For small business owners, practicing local search engine optimization (“SEO”) can help drive organic traffic, raise brand awareness, and build credibility. But local SEO is changing in 2020, and small business owners need to stay up-to-date with the latest trends in SEO to gain an edge over competitors. Here’s how to integrate local SEO into your marketing strategy to dominate the market in 2020.
Build Your Brand
Search engine optimization experts predict that paid ads will grow more prevalent and expensive in 2020. Although paid advertising remains an effective approach across social media, more and more companies are advertising through paid aids, meaning the return on investment (ROI) for paid aids will decrease.
To gain an edge over local competitors, prioritize building brand awareness. Start by building relevant mentions, building high-quality link profiles, and focusing on linkless brand mentions.
Practicing social media listening will also allow local business owners to monitor every mention of your brand, along with the type of product or service your business offers. Social media listening makes it easier for business owners to engage with potential customers and build credibility by publicly interacting with customers.
Social media listening also means you’ll be able to connect with customers who are interested in your products and let them know about your current campaigns and promotions. Additionally, you can search for mentions of local competitors and start a campaign to get mentioned there. In other words, practicing social media listening allows local business owners to build credibility and raise awareness by directly interacting with their customer base, according to Nabil Ansari SEO.
Create a Google My Business Account
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In 2020, Google My Business accounts are becoming more influential for small businesses than websites. Local business owners can cover a diverse range of searches—including searches containing the keywords “near me” or “address” and “phone number”—by creating a Google My Business account.
Creating a Google My Business account establishes local authority, but a large number of searches fail to end up on Local packs. Customers interested in comparing products and searching for detailed product information will still visit your website, and that’s where practicing traditional SEO becomes critical.
As a result, building a strong backlink profile is essential. Research what kinds of backlinks your competitors get using a backlink checker and aim to get the same kind of backlinks for your business. In 2020, local business owners must focus on getting backlinks that Google considers locally authoritative.
Additionally, don’t forget to track your local ranking performance. Even small changes in location can influence the type of search results that users receive. To search rankings for keywords using a specific location, use a keyword research tool.
Hire SEO Professionals
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With Google algorithms constantly changing, it can be difficult for small business owners to stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends. LinkGraph's SEO services allow small businesses to take control of their digital marketing campaign with tools to measure progress, recognize negative SEO attacks, and address toxic backlinks by generating a disavow file.
LinkGraph also offers local SEO campaigns with hyper-local citations, which make it easy for small businesses to turn local searches into local business. With an optimized blend of link building, business listings, and local directory citations, your business will dominate your local market. Monitoring and maintenance features can help you ensure your citations remain consistent over time, add locations, expand into rich media, and maintain a clear edge over the competition.
In 2020, dominating the local market requires staying up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and changes in Google algorithms. If you’re not sure where to start, hiring a team of SEO professionals can help your business soar in local searches.
