Do Local Listings Matter for SEO?
One of the most definitive components to your brand’s digital presence is its local listings, website seo and video seo. With the paper phonebook becoming obsolete, local listings online will be your current & potential customers’ first link to contacting you. In most businesses, this contact will be YOUR first link to making money. Faulty listings could not only send customers to the wrong address, phone number, or other contact information but they could also be harmful to your overall reputation online.
Claim your Listing(s)
The first step to making sure your local listings are working for you is to make sure you are managing them. We can do this for you. Did you know that if you don’t claim your listing, it could be populated with inaccurate or insufficient information? Claiming them is simple. Usually, for Google, Yelp, or any other local listing network it will require you to verify the listing is yours by mailed postcard or over the phone. This isn’t a difficult process but after the verification goes through it can take time for the listing to update. Once the listing belongs to you, it is time to optimize it.
Start with NAP
NAP – which stands for Name, Address, and Phone number – is the trifecta for contact. You need these three items to be accurate in order for people to be in touch.
Use Schema Markups
There are far too many ways for an address, phone number, or other pertinent local information to be written. There are infinite places on a website in which to put this information. Some of these formats & placements are more relevant, more crawlable, and more user-friendly than others. Universalizing this information is important. Schema.org is devoted to the universality of this information (and tons of other info on your site) in order to get you better results during search – results that are richer, more relevant, and of course – higher-ranking.
Why Bother?
It is widely known that around half of all mobile queries are local, either with the city listed or by using “near me.” This means that local listings and local SEO endeavors are essential to maximize your potential for leads. However, locality is important for conversion, too. Without it, your Orlando plumbing business may rank very well for Best Plumber, and you get dozens of calls per day, all from people looking for Plumbers elsewhere. Tough luck.
It is imperative that you get yourself Local. Alternatively, we can get you there.
Enlist an Expert
We recommend that you never let your Local Listings go too long without review and that you never leave a listing unclaimed. The more involved you are with your online presence, the more fine-tuned it can be. However, you may not have the time or staff to manage the various intricacies of this and other SEO processes. It would be a great pleasure for us to take this over for you. The best part is that you can sleep soundly knowing your brand is managed to its fullest potential and with the best support team around.
