Local SEO Strategies and Trends for 2019

1. SEO GUIDE TO 2019 LOCAL SEO STRATEGIES AND TRENDS FOR 2019

2. We are well into November of 2018 and 2019 is just around the corner. Internet marketing has been booming constantly and 2019 could be a revolutionary year in for search engine optimization. Everyone is vying for huge increase in traffic, conversions and local SERPs ranking. Every form of businesses, even the ones that operate within a certain area are tapping local SEO in digital marketing strategies. 

3. If you want to stay ahead in the game, you will need to have an understanding of all the tools that are at your disposal. There are many ways to boosting your online presence and ultimately driving more customers to your business. Let’s know about them.

4. Keeping a Consistent NAP NAP or name, address, and phone number is one of the simplest building blocks of local SEO. It might not sound like much but it is highly important to list your business name, address, and phone number correctly across your website and everywhere else on the internet including Yelp, Facebook, and Google My Business. Search engine algorithms can zero in on inconsistency and this might have a negative impact on your local search rankings. 

5. Optimizing Website Content Using Local Keywords This might sound like a no-brainer but it is highly essential to include keywords in all fronts of your webpage, such as in the page title, Meta description, URL, H1 H2 tags, ALT text in the images and anchor text. Also ensure that your website is equipped with an SSL certificate, which makes your website encrypted and secure thus giving you a higher ranking in searches. This is the simplest local SEO strategy to improve ratings.

6. Google My Business Google My Business is poised to become one of the most important factors in local SEO success. It is already being used by internet marketing whizzes to achieve a higher rank for their businesses in organic Google search results and on Google Maps. Some factors need t be kept in mind to utilize GMB, like listing complete data including NAP, business hours, and categories. You should also verify your location(s) and list your working hours, not to mention that you do need to add photos of your business. In addition, responding to reviews will also help you get more traffic.

7. Embedded Maps Embedding a Google map of your business in your website is another simple way of generating a higher ranking in searches. Search engine take cues from your embedded map and ranks you higher in their searches. Also, this helps your potential customers to track you down easily.

8. Mobile Optimization More than 1 billion people worldwide uses mobile phones and as a result mobile optimization has a huge impact on local SEO. Google has already announced mobile-first indexing that is intent on making websites more mobile- friendly. Since most people use mobile devices to browse the internet while they’re on the go, you need to make your website “mobile responsive,” so that potential customers can get your information quickly and easily. Google offers a free Mobile-Friendly Test to determine if your website is mobile friendly or not.

9. Page Load Speed A website’s page load speed time is also a very important factor in ranking. A slow loading website has a negative impact on ranking. Google’s AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages enable websites to load faster, essentially improving user experience and this has a major impact on Google’s algorithm.

10. Schema Markup Code You can add the Schema markup code to your website HTML. Through Schema code you could improve your website’s click-through rate (CTR) and improve your rankings in search results. Google has a Structured Data Testing Tool for you to ensure your Schema code has no errors.

11. Generating backlinks from other websites informs Backlinks and Referrals search engines about the credibility of your business, which gives your ranking a tremendous boost. It is actually quite simple to partner with another local business in the same industry and have their websites to link back to yours. This in turn also boosts your business and industry presence in local SEO.

12. Voice Searches With the advent of Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Echo and Google’s OK Google, voice searches are becoming more popular with each passing day. 2019 may turn to be a ground-breaking year for innovations in voice searches. Instead of simply focusing your website content to rank higher in terms of keywords, try to focus on user experience. Put impetus on conversational phrases that could easily be found with informal voice searches.

13. User Reviews and Testimonials At the end of the day, everything that you do is a way to enhance user experience and the best way to do it is to encourage user reviews and testimonials. Reach out to bloggers and Instagram reviewers to come and reviews for your business. Most of them would gladly be a part of the experience and if you can make them happy then you can get positive business reviews, which in turn will improve your ranking in SEOs. Google SEO also takes cue from user testimonials. Having positive reviews is sort of a “social proof” that you offer to search engines, which will get your business listed on the first results page. Never post fake reviews as you might get penalized for this action. In case of negative reviews, address the issue, acknowledge the problem and resolve the customer’s issue.

14. Local PPC In a highly challenging industry where the competition is tough, you could arrange a local pay-per-click ad campaign to get some serious leverage over your competitors.   

15. Conclusion Generating traffic and search engine optimization is a lot of work and it takes time to see the results. But marketing yourself is not a sprint; it is a marathon. Be sure of yourself and your business and you will definitely see good results.