What are the Top 3 Things to Focus on for Local SEO and How Much Time to Spend on Each

 

Local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is crucial for businesses aiming to attract local customers. It helps businesses enhance their online visibility within a specific geographic area, making it easier for local customers to find them. Optimising for local SEO involves various strategies and techniques, but there are three primary aspects that deserve focused attention.

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Google My Business Optimisation

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Google My Business (GMB) is a foundational element of local SEO. Optimising your GMB profile can significantly improve your business's visibility in local searches. Here's what you should focus on and how much time to allocate:

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Complete and Accurate Information:

Ensure that your GMB listing is complete with accurate business information, including your business name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation, categories, and a brief description of your business. This should be an ongoing effort and should take about 1-2 hours initially to set up, with occasional updates as needed.

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Customer Reviews and Ratings:

Encourage customers to leave reviews on your GMB profile. Respond to all reviews promptly, whether they are positive or negative. Engaging with reviews shows your commitment to customer service and can positively impact your local search rankings. Regularly monitoring and engaging with reviews might require 1-2 hours per week.

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Images and Posts:

Regularly update your GMB profile with high-quality images showcasing your products, services, and location. Additionally, post updates, events, promotions, or relevant content to keep your listing fresh and engaging. Allocating 1-2 hours per week for updating images and creating posts is a good practice.

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Local Citations and NAP Consistency:

Local citations refer to mentions of your business information (Name, Address, Phone number - NAP) on various online platforms such as local business directories, websites, and social media. Consistency in these citations is essential for local SEO success. Here's the recommended focus and time allocation:

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Consistent NAP Information:

Ensure that your NAP information is consistent across all online platforms. Check and update local citations regularly to maintain this consistency. Initially, this may require about 2-3 hours to audit and correct existing citations, followed by 1-2 hours per month for monitoring and updates.

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High-Quality Citations:

Focus on creating or updating citations in authoritative and relevant local business directories. Invest time in identifying and listing your business on these platforms to enhance your local SEO efforts. Allocating 2-3 hours per month for this task is a good starting point.

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Local Backlinks:

Build quality backlinks from local businesses, organisations, and local news outlets. These backlinks can significantly boost your local SEO rankings. Spending about 2-3 hours per month on outreach and link-building activities can be effective.

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Local On-Page SEO:

Optimising your website for local search is crucial to ensure that search engines understand your geographic relevance. Here's what you should focus on and how much time to allocate:

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Localised Content:

Create valuable content that is specific to your location and target audience. This can include location-specific landing pages, blog posts about local events, or testimonials from local customers. Initially, setting up localised content might require 3-4 hours, with ongoing updates of 2-3 hours per month.

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Local Keywords:

Research and integrate relevant local keywords into your website's meta descriptions, titles, headings, and content. Regularly analyse and update your keyword strategy based on local trends and customer behavior. Allocating 2-3 hours per month for keyword research and optimisation is reasonable.

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Mobile Optimisation:

Ensure that your website is optimised for mobile devices, as a significant portion of local searches occurs on mobile. Regularly test and optimise the mobile-friendliness and loading speed of your website. This may require about 2-3 hours per month.

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In summary, the amount of time to allocate for these local SEO activities may vary based on the size of your business, industry competitiveness, and existing online presence. Initially, a higher time investment is needed for setup and optimisation, and then ongoing maintenance requires a consistent but slightly reduced time commitment. Monitoring your progress through analytics and adjusting your strategy accordingly is vital to achieving long-term success in local SEO. These, and other SEO strategies can be implemented by Maximum Marketing Solutions. 

 

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