1. Optimise your Google My Business page

Optimising your Google Business page is a no brainer, and always a priority of ours whenever we take on a new SEO client. Not only does a Google My Business page make your business stand out in the search results, it also allows users to search for your business on Google maps.

Some key things to keep in mind when optimising your page is that your business name is correct, the business category is relevant, adding geo tagged images (more info below) and finally making sure all contact information is correct and displays as it does on your website.

2. Geo tag your images

This is one that most general users aren’t aware of, but is a great little trick in letting Google know the location in which your business operates. Images on the web carry all kinds of meta information, such as a title, author, date and most importantly location.

Whenever uploading g your images to your Google my Business page, make sure to add your address to the image meta information. This is great to add to things such as team member photos and interior & exterior office photos.

3. Create local business directory citations

The best thing about local business directories are that most of them are completely free to setup an account for your business. Of course, they offer a “premium” listing which they’ll sell to you as being able to display more info about your company than other business on their website… I guess they have to make their money somehow!

Time to hit you with a buzzword known as “NAP”, which stands for Name, Address and Phone number. Whenever adding your business to any kind of directory or portal online, it’s crucial that each time your business information is entered in the exact same format.

For example, our telephone number is always listed as 01268 772 772 and not 01268 72 72 72, it’s a subtle difference – but very important you choose 1 format.

This includes on your website, so pick a format and stick with it.

4. Accumulate 5 star Google reviews

5 star reviews are a great factor in whether your business is trust worthy and offers its customers a great service. Simply put, the more positive reviews your company accumulates, the more likely Google is to share your website with others.

Put yourself in a users shoes. If for instance you’re searching Google maps for a plumber in your local area and within those results company “A” has twenty 5 star reviews, whilst company “B” has no reviews at all – which company are you more likely to trust to come and fix your leaky taps?

5. Write valuable content related to your location

Finally, you’re going to want to write content which specifically targets the area your  business services.

If you’re a beautician located in Essex, you might want to create pages or a news feed with information about events in the local area.

If Google crawls two beauty websites, and one has location specific keywords scattered across its pages whilst the other doesn’t – we can all guess which website will rank higher in the search engine results.

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Following these simple yet effective SEO tricks to boost your website ranking will certainly give you an advantage over your competitors. You could go one step further and give our free seo audit a try, to find any hidden areas which might be preventing your website from ranking well.