For businesses that rely on commerce from the immediate and surrounding and even transient communities, local SEO is something you must control. You may or may not have an active SEO strategy for general search. Either way, add local SEO to your list of things to do.
Local SEO relies heavily on customer reviews. If you’re not convinced that you have time for local SEO, know that 82% of consumers read reviews for local businesses (brightlocal.com). I’d say that’s worth making time for.
Whenever a potential customer searches online for a business or service in a specific location or their immediate vicinity, you want your business to show up. You know, those ‘Near Me’ searches? It is local SEO that determines what companies show up at the top of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) for those. Let’s look at how you can improve local SEO for your business.
Claim Your Business
Individual sites have a review function for customers, which influences the buying decision of other people. The most used are Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook. There are also more specific sites to industries, such as Tripadvisor for hospitality and sites with specific consumer categories like Trustpilot.
First, you need to claim your business on any of the relevant sites and definitely on Google My Business. On the latter, you can create a profile for your business, including opening hours and services. You can also add images of your business and products and post updates letting customers know if you have special deals or if you are open later on a particular day.
Once you have your Google My Business profile set up, do the same on Yelp and any other review sites relevant to your industry. Assuming that your business already has a Facebook page, activate the review section in the settings.
Encourage Customer Reviews
You have two options, sit and wait for reviews to happen naturally or proactively encourage your customers to leave reviews. If you choose to sit and wait, it could be a while until you see any results with your local SEO. There can be an awkwardness to asking customers to leave reviews, but there are ways to ask them indirectly.
Instore (or office) and on your website, there are subtle ways that you can encourage customers to leave reviews:
- Include a note at the bottom of a menu, such as ‘Your opinion matters, let us know what you thought by leaving a review.’
- Offer rewards, ‘Leave a review on Google for your chance to win a free coffee/10% discount.’
- Put stickers on the mirrors if you have a salon.
- A QR code on the customer receipt.
- A sign in reception if you are office-based.
- Have a review link page on your website that redirects to each of your review profiles.
Up Your Game
Many business owners worry about encouraging reviews in case they get a bad review. There is no real way to avoid this other than ensuring your customer service, products, and services are the best they can be.
“This is an opportunity to take stock of how things are done and improve your customer service,”
says Darren Carr, a business writer at Eliteassignmenthelp and State Of Writing. “A great service attracts good reviews. When a customer feels valued, they are more likely to leave a review.”
Engage With Reviews
Good or bad, you have to respond to reviews. Studies have shown that replying to reviews can directly and positively affect the number of reviews you receive. Harvard Business Review reports that when hotels started responding to reviews, they would receive 12% more reviews than before.
Replies only need to be short. Thank those who leave good reviews and sympathizing (even apologizing) to those who leave negative reviews.
“With bad reviews, the best thing to do is to stay calm and take the conversation offline. To do this, a business should reply saying they are sorry to hear about the bad experience and would welcome more details via call or email,” suggests Sarah Wilson, a marketer at Custom Writing Services and Ukservicesreviews.
With a little effort on your part, local SEO has the potential to increase footfall in stores, increase online bookings, and improve overall consumer sentiment for your business.
This is a guest post by Katherine Rundell. She is a business writer and editor at Big Assignments and Essay Writer services. She is a mother of two and is passionate about supporting local businesses. Katherine writes for numerous business sites and publications. Also, she is a writer at Essay Writing Services.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
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