For many small businesses, local SEO marketing is something of great value when it comes to growing, or even staying above the water. Problem is, local SEO often gets lumped into the same basket as standard SEO, when in reality they are very different. It’s time for you to start categorising your SEO practices into different categories and properly divide your time between them both, otherwise you may end up falling into one of these common local SEO pitfalls. Here are my top 5 and how you can avoid them:
1. Your business name includes a specific location
This may not necessarily be a pitfall for all businesses as some do genuinely want to only provide a service in a specific local area. Others, however, can find themselves in a difficult situation if their name includes a specific town or county name and they want to expand nationwide. People finding you online will automatically assume you only cover that one particular area, and so you’re already losing prospects and limiting your audience because they can’t even get past your name. When registering your business name, always consider if you want to remain in that location forever, or if you hope to expand beyond that location in the future.
2. Your company details on Google are incomplete or non-existent
According to BrightLocal, 53% of people search for a local business at least once per month and a small 5% of people never search for a local business online. If your company details aren’t listed on Google, you’re missing out a potentially huge audience. But if you do have your business listed on Google myBusiness, it is important to make sure your profile is fully completed. Correct contact details and address help your website rank higher in Google’s organic search listings, while photos help improve your Click-Through-Rate. In fact, a collection of good-quality photos will increase your website clicks by 35%.
3. You either have no reviews or unanswered negative reviews
Reviews can be as powerful as a word-of-mouth recommendation and they are a great source of information for consumers. In fact, 97% of the public will read online reviews, usually around 7 or 8, before committing to a purchase. One objection I’ve had to this suggestion multiple times is the possibility of people giving a negative review. Obviously, even the greatest service provider in the world could still receive a negative review, but it isn’t necessarily the end of the world. If you quickly and politely respond to any negative feedback, offering to resolve the issue, the person could end up removing it. At the very least, people can see your side of the story and appreciate your efforts to resolve the issue.
4. Your online reviews are fake
Disclaimer: I actually really like Fiverr. I think it’s a great idea with lots of great services available to utilise in order to grow your business. However, some of the services on there are actually detrimental to your growth. One of which is the service of people writing fake Google reviews for you. If large number of obviously fake bot profiles are leaving reviews on your Google myBusiness listing, Google will notice and consequently penalise you for malpractice. Instead, just ask your existing customers to leave a review for you. If you’ve done a good job, they’d be more than happy to write one for you, or even just leave 5-stars. The best time to ask is immediately after completing the job or supplying the product,
5. Lack of nurturing existing customers
Businesses are often concerned solely with where the next sale is going to come from, rather than how they could maximise their existing customer base. Think about how long it can take to find a cold prospect, warm them up, negotiate and then finally close the sale compared to an existing customer recommending you to a friend. Also consider how powerful a word-of-mouth referral is: How often have you chosen a service or product because a friend recommended it to you? In order to get these referrals, you need to nurture your customers and make them feel valued. Show them that you actually care and they’ll want to help you in return.
Local SEO marketing should be separated from standard SEO. There are many different techniques you can use to maximise your local online presence that hasn’t even been mentioned above, including local business listings and keyword research, but these are a good start and will make a large difference to the success of your business.
Any questions? Leave a comment and ask away!