{"id":5962,"date":"2017-07-31T17:31:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T12:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/?p=5962"},"modified":"2025-08-11T16:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:52:40","slug":"how-to-improve-your-local-search-ranking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/blog\/how-to-improve-your-local-search-ranking\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Improve Your Local Search Ranking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Everybody want&#8217;s their business to be listed on Google, it&#8217;s the best way to get noticed and promote your business online. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts or a faster way to make your business rise and shine on google local listings, that means local businesses must rely on good local SEO for greater online visibility. Now, the question arises, how to improve your local search ranking on search engines?<\/p>\n<p>Local searches are always competitive and google made it sure by\u00a0some changes that makes it harder than ever to stay visible (e.g.,\u00a0the mobile 3-packs\u00a0now featuring paid ads that push down organic results).<\/p>\n<p>Now the good news is,<\/p>\n<p>After making a few changes for better improvement for your local SEO, you will see palpable results on your organic search rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some easy doable that will make your website more appearable on local search and will improve your local search ranking,<\/p>\n<h2>How To Improve Your Local Search Ranking<\/h2>\n<h2>#1 Do Proper Local Keyword Research<\/h2>\n<p>Every good SEO campaign starts with keyword research, which \u2013 for most people \u2013 means turning to Google\u2019s free tool,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/business.google.com\/in\/google-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keyword Planner<\/a>. If you need generic keyword ideas, this tool is a gem.<\/p>\n<p>However, ever since Google killed its location search filter back in December 2015, simulating local search results from a different city has become a lot more complicated. You can\u2019t just add a location to your keyword because that creates an entirely different SERP (e.g. searching for \u201cburger joints\u201d from Mumbai and \u201cburger joints Mumbai\u201d from Delhi will return entirely different results).<\/p>\n<p>To compensate, most SEOs now do one of three things:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Add the \u201cnear\u201d parameter to their URL:<\/strong>\u00a0After typing in a query they modify the URL by adding \u201c&amp;near=cityname.\u201d This draws results as if you\u2019d searched from near that location.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use the \u201cuule\u201d parameter:\u00a0<\/strong>You can append each search with a base64 encoded form of the \u201cCanonical Name\u201d of a location called the \u201cuule\u201d parameter.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Use software to target specific GPS coordinates:\u00a0<\/strong>Letting an algorithm geo target your keywords via GPS coordinates is by far the easiest and most accurate solution.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve finalized your keywords, it\u2019s time to put your research to the best use. Create content that targets your \u00a0keywords with low competition, and don\u2019t forget to add them to your anchor text and HTML tags.<\/p>\n<h2>#2 Conquer Link Building Opportunities<\/h2>\n<p>According to a\u00a0survey, link signals account for 29 percent of ranking factors, and that&#8217;s \u00a0a huge amount to make link signals considerable. That means link building should be one of your top local SEO priorities.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, building organic links takes time. You need a repertoire of valuable content that influencers want to click on before you can truly take advantage of link building opportunities. Look for opportunities to collaborate with influencers and find other ways to build your brand reputation online.<\/p>\n<p>SEO experts recently shared their experience and local-focused tactics with a new link building survey. Here\u2019s where they successfully and efficiently built links within the past 12 months:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Local business websites (77 percent)<\/li>\n<li>Yelp and similar directories (80 percent)<\/li>\n<li>Local press (83 percent)<\/li>\n<li>Chambers of commerce (70 percent)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of the best ways to score some quick, high-quality backlinks is to help site owners find and fix broken links in their content. Simply scour high-ranking posts in your niche for broken links, let the site owner know if you find any, and then offer up your website as a substitute.<\/p>\n<p>Forty-three percent of SEOs interviewed used broken link building within the past 12 months, and it proved to be one of the easiest and most efficient ways to new backlinks.<\/p>\n<h2>#3 Be Smart, Use Competitor Research For Generating More Backlinks<\/h2>\n<p>Competitor research\u00a0is a great way to find out which domains are linking to your rival businesses, but leaving you out in the cold. Turn to your favorite competitor tracking tool and use it to discover link building opportunities that you might have overlooked:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Figure out which sites link to more than one of your competitors, but don\u2019t link to you.<\/li>\n<li>Determine the relative domain authority of each of these sites (your competitor analysis tool should give you this information).<\/li>\n<li>Make a list of the most influential and relevant domains.<\/li>\n<li>Perform link outreach to the domains on your list.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>#4 Make sure information remains same everywhere<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s important that your NAP (name, address, and phone number) remains consistent on every website it\u2019s listed on. Use rank tracking software to monitor your citations and if you ever find NAP inconsistencies, contact the site owners or directories in question and ask them to correct the mistake.<\/p>\n<p>According to a study, on-page signals including NAP are the second to third most important ranking signals for both local pack rankings and localized organic rankings.<\/p>\n<h2>#5 Is Your Google My Business Optimized<\/h2>\n<p>Your Google My Business page is easily the most important ranking factor when it comes to local pack ranking, and optimizing it is easy. Here\u2019s what you have to do:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Claim your listing (<a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/business\/answer\/2911778?hl=en&amp;ref_topic=4854193\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u2019s how<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Verify your account.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure your business details are up-to-date. Common mistakes include wrong opening hours, erroneous opening hours, and incorrect category listings.<\/li>\n<li>Link to your website.<\/li>\n<li>Upload high-quality business images (or refresh existing images if they\u2019re more than a year old).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once your Google My Business page is set up, the best way to keep optimizing is to win customer reviews and build citations for local listings.<\/p>\n<h2>#6 Generate Genuine Reviews<\/h2>\n<p>Social proof is among the most powerful content at your disposal. Reviews, testimonials, and case studies are both powerful ranking signal (7-13 percent) and persuasive pieces of copy that often decide whether a customer hires you or one of your competitors.<\/p>\n<p>Getting customer proof takes a little work, but here are a few creative ways to encourage more reviews:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Offer link building opportunities:\u00a0<\/strong>Your customers want to build links just as badly as you do, and many will leap at the opportunity to be featured in a case study if it means free publicity. Don\u2019t have time to build a case study yourself? Websites like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/casestudybuddy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Case Study Buddy<\/a>\u00a0can help.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Encourage customers to leave reviews:<\/strong>\u00a0Hand out leaflets, print out a QR code on your receipts or business cards, and ask customers in person when they\u2019re paying the bill.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ask for reviews:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes, it is all about asking. You won\u2019t win reviews from all of your customers, but all you need is a tap on your back of positive feedback on the platforms your customers visit frequently and you\u2019ll soon build up a solid reputation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>#7 Structured Data Markup<\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019ll need to use\u00a0structured data markup\u00a0if you want your business to appear in the local Knowledge Graph panel on the right side of Google\u2019s SERPs. It also lets you provide visitors with a rich snippet that gives them information like your NAP and positive reviews.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, you\u2019ll have to use different markups for different platforms. For example, you should use\u00a0Schema\u00a0for Google search results, but you\u2019ll need\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ogp.me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open Graph<\/a>\u00a0for social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+.<\/p>\n<p>The hack? There\u2019s software available that will let you manage\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/webmasters\/markup-helper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">all your markups<\/a>\u00a0from one central hub.<\/p>\n<h2>#8 Video And Images Are Important!<\/h2>\n<p>While most businesses measure metrics like visitors and CTR, surprisingly few realize that quality rank tracking software can also check your video and image rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Check your rank tracking tool for an option to enable universal search results, and your software should gather results from search engines like YouTube as well as Google, Bing, and other search engines.<\/p>\n<p>Optimizing images is often as simple as compressing your images to reduce their file size. Make sure your images are properly formatted (usually .jpg or .png) and then compressed with a tool that preserves image quality.<\/p>\n<p>To improve your videos, optimize your titles and metadata to be more clickable and include at least one keyword, creating unique thumbnails, and transcribe your video text to help YouTube\u2019s indexing.<\/p>\n<p>Hope these quick tips will help you rank better in local SERP.<\/p>\n<p>Also, to keep the interest going on, go through\u00a0<a title=\"The Ultimate WordPress Web Designer\u2019s SEO Checklist\" href=\"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/blog\/ultimate-wordpress-web-designers-seo-checklist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Ultimate WordPress Web Designer\u2019s SEO Checklist<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a title=\"Factors For Mobile SEO Ranking 2017\" href=\"https:\/\/weblizar.com\/factors-mobile-seo-ranking-2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Factors For Mobile SEO Ranking 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everybody want&#8217;s their business to be listed on Google, it&#8217;s the best way to get noticed and promote your business online. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts or a faster way to make your business rise and shine on google local listings, that means local businesses must rely on good local SEO for greater online visibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,205],"tags":[773,774,775,776,513,777,778,496],"class_list":["post-5962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-updates","category-seo","tag-google-local-listing","tag-google-local-seo-factors","tag-google-my-business","tag-google-seo","tag-local-seo","tag-local-seo-on-google","tag-search-engine-local-seo","tag-seo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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