on how to boost your local ranking through what customers say about your business.
Google My Business
If your business is not on Google My Business listings, then it is likely to rank low on Google, let alone in the local pack. Google My Business requires you to fill in your business details and information so that it is featured in the local listing. This makes it a core component of local SEO. Once all the main information about your business has been captured, it will start appearing on different listing sites with greater online visibility. The search engine will also collect the customer reviews on your business profile.
Most SEO companies Maidstone use Google My Business listings because it offers them everything they require from potential clients who want to buy their products and services or visit their premises. When you register your business in Google local listing, you get the golden opportunity of responding to your customer reviews, upload images and make your business stand out in the local search.
If you don’t create Google My Business profile, you certainly can’t compete in the local search. For a successful Maidstone online business, Google My Business is the place to start if you’re working on your local SEO.
Use your company data consistently
Most local businesses neglect the importance of using their business data consistently with the assumption that the search engines and customers can decipher the right data from the data available online. Making sure that your business data is consistent and up to date on your site and other social media platforms is necessary because it helps you to rank highly on the local search results, improves your SEO value and boosts your business sales.
Google has an algorithm that influences the local search. Using consistent business data will play a significant role in Google’s Local Pack results and in creating citations to your Google My Business listing. Google checks on your citations to ascertain that your business is genuine and capable of building confidence in your prospective clients. The more listing you get with your consistent data, therefore, the more dependable you will appear to Google.
Manage your Google+ Local Page
Google+ is a powerful tool for local businesses to create their brand because over 235 million potential customers are actively using it to keep in touch with different local companies. With the recent improvements, you can list multiple locations on a single page. Having multiple Google+ pages will ensure you reach out to many local customers as possible. However, every Google+ page should have correct and consistent contact information for the respective location. Moreover, make sure that the content you intend to share is tailored to each location you serve.
Putting up various Google+ pages is a great way to obtain traction for the business locations you serve. Moreover, you will have a system for managing them while you save time and reap their benefits. Building and managing your Google+ Local pages is quite easy. Keep in mind, however, that you will need to manage all your pages actively while ensuring that the information and content therein is always up to date.
Link Building with a Local Focus
Link building is an important process if you want to improve your local SEO Maidstone website’s visibility and rankings. Whatever the industry you are running, you need to link build to improve your rankings, something that an SEO consultant in Maidstone can help you with.
Brand mentioning is an important factor in link building with a local focus. Brand mentioning refers to when someone mentions your service or product to others through his or her website or blog. Being mentioned by others is a great way to improve your local SEO. Guest blogging is another powerful way of leading quality traffic, link building, brand recognition and the much-needed exposure in your local area.
Conclusion
If you want to rank appropriately on local search results in Maidstone, it is necessary that you optimise your local SEO listing. Evidently, several factors go into your site’s local ranking. Identifying and optimising these factors will allow your business to win many local leads. If you find it challenging to optimise your businesses website for local leads, We can offer basic SEO training Maidstone as part of our packages. Just contact OA Design Services a Maidstone SEO company to get started right away. After the training, you will be able to track everything associated with local SEO optimisation.
Build brand awareness, build Authority and Generate Leads
Are You ready To Take The Next Step?
What happens after you submit a contact form?
Step 1
We will arrange a quick discovery call to find out more about what you’re looking for.
Step 2
We will have a second call to understand your business goals and what you hope to achieve from your website.
Step 3
We send you a proposal and quote.
Step 4
If we’re both happy with everything we get going with the project!
GDPR Statement. By entering your contact details in the contact forms on our website you consent to being contacted by OA Design Services. We always treat your data with care and never pass your details to third parties. If you’d like to withdraw your consent to being contacted please email [email protected]
