3 Ways to Improve Your Local SEO
“How can I improve my Google ranking?”
This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get from business owners. This question comes from businesses who have a website that may be outdated (Check out our past blog: 7 Signs That You Need a Website Redesign to see if yours is!), as well as from new businesses who want to get found on Google FAST.
Google rankings can’t be guaranteed, but there are definitely a few things you can do to give your business the best possible chance of ranking. With a little bit of effort, and help from a team of expert web designers for small businesses (wink!), you may find your rankings climbing the Google ladder.
Insider Tip: At MSW Interactive Designs, we offer free updates with our monthly hosting because we truly believe in the SEO impact of regularly updating your website. You don’t have to do a lot when updating. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding a photo and bio of your new employee, sending a page of testimonials to be added, or putting some new photos on your website showcasing your new equipment, services, or specials.
Insider Tip: Another thing to keep in mind is to use many different social channels. Google My Business is a powerful (free) tool for local businesses to help improve visibility in local search. Keep your business hours updated, make sure that your map location is correct, keep track of reviews, and even make informative posts through this account. If you don’t have one, today is a great time to start! Don't have time to make it? Give us a call. The fact that it's called "Google My Business" should tell you everything you need to know about how important it is to have a correct and active presence here.
One way to help stay on top of all of the different places that your website shows up is to utilize a Local Directory Management Service. The goal is to ensure that your business listing in the local directories is correct and consistent across all of the platforms.
At MSW we've partnered with Yext to make this powerful platform available to our clients at a lower cost than their consumer retail. Yext provides powerful overlay technology to make sure that everything is consistent across more than 70 of the largest internet directories. It will fix incorrect listings, set up new listings if they don't exist already, and suppress duplicate listings. This is a key “off-page” factor in determining how your website and business ranks in organic search and the local 3-pack (map listings).
Insider Tip: If you don't know how your business directory profile looks from Google's perspective, you can do a quick and FREE scan right now. Click the button below to see how you stack up, and if you have listings out there with old or inaccurate information.
Need help or have questions? Give us a call at 573-552-8403.
~ Laurel Leurquin, Creative Services Manager
www.MSWInteractiveDesigns.com
Phone: 573-552-8403
This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get from business owners. This question comes from businesses who have a website that may be outdated (Check out our past blog: 7 Signs That You Need a Website Redesign to see if yours is!), as well as from new businesses who want to get found on Google FAST.
Google rankings can’t be guaranteed, but there are definitely a few things you can do to give your business the best possible chance of ranking. With a little bit of effort, and help from a team of expert web designers for small businesses (wink!), you may find your rankings climbing the Google ladder.
Here are a 3 simple strategies we recommend to help improve your local search rankings.
1. Keep Your Website Current
We can’t say this enough (which is why it’s our FIRST suggestion) - make updates to your website regularly. Many times, a business will invest money in their website, take time to create the content, approve the previews, but then after it’s live they forget about it. While it’s true that your website can work for you without having to think about it daily, making regular updates to your website is good practice in the eyes of Google. Google likes to return fresh, relevant content to their users in search.Insider Tip: At MSW Interactive Designs, we offer free updates with our monthly hosting because we truly believe in the SEO impact of regularly updating your website. You don’t have to do a lot when updating. Sometimes it can be as simple as adding a photo and bio of your new employee, sending a page of testimonials to be added, or putting some new photos on your website showcasing your new equipment, services, or specials.
2. Utilize Social Media Best Practices
Social media can be a powerful tool for improving your website rankings. Not only will it help you in creating fresh content (which Google loves!) but it can help share your business and website with new customers. We highly recommend that you include your website URL in every single social post that you make. This creates backlinks to your site and also drives traffic to your site. All of these things can help improve your search engine rankings.Insider Tip: Another thing to keep in mind is to use many different social channels. Google My Business is a powerful (free) tool for local businesses to help improve visibility in local search. Keep your business hours updated, make sure that your map location is correct, keep track of reviews, and even make informative posts through this account. If you don’t have one, today is a great time to start! Don't have time to make it? Give us a call. The fact that it's called "Google My Business" should tell you everything you need to know about how important it is to have a correct and active presence here.
3. Check Your Business Directory Listings
Google hates inconsistent information. It can punish you by giving your business less than desirable rankings when it finds conflicting information about your business across the web.One way to help stay on top of all of the different places that your website shows up is to utilize a Local Directory Management Service. The goal is to ensure that your business listing in the local directories is correct and consistent across all of the platforms.
At MSW we've partnered with Yext to make this powerful platform available to our clients at a lower cost than their consumer retail. Yext provides powerful overlay technology to make sure that everything is consistent across more than 70 of the largest internet directories. It will fix incorrect listings, set up new listings if they don't exist already, and suppress duplicate listings. This is a key “off-page” factor in determining how your website and business ranks in organic search and the local 3-pack (map listings).
Insider Tip: If you don't know how your business directory profile looks from Google's perspective, you can do a quick and FREE scan right now. Click the button below to see how you stack up, and if you have listings out there with old or inaccurate information.
Visibility is key, that's why great local rankings matter!
Showing up in local search engines doesn’t just happen by accident. You have to have a strategy and execute the strategy consistently over time to give your website the best possible chance of success.Need help or have questions? Give us a call at 573-552-8403.
~ Laurel Leurquin, Creative Services Manager
Phone: 573-552-8403
Info@MSWInteractiveDesigns.com
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