10 Best Local SEO Tips to Grow Your Small Business in 2020

Before you start an online business, you have to develop a high-functioning website. However, developing a slick, user-friendly website alone will not help it to rank in the top search engine results pages (SERPs). It is important you have a clear understanding of the impact of SEO on your small online business so you can make sure your customers and prospects can find you. You have to carry out both on-page and off-page SEO to succeed.

These SEO tips will help you maximize the power of optimizing your website for better search rankings. It is the best way to attract potential and existing customers to your website and convert them into sales qualified leads.

Here are the top 10 local SEO tips that will help you to grow your small business in 2020:

1. The Power of Using Keywords 

We cannot discuss local SEO tips without looking at the keywords as they are the foundation of SEO. You need to do keyword research first and establish the best keywords for your website to rank for. When you insert a high ranking keyword in your post, it enhances its visibility on the search engines because keywords are the best way to drive more traffic to your website. Keyword targeting in your content forms part of your on-page SEO efforts. 

Newbies to keyword research can use paid tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush. However, there are free tools on the market such as Google Analytics, Ubersuggest, Soovle, and Keyword Planner (Google AdWords). These tools will help you carry out relevant keyword research. 

2. Video Marketing 

The use of video as online content is very popular nowadays, so publishing relevant videos that interest your audience and boost your brand online is a great idea. Sites like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are the best for video content marketing. You can also implement paid advertising with Facebook ads and Google ads for your video marketing. 

3. Voice Search 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly advancing when it comes to customer loyalty and user engagement which is evident with features such as voice search. This is a feature you simply cannot afford to ignore if you hope to succeed with your SEO strategy. In fact, SEO experts state that long-tail keywords will become more efficient in the voice search feature.  According to recent research, voice search will command 50% of all the searches and 40% of the people will adopt the voice search feature in 2020.

4. Implement Social Media Optimization With Valuable and Informative Content 

Social media helps to build emotional relationships that can connect your brand with your audience for a lifetime. People visit social media sites to gain knowledge and for entertainment purposes. Therefore, social media optimization (SMO) is an absolute necessity for any business with an online presence.  If you feed your audience relevant and up-to-date knowledge on your social media channels you’ll likely increase the traffic on your website. SMO is excellent for boosting your local SEO especially when you’re trying to building a small business. 

5. Understand the Needs of Your Customers 

By spending the time to research and understand the actual needs of your customers you’ll be better equipped to create a website and value proposition that appeals to them. The insights from this type of research feed your keyword strategy so you can create content that provides answers to the questions your audience is typing into Google. Include customer feedback as a part of your ongoing research as this will indicate whether the information on your website is useful or not. 

6. Use Images With Text and Info-graphics

We cannot leave out this tip when analyzing local SEO best practice. As we mentioned, things are rapidly changing and the use of infographics has produced excellent results. These are images supported by worthwhile and optimized copy. Infographics or images optimized with searchable text help the readers by offering an easy-to-understand visual of your text-based content. The best site to help you create images and infographic content is Canva. 

7. Understand RankBrain and Revise Your Content

This is the mother of all local SEO tips in this article. Google RankBrain is machine learning that is based on artificial intelligence. It learns by itself from the search queries (data input) of users. This key component of Google’s core algorithm delivers the most detailed and relevant answers to users’s searches and operates in a similar (if not more advanced) way to a human brain. If you understand Google in this way you can tweak your content to provide more accurate answers.

8. Focus on On-Page Keywords

On-page SEO has a critical role to play in the success of any small business online. Use the keywords you’ve chosen in the Meta description, your title tags, and H1s. Check that they appear in your short URLs too, as well as in your external links and keyword proximity. 

9. Optimize Your Google My Business Account 

Google My Business helps mostly when your company is selling your services or goods off a local business listing website. And this is a no-brainer tool to use considering it’s absolutely free. This Google listing helps you to target consumers and potential customers in your local area, and helps drive traffic to your website. 

10. High-Quality Backlinks 

When you put in enough time and make a real effort to apply local SEO practices, you begin to earn high-quality backlinks. This is an off-page SEO tactic with the goal of successfully having your articles and guest posts accepted by external authoritative sites. You can submit a piece with a backlink to your website, driving external traffic to your site. The other approaches include commenting on relevant forums, and pdf and ppt submission for your website. It is an excellent way to optimize your SEO for small businesses. 

Conclusion 

These local SEO tips play a critical role in the success of any small business. The strategies that you choose depend on the nature of your business. Once you start implementing these tips, you will be able to elevate your brand to the next level.