Small business owners have had an extremely tough year, but many have managed to make it through due to the support they’ve received from their communities.

Given the sheer amount of websites that exist on the web, it can be tough to compete. But local SEO provides you with a way to reach customers within your area. And if you own and run a small business, chances are that you rely on that community support.

Optimizing your site with local SEO in mind can allow you to target the right audience. Rather than waste precious time or money on a broader demographic, you can zero in on consumers who are located nearby and who are looking for the solutions you can provide.

But how exactly do you get started with local SEO? If you’re a small business owner, you should check out the five tips below and start incorporating them into your larger marketing strategy. 

 Become a local SEO expert. Enroll in an SEO course today!

Claim and Update Your GMB

Google My Business, or GMB, is a free platform you can use to connect with customers and increase your online visibility. Once you claim your GMB listing, you can fill out a wealth of information pertaining to your business; you can include everything from hours of operation and contact information to lists of products and services, photos, and short updates.

Utilizing your GMB profile is a must for small business owners because it can allow you to obtain more “real estate” in search engine results. You’ll be more likely to appear in places other than your main website link. You’ll also appear on the right-hand side of SERPs or even in the Google map pack, which can help with traffic and conversions.

Utilize Other Local Listing Directories

Google My Business is just one way to make your business easier to find online. There are a variety of other local listing directories that allow you to fill out some basic information and increase your overall visibility. 

Yelp, Angi, Yahoo! Local, Bing Places, Four Square, Yellow Pages, and a slew of other directories can provide a surprising amount of value for your business. You might also consider using some industry-specific directories that will allow you to more readily connect with your target audience.

While local listing directories won’t take the place of a content marketing strategy, they can be a great way to supplement your efforts by boosting your authority and brand recognition. They can provide you with new opportunities to connect with potential customers and show that you’re a trusted name in the business. 

Focus on Review Generation

Managing your brand’s internet presence and reputation can be a huge challenge. But one of the most cost-effective ways to raise your profile and build trust is to generate online reviews for your business. 

We now know that customers value online reviews just as much as (or sometimes even more than) personal recommendations from people they know. If your business doesn’t have enough reviews — or has too many negative reviews — it could hurt your ability to compete.

The truth is that your business won’t be flooded with reviews by accident. If you provide a poor experience, your negligence might translate to a lot of negative feedback. But customers might not be so inclined to write a review on their own if their experience is ordinary (or even great). 

As such, you’ll need to make a concerted effort to solicit this kind of feedback. In many cases, you’ll just need to ask! You can remind your customers in person or via email to leave a review for your business. If you make them realize how much this simple act can provide the support your business needs to thrive, your customers will often be more than willing to sing your praises on Yelp, Google, Facebook, or anywhere else you specify. That’s especially true if you make it easy for them to share their thoughts!

You’ll also want to manage your reviews properly. That means you’ll want to respond promptly, but never do so from a place of anger or defensiveness. Treat this as an opportunity to showcase your customer service skills and lead with your brand values. Make sure the customer feels heard and let them know that you’ll take their feedback to heart.

Create Dedicated Landing Pages

Some business owners are inclined to have as few pages on their website as possible. While it’s generally good advice to keep things relatively simple and uncluttered, it can be beneficial for SEO purposes to create dedicated landing pages for the different areas you serve.

Having these separate landing pages can allow you to optimize for those more specific search terms that include a location. Rather than centering your entire website around the largest city that’s closest to you, your site can drive traffic to different pages by focusing on smaller areas (as long as those terms have decent search volume). When someone is looking for a provider in your field nearby, those pages will be more likely to come up — and you won’t have to compete with businesses targeting a larger area.

Optimize For Mobile and Voice Search 

It’s important to remember that customers who are searching for solutions nearby are more likely to be searching on their mobile devices. Mobile traffic now accounts for roughly half of all web traffic, which means businesses that don’t have responsive and accessible sites are going to miss out.

One of the best things you can do for your SEO is to ensure your website provides a consistent experience, no matter how it’s being viewed. Invest in mobile-friendly design, improve your page loading speed, and remove any annoying pop-ups that interfere with the visitor experience. You can even conduct a mobile-friendly test to see how your website stacks up and make any recommended changes. A mobile-friendly website is going to be more likely to show up in search results because Google knows how much web users value these sites!

Voice search optimization is also worth considering. Because mobile users are more likely to take advantage of voice-powered technology, it makes sense that the two go hand-in-hand when improving and optimizing a website. By creating an FAQ page and using conversational language throughout your content, you’ll appeal to mobile visitors and will be more likely to appear in local search results.

As a small business owner, it can be tough to make sense of digital marketing. But with these five tips in mind, you can bolster your business’s local SEO strategy and increase your ability to compete online.