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 1. 
 2. SEO blog
 3. Local SEO
 4. Local ranking factors that help your small business’ SEO


LOCAL RANKING FACTORS THAT HELP YOUR SMALL BUSINESS’ SEO

8 November 2022 | Tags Content SEO, Local SEO, Schema.org, Technical SEO,
Testimonials


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If you have a local business selling products or services, you have to think
about the local ranking of your website. Local SEO will help you surface related
search queries in your area. As Google shows local results first in many cases,
you need to make sure Google understands where your location is. In this
article, we’ll go over everything you can do to improve Google’s understanding
of your location, which improves your chances of ranking locally.


WHAT ARE RANKING FACTORS?

Ranking factors are elements that Google considers when determining the position
of a URL in the search results. There are many ranking factors, most of which
are the URLs and your website’s characteristics, but they can further extend to
your online presence. An example of a ranking factor is page speed: a
fast-loading page that delivers a good user experience is likely to rank higher
than a slow page when other characteristics are comparable.


LOCAL SEO RANKING FACTORS

In this post, we’ll focus on the factors that influence the ranking of your
website’s pages in local searches. As you can read here, Google itself talks
about local ranking factors in terms of:

 * Relevance: are you the relevant result for the user? Does your website match
   what the user is looking for?
 * Distance: how far away are you located? If you are relevant and near, chances
   are you’ll get a good ranking.
 * Prominence: this is about how well your business is known. More on that at
   the end of this article.

So you have to show you’re relevant, you’re close by, and you’re well-known.
Let’s see how you can work on these factors with some concrete actions!

For more backgrounds on the intricacies of local search, please read our
ultimate guide to local search and local SEO.


BE RELEVANT

Being relevant means that you offer the service or products the searcher is
looking for. While this might seem pretty straightforward, sometimes, people can
get too cryptic on their website. Make sure that you clearly mention what your
business or profession is, what kind of products and services you offer, and
make sure to do this in the wording your audiences use. To find out if you
indeed communicate using the language your audiences use, please conduct some
keyword research and speak with your customers to find out which terms they use
when looking for a service like yours.

Check out this local content strategy guide for more inspiration to write
relevant content for your local business site.


GOOGLE BUSINESS PROFILE

For your local ranking in Google, you can’t do without a proper Google Business
Profile listing. Google Business Profile is especially helpful if you want to
show up properly in the local pack – i.e., the big panel with the map. You need
to sign up, pick the right primary categories for your business, add all your
locations, verify these and share some photos. You’ll also need to actively
manage your profile and build it up over time.

Google Business Profile allows for customer reviews, and you should aim to get
some of those for your listing. Every year, the importance of online reviews for
local SEO grows. Positive reviews (and negative ones) help Google and its users
judge your business. This is pretty much like your local market. If people talk
positively about your groceries, more people will be inclined to come to your
grocery stand.

Getting reviews is one, but you can keep the conversation going by responding to
these reviews. But, as Google puts it, be a friend, not a salesperson.

It helps to sign up for Google My Business if you want to rank your business in
the local three-pack


LOCALBUSINESS SCHEMA STRUCTURED DATA

If you have a local business and serve primarily local customers, of course,
you’ll add your address to your website. To help Google and other search engines
understand the primary address, you can best serve it in a specific format
readable for machines. Use localBusiness schema for that. Our Local SEO plugin
makes adding that LocalBusiness schema to your pages a breeze!

This is very much about what Google calls distance. If you are the closest
result for the user, your business will surface sooner.


MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ONE MAIN NAP!

Even if your business has multiple locations, make sure to match the main NAP
(name, address, phone number) on your website with the Google Business Profile
NAP. That is the only way to make sure Google makes the proper connection
between the two. Add the primary address on every page (you are a local
business, so your should mention your address on every page). For all the other
locations, set up a page and list all the addresses of your branches.


FACEBOOK LISTING AND REVIEWS

What goes for Google Business Profile goes for Facebook as well. Add your
company as a page for a local business to Facebook here. People search a lot on
Facebook as well, so you’d better make sure your listing on Facebook is in
order. Facebook also allows for reviews, which could help your business too.
Keep an eye on those reviews! If your reviews aren’t that great, make sure to
fix that by providing better products or services, or at least show in your
replies you take the feedback you get seriously.


LOCATION AND KEYWORDS IN TITLE

The obvious one: for ranking locally, adding city and (in the US) state to your
<title> helps. Add your main keywords as well and make the title attractive.
Please keep in mind that the effect of adding the name of your town to your
titles might be a lot less effective for local ranking than adding your business
details to your Google Business Profile. But it won’t hurt for sure. For more
local content tips, do check out this guide.

In this example, this title could have used a location to help in the local
search results


LOCAL DIRECTORIES HELP YOUR LOCAL RANKING

In addition to your Google Business Profile listing, Google uses the local Yelp
and other local directories to determine just how important and local you are.
While we usually recommend against putting your link on a page with a gazillion
unrelated links, the common ground for a local listings page is, indeed, the
location. And, these links do help your local rankings.

So get your web team to work, find the most important local directory pages and
get your details up there. We’re explicitly writing details and not just links.
Citations work in confirming the address to both Google and visitors. If a
local, relevant website lists addresses, do consider getting yours up there as
well. And while you are at it, get some positive reviews on sites like Yelp as
well!


GET RELELATED, HIGH-QUALITY LINKS

Following how directories help your local ranking – especially in the organic
local search results, exchanging links with related local businesses also pays
off. If you work together in the same supply chain or sell related products,
feel free to exchange links. Don’t just exchange links with any business you
know. In most cases, these will be low-quality links for your website (because
they’re usually unrelated). Also, try to build high-quality content that
attracts relevant links. And, don’t forget to get those local keywords in the
anchor text of those inbound links.


SOCIAL MENTIONS FROM LOCAL FOLKS

Again, there’s a local marketplace online as well. People talk about business,
new developments, or new products on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more. All
these social mentions find their way to Google’s sensors as well. The search
engine will pick up on positive or negative vibes and use these to help them
rank your local business. If many people talk about your business and link to
your website, you must be relevant. Monitor these mentions and engage.

Some say links from other websites, directories, and social media are critical
for local rankings. As always, we believe it’s the sum of all efforts that makes
you stand out from the crowd, not just optimizing one aspect. Take your time and
make sure your Google Business Profile is correct, local business structured
data is active on your site, and you have proper links to your site and the
right people talking about you on other platforms like Twitter. And please don’t
forget to do proper keyword research and make sure the right content is on your
website.


OPTIMIZE YOUR CONTENT FOR BETTER LOCAL RANKINGS

Google won’t rank your site for a keyword if that keyword isn’t on your website.
It’s as simple as that. If your business is in city X, you probably have a
reason why you are located there. Write about that reason. And note that these
may vary:

 * You are born there or just love the locals and local habits
 * There is a river which is needed for transport
 * Your local network makes sure you can deliver just-in-time or provide extra
   services
 * The city has a regional function and your business thrives by that
 * There are six other businesses like yours, you’re obviously the best, and you
   all serve a certain percentage of people, so your business fits perfectly in
   that area.

These are just random reasons to help you write about your business in relation
to your location. They differ (a lot) per company. Make sure your
location/city/area is clearly mentioned on your website and not just in your
footer at your address details! If you have multiple locations, set up and write
pages for each one and include the proper business details.

Read more: Tips for your local content strategy »


ONE MORE THING: WHAT ABOUT PROMINENCE?

Prominence means that when Google can serve a result first from a well-known
brand or business, they actually will. Despite all your efforts to improve your
local ranking, this might get in the way of that number one position. But, it
just means you have to step up your game, keep on doing the great work you do,
work on your branding, and trust that eventually, Google will notice this as
well. As a result, Google might allow you to rank on that number one position
for that local keyword!

Another thing to note is that prominence is also based on the information that
Google knows about a business. All this information is derived from links,
articles, and directories across the web. The more positive reviews and ratings
your business has, the more likely Google will place it in a high position for
local search queries. Not to mention, your position on the “normal” search
results page (web results) is also a ranking signal. So, invest some time and
resources into SEO if possible, and ask your satisfied customers to leave a good
review on Google and other platforms such as Yelp or Facebook.

Keep reading: The ultimate guide to small business SEO »

Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years
honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.


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