Local SEO has evolved over the last few years from a fairly simple proposition to one that is a touch more involved. While that might appear “harder” on the surface, what it actually offers is a lot of opportunity for those who are willing to do what's necessary to get their sites to rank well locally.
Toward that goal, we've listed a number of best practices you'll want to be aware of when it comes to local SEO for 2015. Some might not be new to you, while others will. Remember, it's a stew, and all of it works together to make it tasty!
9 SEO best practices for Local
Increase your site speed – Google loves a speedy page load, and moreover, people simply won't wait for your slow pages to load.
Optimize for Mobile – With half the traffic on the Web these days originating from a mobile device, it's crazy to ignore this any longer. Make a responsive mobile version of your site today.
On-page SEO – Make sure your title tags, descriptions, internal links and website schema are all representing your business the way they should.
Reviews and Citations – Still important for 2015, with solid reviews becoming more so.
Acquire high-quality links – Make it your business to get the best links you can, from relevant high authority sites and high traffic sites. This is best if it emanates from your content.
Color your content local – In addition to giving Google clues to where your business needs to be found for, it is also very beneficial for your visitors.
Be sure to Geotag your images – Putting specific geographic information into your image tags is helpful for Google to rank you for local terms, as well as locate you in Maps.
Encourage social signals – The active employment of social media, both as a way of sharing your content and advertising it, can do wonders for your reach.
NAP data – As always, ensuring that your business information is consistent across ALL your platforms is critical. You should probably start right here!
Local SEO in 2015 may be a bit more involved than in years past, but the rewards for getting it right are also greater. Don't let it wait another day!