If you run a small business, showing up in local searches is a key factor for success. This Simple Local SEO Checklist will help people find you when they’re looking for the services you offer in your area. It doesn’t have to be complicated—these steps will get you sorted and help boost your local presence.
1. Claim Your Google Business Profile (Formerly Google My Business)
Your Google Business Profile is one of the most powerful free tools available for local SEO. It’s what appears when someone searches for your business or services on Google. Here’s what you need to do:
- Claim and verify your business listing by following the steps on Google.
- Fill in all the details: name, address, phone number (NAP), website, business hours, and a short description with your main services and keywords.
- Optimise your listing by regularly updating your business hours and adding high-quality images that represent your business well.
2. Encourage reviews
Customer reviews are incredibly powerful for local SEO. They help build trust with potential clients and boost your online visibility. Here’s what you should do:
- Build Social Proof with Google reviews. Point your happy customers to your Google Business Reviews Page. If they’re happy with your work don’t be afraid to ask them for a review. For more on building trust with reviews, check out How to Build Trust with Google Reviews.
- Respond to every review—whether it’s positive or negative. A thoughtful response shows that you care about feedback.
- Note from Pete. We need to be better at doing this too.
3. Keep Your Information Consistent
Consistency is critical when it comes to local SEO. Your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) needs to be exactly the same across all platforms:
- Ensure your details on your website, social media accounts, online directories, and Google profile listing are identical.
- If you change your phone number or move, update your details across all these platforms straight away.
Why it matters: Google looks for consistency when determining whether to trust a business. Inconsistent NAP information can confuse both search engines and potential customers. Following this Simple Local SEO Checklist will help keep everything in sync.
4. Use Local Keywords
Using the right keywords can make a huge difference. You want to target keywords that include your location along with the services you offer. Here’s how to approach it:
- Research local keywords that people in your area might search for, like for example “South Coast Graphic Design” or “Shoalhaven branding expert.” Seriously, click the links 😉 (Humble brag).
- Use these keywords in your website content—especially in the titles, headers (H1, H2), meta descriptions, and blog posts.
- Check out our other post on How to Use Location Pages to Boost Local SEO for more a more detailed breakdown of our tips on optimising your site with this Simple Local SEO Checklist.
5. Optimise Your Site for Mobile
Most local searches are done on mobile devices, so your website needs to work well on smaller screens. Here are the basics:
- Make sure your site is mobile-friendly, meaning it should load quickly, be easy to navigate, and display correctly on all devices.
- Test your website using Google PageSpeed Insights to identify factors that may be slowing down your site. PageSpeed Insights analyses the content of your page and offers suggestions to improve load time and user experience on mobile devices.
- If your site is slow, tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help you pinpoint areas for optimisation, such as image compression or leveraging browser caching.
Why it matters: A mobile-optimised site is essential for ranking higher in local searches. By following the tips in this Simple Local SEO Checklist, you ensure that your business stays competitive. To learn more about the benefits of mobile optimisation, visit The Benefits of a Responsive Web Design.
6. Create Local Content
Content is still king when it comes to SEO. Regularly publishing blog posts or updates relevant to your local community can help boost your rankings. Here’s how:
- Write about local events or projects you’ve been involved in, or highlight how your services benefit the local community.
- Create blog posts that feature local keywords and focus on community topics that will resonate with your audience.
Check out our article on 5 Website Mistakes and How to Avoid Them for more advice on keeping your website in top shape and aligned with this Simple Local SEO Checklist.
7. Add Google Maps to Your Contact Page
A simple but effective way to improve your local SEO is to add a Google Maps embed to your website’s contact page. Here’s how:
- Go to Google Maps, search for your business, click “Share,” then choose “Embed a map.” Copy the code provided and paste it into your contact page.
By including this step in your Simple Local SEO Checklist, you’re helping customers find you easily and improving your local rankings.
8. Build Local Links
Getting backlinks (links from other websites to yours) is a major factor in SEO, but local backlinks are even better for businesses focused on local clients. Here’s how to get them:
- Partner with other local businesses and ask them to link to your site.
- Sponsor local events or charities to get a mention (and a link) on their site.
This is an ongoing process and I’ll admit it’s a bit of a slog. We need to be more consistent at doing this for ourselves but it really does work! if you’re curious about building brand authority, take a look at The Power of Branding for Small Business as part of your Simple Local SEO Checklist.
9. Track Your Progress
Once you’ve made these improvements, it’s important to track how well they’re working. Here are a few tools to help:
- Google Analytics: Monitor your local traffic and see where visitors are coming from.
- Google Business Profile Insights: Check out how many people are finding you through local searches and how many are interacting with your Google Business profile.
For further insights on platform choices and tracking performance, see The Best Platform for Your Website.
Final Thoughts
Following this Simple Local SEO Checklist will help your business get found by the people who matter most—your local community. If you ever need help fine-tuning your strategy, I’m always happy to chat over a coffee (or a beer) at the local. See what I did there;).