How to Use Google Geo-Targeting. Special Local SEO Tips to Rock Your Business.
Geo-targeting on Google is one of the best local SEO tips that involves the process where search results are determined by location. Therefore if a consumer were to search ‘good places to eat’ when they lived in Los Angeles, the search results would bring up places to eat in Los Angeles, not Bangkok nor Tokyo nor any other city without specification.
Local SEO Tips & Google Geo-Targeting Benefits
The reason this is such an important tool to any local businesses is that it is a chance to push forward your service to people within that area. Through geo-targeting, you have the opportunity for consumers to see your business on Google and other search engines, understand what you do and visit you for service.
It is a very simple process where you target your advertising and local SEO strategy to the geographical location you are based and service customers out of. This is one of many local SEO tips used for controlling the content and information on a website to be reflective of the geographical situation your company is in. By doing this, you are focusing on a specific field within Google searches, which is more narrow and specific, preventing your local business from drowning in a sea of results which are irrelevant to the geographical location of the consumer.
This technique is extremely beneficial to local businesses as it allows them to target local people improving the conversion rate to a sale. Rather than spamming people thousands of miles away with businesses which are no use to them, Google brings customers in one town to a business in the same town. By utilizing this and other local SEO tips and making it work for you, you’re creating an avenue for your business to gain more sales through relevant audience targeting.
If You are a Local Business, How Do You Make These Local SEO Tips Work?
What input can you have in order to push your local business further up the rankings?
Country Code TLDs ~ Make Sure Yours is Relevant
Country codes are sometimes referred to as TLDs or Top Level Domains. This is the .ca or .com or .co.uk on your URL which tells visitors and search engines where you company is based. If your website has .co.uk at the end of the URL and a consumer in Canada is looking for a service related to your industry, your business isn’t likely to show near the top of their search terms, because your local service would be irrelevant.
So for example, say you’re running a local computer repair service and you want to those that work, work or play to be aware of where they can locate your shop, having a .co.uk URL immediately tells Google to add you to searches which are taking place in the UK.
State the Obvious ~ Your Location
When building your website, ensure that your location is clearly stated. This may seem like an obvious fact but without your location information, Google can’t trace exactly where you are. Many people use a picture of a map as an indication of their location. This makes it difficult for search engine spiders to narrow in our your specific location. Google will have a hard time understanding a picture – you need to physically write the address.
Secondly, if you’re registered to any local directories listing your services, make sure your location information is accurate and precise on every one of these. Make sure is it consistent across all of them in terms of spelling and which information is divulged. Doing this will help Google match your business on different websites in order to pinpoint your whereabouts and place you higher up the rankings via copious back-linking.
Local SEO Tips & Location Related Content
If you want to draw people to your services, give them a reason to go there. By including extra keywords related to your location, you will have more chance of being recognized by consumers through geo-targeting.
For example, a small computer repair company offering Norton coupons for anti-virus in Sheffield, United Kingdom, should include both the keywords ‘Norton coupons’ and ‘Sheffield’ in their title tags in order to activate keyword recognition and geo-targeting.
Back Linking on Relevant Local Websites
When back linking, make sure to include your business on local forums. Reply to posts and give advice on community websites or local Facebook pages as these will become geographically relevant. By gaining geographical relevance, your website will rank higher under local services related to your industry field.
Author Bio:
James Martell is an SEO expert with an arsenal of techniques to improve businesses’ rankings in Google and expand companies online. By working with clients such as http://www.dailydeals4you.com, James enables his customers to access to best deals on pushing their companies forward whilst keeping the process cost effective and efficient.