Among the various ranking factors, the location plays an increasingly important role. Therefore, search engines, especially Google, are putting more emphasis on local search engine optimization when positioning a website in search results. Regional businesses and services can therefore attract much more attention in their environment. With the rapid growth of local searches on smartphones and tablets, optimizing for successful listing is essential. Since 2016, there are more requests for mobile devices than desktop requests since 2016.
With the following nine instructions, you can optimize your website and strengthen it regionally.
- Use local keywords, not too often.
- Use structured data that can be read by machines. Matching schemes can be found at https://schema.org/docs/schemas.html.
- Create an entry for Google My Business, Apple Maps, and Bing Places for Business.
- Use consistent data: Name, address, and phone should always be used consistently for easier identification.
- Strengthen local backlinks by listing your website in business directories and regional directories.
- Increase the level of awareness through reviews. Promote feedback on your product or service.
- Look for a local reference in the metadata of your website.
- Design a mobile-friendly website, as most local requests are generated via smartphones.
- Maintain your own social media channels with sufficient local data and use geo-tagging as a social signal.
With the My Business service, Google has created its own platform, the results of which are prioritized in local search queries. The factors in Google My Business are relevance, distance, and awareness. The latter is a secret algorithm that records various factors such as web links, reviews and also the site’s own positions in global search queries. The equivalent of Google My Business for Apple and Microsoft is Apple Maps and Bing Places for Business.
Further links and details for local search engine optimization:
- https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=de
- https://www.go-globe.hk/blog/mobile-vs-desktop-internet-usage/
- https://schema.org/docs/schemas.html
- https://mapsconnect.apple.com
This post is also available in: Deutsch