The Chuck Norris Guide to Local SEO Tactics

10 Tips to Roundhouse Your Competition in Local Search Results

Improving your business’s rank in local search results is an obvious goal for you. A health balance of inbound local SEO tactics can help you deliver some knock out blows to the local competition and be the hero in your customer’s eyes.

Here are 10 tips that would make Walker Texas Ranger proud.

Place Page Signals

In the recent Moz report, Local Search Ranking Factors for 2013, they surveyed a ton of experts in the industry to try and find what best practices were driving success.

The #1 result was page place signals. These are factors like proximity of the business address to the area being searched, keywords in the business name, and accurate, optimized, and consistent category listings.

Helpful resource: The Best & Worst Ways to Influence Local SEO Rankings

Write Review Posts

Size up some local events. Showcase your local expertise by writing review posts on important events, gatherings, and functions in your city. These posts should be helpful and informative in nature.

Think about your buyer personas and what events in the area may be appealing to them. If you’re selling payroll software and your buyer persona is a CFO, think about what they would do on the weekends. Write review posts on regional golf courses, local car shows, or other events that your persona will find exciting.

Write Comparison Posts

People love and respect honesty. They are also naturally curious about how you stack up against your competition.

Write blog posts where you share an honest comparison between two options or approaches. Don’t be worried about saying something nice about your competition. Don’t badmouth them either; it makes you look like a grumpy 10 year old. Use you blog to share comparison content that will help potential buyers understand the different value associated with their options.

Helpful resource (example): The Most In-Depth HubSpot Vs. WordPress Review Ever Written

Ask for Recommendations

Honest reviews are really important to search engines and, more importantly, your potential customers.

Simply asking your customers to leave a review goes a long way toward building your presence in local results. Think about creative ways at each of these customer touch points to ask for an honest review: checkout, email newsletter, or an in-store sign.

Helpful resource: The Most Important Element In Local SEO: Reviews And Recommendations

Attract Local PR

Create a plan that connects your off-line community involvement with your online marketing goals. If you’re sponsoring an event or hosting an event yourself, leverage this opportunity to create remarkable content.

Use these events to create blog posts with local search terms in the title, share pictures, and tell the story.

Helpful resource: Tips to Tailor Blog Content for Local Search

Directory Submissions (aka External Location Signals)

Helpful resource: Here is a great list of 50 local directory submission sites from Hubspot to get you up and running!

Optimize Your Existing Web Pages

Make sure each page on your website has a unique title tag and meta description. This is also a great area to include local keywords.

The title tag and meta description are what show up in search results. Take a look at how we have optimized the GuavaBox About Page for the term “Pittsburgh Inbound Marketing Agency.”

Also make sure your address is listed on your website. If you have multiple locations, read the next point.

Helpful resource: Tips for Local Search Success

A Landing Pages for Each Location

If your business has multiple locations, create a landing page for each location. Be sure to write unique content for each page that includes optimized terms and avoids duplicate content.

Helpful resource: Local Search Optimization Tips

Control the Information

There is information out there right now about your business. Is is accurate?

It better be; if not, contact the site that has listed the information and get them to list it correctly. In many instances, you will need to set up an account, verify your location with a phone call, and then you can edit your listing.

Helpful resource: Local Search Tips

Helpful resource: Localeze

Website Ready for Mobile Visitors

Search is the #1 mobile browser activity. Every year more and more people have access to smartphones. This trend has a severe impact on your business.

When someone searches for your offering or business name on Google, is your website ready for them to visit on a mobile device?

Responsive website design makes sure your website is consumable, no matter what size device the visitor is using.

Helpful resource: The Complete Web Design Strategy Checklist

BONUS: Bring it All Together

Showing up in search results is only the first step. What happens when a visitor gets to your website? Do you have a system in place to attract, convert, and nurture leads? Inbound marketing is the answer.

Download our free guide to learn more about what you can do to put a plan together and begin to show marketing ROI from all your hard work. Click the big pink button below to get access to this free resource.