Intro:
Optimizing your website to optimize your site for near me searches on Google has become important for local business to be found over their competitors. In this article, we’ll share 10 tips on how to best optimize your site. How many times have you relied on Google search results to suggest you where to eat, where to shop, where to buy your car etc.? How many times have you used the term ‘near me’ while searching on Google? Probably innumerable times.
As you can well estimate, there has been an exponential rise in ‘near me’ searches, especially in the last couple of years. With the rising popularity of voice-enabled devices such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, more people are easily looking for their choicest recommendations in their neighborhood using their mobile devices.
Also, did you know that 46% of all Google searches are now locally based? If you are not exploring local SEO for your business, you are surely losing out on a lot of customers. So, how do you optimize your SEO to increase your near me searches on Google? The following 10 tips will help you in the right direction:
1 — Keep Your Google My Business (GMB) Profile Updated
In order to improve your business’ near me searches, make sure your GMB profile is updated with your correct address, name, phone number and other important information regarding your business. Also ensure that you post updated photos of your business to improve ranking.
2 — Keep Basic Information Consistent
By keeping the basic information like name, address and phone number consistent, you make it easier for Google to list you.
3 — Improve References of Your Physical Address Within The Website
In order to improve rankings on local search results, you must include references to your physical address throughout the site. Use neighborhoods, landmarks (such as well-known nearby coffee shops, restaurants, museums, hotels etc.) in your website.
4 — Include Driving Directions On the Website
If you think a Google Maps location will be enough for your customers, you aren’t wrong. But for SEO purposes, it is best if you write driving directions somewhere on the website. This will improve near me searches for your business.
5 — Don’t Forget to Add Schema
Schema helps search engines understand (and thus present) contents from your website better. Properly structuring your data is important as then you help Google understand and rank your site better. Remember to match it with your GMB.
6 — Build a Fast Loading & Responsive Site
Mobile searches have grown exponentially over the past few years. Google considers your site speed while ranking your site, so to improve near me searches, make sure you have a responsive and fast loading site.
7 — Have Positive Reviews Across Sites
Customer experience makes a huge difference to how your business is generally perceived. Ensure that you have quality and high-rated reviews across sites and platforms. This will improve your SERP.
8 — Ensure Correct Listings on All Review Sites
There are other popular business directories apart from Google My Business where you should list your business. This will help widen your network and improve your rankings. Sites like Yelp and Clutch are very effective.
9 — It’s Not Necessary to Include ‘Near Me’ Term on Your Content
It may seem odd that we are recommending this but in our experience, including the term ‘near me’ in your content doesn’t help SEO much. Including ‘near me’ in content doesn’t happen organically and looks bad. Instead focus on other ways to optimize your site for better ‘near me’ results.
10 — Test and Optimize Again
Since there is no sure-shot formula in SEO, it is always better to test and see how your efforts are paying off. In all probability, you won’t find success in the first instance – then optimize again and see what works and what doesn’t.
Conclusion
Optimizing your website for near me searches has become very important in the last few years. If your business has more physical and offline presence, then you must take the right steps towards appropriately optimizing your site.
Cyrusson Inc. is a creative agency that works on all facets of digital marketing. We understand the growing importance of near me searches and why it’s important for businesses to improve their local SEO optimization. Our SEO experts are well-versed with the very changing dynamics of search engines and we promise to help you improve your listing and overall presence. So what are you waiting for? Get in touch with us today and help us help you!
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