Local SEO Tips to Better Your Business

Running a successful business is challenging no matter where you are located. However, making it thrive in the teeming Los Angeles market can seem even more daunting. Let local SEO strategies go to work for you. Once you do, you can stay one step ahead of your competition by jumping higher in the all-important Google search rankings. Here are some tips that can help you make that happen.

Look at Link Building in a New Way

In the past, you might have spent countless hours engaged in link building. The goal: to disseminate your links to as many sites as possible. You may have gone about this by leaving comments on other sites ad nauseum, or by requesting links from other sites and building your own network of links on your own site, but now things have changed. Google is looking for links that point to sites with quality content. You are far better off devoting your energy to composing worthwhile text and articles than you would be in attempting to make hundreds of superficial contacts with website administrators who have little or no interest in what you are doing.

Don’t be Afraid to Name Drop

Given that quality content is king and it’s what will elevate you in the Google rankings, it is probably no surprise that the more you can mention specific brand names in your citations, the more credible your site will appear – both to customers and to the Google algorithm that takes care of ordering the search rankings. In order to keep visitors’ loyalty, Google is committed to giving them search results that are truly meaningful and usable. The more you specifically cite the brands you carry, the more credible and search-worthy your website becomes.

Harness Social Media

L.A. is a booming metropolis with more businesses than you can shake a stick at, but don’t give up. Instead, use the power of social media (Facebook, Twitter , etc…) to draw visitors to your site. Post articles, event invitations and photos that link to your page, and do all you can to get people you know to like and become fans of your social media venues. By so doing, you create numerous links that can bring new customers to you, with very little effort on your part.

Keep’em Coming Back

Let’s say you have a website that is designed to help you sell your products to the metropolitan L.A. area. Unfortunately, you have received feedback indicating that it is not as intuitive or as user-friendly as it could be. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that you don’t have as many return visitors as you would like. Since this is one of the factors used by the Google algorithm to move you up or down in the rankings, it is definitely in your best interest to spruce up your site and make it into a more welcoming and attractive place to be. Once you implement dynamic content you will have a much better chance of getting those all important loyal customers. Do that by sprucing up your title tags and meta descriptions. Draw guests in by making them curious and promising them benefits they can’t refuse. The longer they stay, the more likely it is that they will buy your products and come back again, and the happier Google will be with the quality of your site.

Don’t Forget About Mobile Media

No question about it, your site needs to be mobile-friendly. If it’s not, Google will no longer rank you as high. As the desktop computer becomes a thing of the past and people gravitate toward using mobile devices for most or all of their online transactions, you cannot afford to pass this up. You can even go online to any one of several sites to test how mobile-friendly yours is.

Use Local SEO to Your Advantage

Thanks to the algorithm update called Pigeon that was released in 2014, Google is using the power of Google Maps and web search to give customers targeted search results in their local area. Given this new advantage, it becomes even more important that you have accurately and prominently displayed all of the relevant information about your business, including name, address, phone number and link to your website. Once you combine that with your savvy social media campaign, paid ads, customer testimonials, articles on other sites and anything else you can think of to get the word out, you can make your brand highly visible.

Distinguishing yourself from the rest of your competition is a crucial priority that every successful business must address. As SEO trends evolve over time, it remains necessary to keep your ear to the ground and your thinking flexible. If you do, you have an excellent chance of rising in the SEO rankings and making a place for your L.A. based business.