You simply cannot undermine the pivotal role played by local SEO if your organization wants to entertain clients in the areas where your services or products are based. Nobody would be intending to make yogurts in Seattle and sell it in Paris; unless, the brand has experienced phenomenal growth and has opened a franchisee in France. It is not surprising that 46 percent of all Google searches look for local information. Therefore, it is a wise decision to boost your local SEO so that your brand gets a boost in its online presence and is exposed to your precise target audience. Your brand or business will appear in the search results when your target audience is looking for related services or products.
In the event, you have decided to invest in and focus your attention on local SEO; you are making a grand leap forward. However, you must be aware of certain local SEO mistakes that you must necessarily avoid because if you are careless it could prove to be really costly.
Local SEO Mistakes to Steer Clear of in 2020
As search engines are consistently updating their algorithms, you are required to consider updating your local SEO strategies or best practices for ensuring that you are not doing anything for getting yourself unnecessarily penalized. If you are thinking of making sure that the all-new local SEO campaign for your business is successful, it is best for you to go through this article to identify the local SEO mistakes and consciously avoid making all these mistakes.
Remember for local businesses, even small mistakes could lead to issues beyond penalizing your website. A mistake that triggers the removal of your listing from, for instance, the local 3 pack could impact the number of calls, leads, sales, and store visits you would be getting. Let us explore some common local SEO mistakes that you need to avoid if you wish to win a competitive edge and enjoy a successful business. You may contact a reputed search engine optimization firm for superlative SEO solutions.
Mistake #1: Overlooking Google My Business
While searching for a specific service, for example, ‘best plumbing company near me’ you could observer that on the right-hand side of Google Search, you would find a map displayed there. The map would be providing the NAP or the Name, Address, & Phone, the complete contact information of the service you are currently searching for.
Such Google maps would be appearing with all local searches that are made. It is not displayed there because of the SEO endeavors on the website of a particular business but Google would be displaying the map because the business is listed in the Google+ Local Listing. Besides, focusing your attention on your website’s SEO best practices, you must consider setting up a specific page for Google+ Local Listing meant for your business.
You must focus on getting your listing verified as that would be confirming your ownership of this particular business page. This should ensure that nobody else could make any kind of edits in this local list excepting you. Having an optimized and verified Google My Business profile seems to be the most critical element of a local SEO stratagem.
Mistake #2: Lack of Consistency in NAP Information Present on Citations
As per Searchengineland, inconsistency in NAP issues could culminate in local ranking issues. Hence, you must focus your attention on ensuring that all your information relating to your name, address, and even phone number seems to be consistent across all directory sources and citations.
If there have been any changes in location or business name or in your telephone number, then you need to update the old NAP information. In the event you fail to update them, there is no way that search engines could get the correct information. If Google is not sure if the information is authentic and accurate, it would decide not to display your brand in search results. It is of pivotal importance to undertake meticulous search wherever your company is mentioned online for making sure that the correct NAP is displayed.
Mistake #3: Not Having a Mobile-Optimized Website
Local searches made on mobile seem to be incredibly crucial for local SEO. That is the reason why setting up a mobile-optimized website for your business is of pivotal importance. Without it, visitors would be bouncing off frequently and would then be visiting a competitor website instead. Mobile-friendliness is regarded as a vital ranking factor as per search engines. If your site is not mobile-optimized, Google would not show you in the search results and you would end up losing out on numerous customers.
Mistake #4: Not Eliminating Duplicate Listings
More often than not, you realize that your business is having two or even more listings present on a specific local citation source. It may not occur to you that this could pose major issues. You may feel relaxed at the thought that your business could be showing up twice or more in a specific local search. This could actually prove to be detrimental to your business success. Search engines do not appreciate duplicate content and that may include duplicate listings simply because it could be abused easily for spamming their search results. If you are having duplicate listings, there are possibilities of you getting penalized as one would take it for granted that you are doing that definitely on purpose. Whenever you come across the duplicate listing, get rid of it at the earliest.
Mistake #5: Lack of Perfect Contact Information
In the event your contact information is absent or missing, you must realize that search engines would not acknowledge you as a local business and your business would not appear on the search results. Hence, it is important to examine and ensure that all information is authentic and is incorporated into your website text or content. Avoid incorporating them into pictures. You must realize that search engines lack the ability to read the photo-text.
Conclusion
Local SEO is regarded as the magic measure which could be enticing your target audience directly to your business for boosting your sales. However, local SEO must be performed with perfection for earning credibility and immense recognition among your prospective clients.
