{"id":4032,"date":"2016-12-13T11:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/?p=4032"},"modified":"2017-01-10T13:21:08","modified_gmt":"2017-01-10T18:21:08","slug":"local-seo-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moneyjournal.com\/local-seo-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate Local SEO Checklist to Dominate The First Page of Google"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet is filled with cries from disgruntled marketers that \u201c<\/span>SEO is dead<\/span><\/a>!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you scroll through enough online business and marketing websites, you will undoubtedly come across an overabundance of articles sharing this sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ll be honest:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

SEO is a royal pain in the backside. <\/span><\/p>\n

It can be an overwhelming, tedious, and massively frustrating part of marketing your business. <\/span><\/p>\n

But just because SEO can suck, it does not mean that it is dead and it certainly does not diminish its importance, especially for local businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you own, or market for, a locally owned company, then SEO is the single most important factor in achieving your online marketing goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bad news is that the internet is a minefield of misinformation and subpar content when it comes to local SEO. The good news is local SEO is a much easier feat than search engine optimization at a global level.<\/span><\/p>\n

To help you solve this problem, I have put together this massive local SEO checklist with everything you need to know to make your brick and mortar shop searchable. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the following 3,700 or so words, I will detail everything you need to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the importance of local SEO to <\/span>on-page optimization<\/span><\/a> to simple and effective SEO hacks to boost your ranking, it\u2019s all here.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s get started. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is Local SEO?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Local SEO is an online marketing practice to make local businesses discoverable in search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, and even Yelp. It combines the power of on-page optimization, content,\u00a0<\/span>and link building to rank your business\u2019s website<\/a> on the front page of Google.<\/p>\n

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Accomplishing this goal will allow you to accurately target customers in your area who are looking for solutions that you can provide.<\/span><\/p>\n

By following the steps that I will lay out in this guide, you will be able to quickly attract dozens of new customers and <\/span>develop a more recognizable brand<\/span><\/a> quicker than ever before. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not a simple or easy task if you’re new to SEO, but you’ll get the hang of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it will all be worth it because once your website shows up on the first page of Google, your revenue, brand recognition, and customer base will never be the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why Local SEO is so Important <\/span><\/h2>\n

I want you to imagine for a second that you run a local burger joint in Charlotte, NC. <\/span><\/p>\n

How are you going to attract clients to your local business<\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, you can use traditional marketing tactics like flyering, banners, and paid advertisements in local magazines. <\/span><\/p>\n

And while these methods might be sufficient to build up a base of local clientele, they are not going to be enough to <\/span>create the explosive growth<\/span><\/a> you probably desire. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s say that there is a businessman from Raleigh traveling to Charlotte to attend a meeting. <\/span><\/p>\n

After driving several hours from home and attending a long and rather dull meeting with his supervisors, he wants a burger. <\/span><\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t just want any burger, he wants the best darn burger in Queen City. <\/span><\/p>\n

So what does he do?<\/span><\/p>\n

He hops on his phone, Google’s \u201c<\/span>Best Burger Restaurants in Charlotte<\/span><\/i>\u201d and then decides where to get his fix of beefy goodness based upon the search results.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having visited Charlotte before, I know that there are several other burger spots around town that absolutely blow this list away.<\/span><\/p>\n

But despite their product’s superiority, they don’t show up on Google.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Because the owners have not invested the necessary time and money to\u00a0<\/span>build a strong local SEO foundation<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now for our example, this means that if you run a burger restaurant in Charlotte that you have lost a potential customer and missed out on future revenue-generating opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

For those of you who prefer cold hard facts to anecdotal examples, consider this statistic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"percentage-users-search-local-business-download\"<\/p>\n

This means that 82% of the population<\/a> is relying primarily on Google to determine where to eat, where to do their shopping, and who to hire when they need specific services.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, consider this.<\/p>\n

\"local-search-smartphone-purchase-download\"<\/p>\n

This means that of the 82% who are conducting research on their phone, 76% of them have the intent to buy and 28% of them convert<\/a>!<\/p>\n

This means that unless you have fully optimized your website for local SEO, you are not relevant to a <\/span>huge <\/span><\/i>percent of the market and are missing out on immeasurable amounts of revenue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To put it bluntly, you are on a one way street towards imminent business failure. <\/span><\/p>\n

Local SEO Checklist: The Core Components To Get Ranked<\/span><\/h2>\n

Local SEO is comprised of several different key factors ranging from the basics of creating a consistent NAP to link building to on-page optimization. <\/span><\/p>\n

While link building is outside of the scope of this article, if you want to find out more about how to develop a powerful link building strategy to boost your website’s ranking, check out <\/span>this mammoth article<\/span><\/a> I wrote to help you do just that. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the purposes of today\u2019s article, we are going to focus on 7 critical components of local SEO that you can take control of starting <\/span>today. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

1) An Optimized \u201cGoogle My Business\u201d Page<\/b><\/p>\n

One of the first steps to get your website to the first page of Google for local keywords is to claim your Google My Business page by following the steps laid out <\/span>in this article<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s an example of what your page will look like<\/p>\n

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Once your business is claimed, there are a few key points that you need to remember to <\/span>optimize your Google My Business page<\/span><\/a> to ensure maximum SEO impact. <\/span><\/p>\n

First and foremost, you need to write a long, properly formatted description of your website that is peppered with the requisite links.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your Google My Business page will often be the first thing that potential customers see making it essential that your description is unique, memorable, and compelling. <\/span><\/p>\n

With your description written you now need to <\/span>choose the correct category<\/span><\/a> for your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rushing this step is one of the most critical errors I see small businesses making. <\/span><\/p>\n

The key to success with this step is to find the balance between selecting all relevant categories without appearing spammy by having irrelevant or semi-relevant categories selected.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, simply follow these steps and your Google My Business page will be cocked, locked, and ready to rock. <\/span><\/p>\n