How a Digital Marketing Agency Can Help Improve Your Local SEO

If you run a small business, showing up in search results when nearby customers are looking for your products or services is critical. You can implement common SEO practices on your site to improve your visibility, but how do you ensure you’ll be visible to customers in your area? 

That’s where local SEO comes in. It helps your business appear in local searches, Google Maps, and other location-based listings. But managing local SEO effectively takes time, expertise, and a deep understanding of how search engines work. That’s why many businesses turn to digital marketing agencies for help.

In this post, we’ll break down exactly how a digital marketing agency can boost your local SEO, attract more local customers, and help you stand out in your community.

Understanding Local SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing your website’s ranking and visibility in search engine results. This includes improving your site’s content, technical structure and authority to attract more qualified visitors. But focusing on Local SEO can improve your site’s ranking and visibility to customers in your area. 

So, how do you improve Local SEO? There are a few components to consider:

• Google Business Profile: This is a personalized panel in Google search results that displays important information about your business, like your address, phone number, product photos, reviews, FAQs and more. 
• Local listings: Showing up in multiple online directories helps provide backlinks to your website, which can improve your search rankings.
• NAP Consistency: Maintaining a formalized NAP, Name, Address and Phone Number document, will ensure that all listings of your business across the web are accurate.
• Localized Content: Having content on your site that mentions your area will help your site show up in local searches.
• Reviews: Having reviews from past customers is not only a great way to show off your reputation, but having reviews also improves your authority with Google and other search engines (they’re also important for your Google Business Profile!).

Taking the time to work on these things for your website will help you get in front of local customers whose searches relate to your business. 

Challenges of Managing Local SEO In-House

In order to improve your SEO, you have to spend time updating and maintaining all the important elements. This can be tough for small business owners when it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day to manage the business. Many business owners may not have even considered some of the elements of Local SEO or know where to get started. For example, to create a Google Business Profile, you need to claim the listing and submit documents to Google so they can verify your business. There are so many business directories across the web. How do you make sure you’re in all the right ones? The technical elements of your website play a huge role in search ranking, but you may not know where to start. 

How a Digital Marketing Agency Can Help

Luckily, there are businesses out there that specialize in getting your business seen by the right customers at the right times. A digital marketing agency can take away the stress of learning how to manage SEO and give your business back the time it needs to be successful. They may have access to tools and services needed to manage local SEO that your business doesn’t. And they can serve as experts on parts of that process that would take hours to research on your own. 

Here are some ways a Digital Marketing Agency can help:

• Site Audits: A digital marketing agency will audit your website and make recommendations on how to improve technical structure and content to improve your SEO.
• Google Business Profile Optimization: You can hand the setup and optimization off to a digital marketing agency that will know all the elements of the profile that are most important to consider. They can also act as the liaison between your business and Google to ensure all the documentation is collected and submitted properly. 
• Local Citations: You may not know where to start with local citations, or you may be missing key directories that could help drive business. A digital marketing agency will ensure your NAP document is accurate and submitted through tools like Moz Local so your business is listed in all the right places. 
• Reporting and Analytics: A Digital Marketing Agency will also use tools like Google Analytics to make sure that, once SEO practices are in place, your site is getting the intended traffic. If not, the agency should provide optimizations and recommendations on how to improve.

Reach Out To the Experts Today

Local SEO is a powerful tool to get in front of local customers when it matters. While it can seem daunting and time-consuming, partnering with a digital marketing agency can do the heavy lifting, from research to recommendations to implementation, and give you back the time you need to focus on your business, all while improving the quality of your leads. 

Ready to turn to the professionals and improve your SEO? Get in touch with Sanctuary today and see how we can help grow your business.