If you’ve ever searched for Sycosure on Google, you would notice that my business’ location (well, the old physical location) comes up in the search results and on Google Maps. This is because this website is technically a local business site thanks to my Google MyBusiness page, or at least it was if you’re reading this during a time that I managed to convert the local page over to a brand page. Anyway, while I no longer focus on ranking this website locally, I do still focus on ranking my clients’ websites locally, so I figured some of you may find a few local SEO tips useful. So, without further ado, here are 7 local SEO tips to help you increase your local website’s rankings.

Tip #1: Build Backlinks On Websites In Your Local Area

Local businesses tend to get linked to by other local businesses and on sites managed by webmasters in the local area, so it’s logical to build backlinks on these websites.

Tip #2: Build Citations

Citations are primarily your name, address, and phone number on local directories. This is what the local search algorithm from Google use to rank websites in the local search engine results pages.

Tip#3: Mention Your City On Your Website

Mentioning the city or cities that your business is located in is a simple way to increase local traffic on your website, especially if the city phrase has a keyword that is searched often in it.

Tip #4: Submit Your Website To Google Maps

If you submit your website to Google Maps by using Google MyBusiness and link your website to it, your business’ location will appear under your search result, as shown in the image at the top of this article.

Tip #5: Encourage Your Customers To Leave Reviews

Get your customers to leave you reviews. The reviews should be honest (not perfect 5 star ratings every time) to give the appearance that your business has a great overall satisfaction.

Tip #6: Create Social Media Pages For Your Local Business

Not only will doing this prevent brandjacking, which is where someone pretends to be your brand, but you can also place your name, address, and phone number of these social media pages similarly to building citations.

Tip #7: Create Content That Appeals To The Locals

Creating content that the locals can relate to can be a good strategy to get backlinks from them. Additionally, showing the locals that you know about their community (something that a fake business couldn’t know) will further verify your presence in the community.