7 Common Local SEO Mistakes Made by Small Businesses

The community you’re situated in, is the lifeblood of many businesses. They sell and provide services to the people within that area, and so they rely on their patronage to keep business alive and well. But, many businesses are unknowingly making at least one of these devastating mistakes with their local SEO rankings that are likely costing them more than they realize.

Multiple listings

It’s fairly common knowledge that Google doesn’t like seeing copies of information. It’s repetitive for its users and it needlessly takes up excess storage space. Many people use a Keyword Density Checker to ensure that the content they’re writing doesn’t contain an overload of duplicated keywords that will be flagged by Google. So, if you’ve gone overboard and set up duplicate profiles in Google My Business, it may be working against you. That duplicate information does nothing but help to drop your rankings down. Good news, however, is that there’s a fairly easy fix this, which is to contact Google and have them remove the extra profile page. You can also do this yourself by logging into Google My Business, finding the account you want gone and click on the three dot menu. From here, you can simply hit delete and confirm your selection.

Lack of customer feedback

New customers are always interested in hearing what your past customers have to say about you. They want to see if you delivered on what you had promised, and how satisfied your customers have been with what you’ve provided. But, getting reviews can be somewhat difficult, and the best you can do is stay consistent with asking and give your customers the easiest route to leave their feedback. An email with a direct link to your profile page seems to be the most effective way to get some reviews, because the customer doesn’t need to put any effort into finding your profile page on their own. Keep your email message short and to the point, with the helpful Easy Word Count or Bigassignments to keep your content within a certain word limit. You can also give your customers some kind of incentive to give you feedback, such as a future discount or entry into a draw for a prize. If they’re happy with your product or service and plan on using it again, getting their next purchase at a discount or even free could be just the incentive they need to speak up.

Missing their Google My Business Profile

There’s a difference between the results that will appear in a Google search for local businesses, and the results that go along with a localized map for that same search. Pull up a search for ‘nearby hairdressers’, and a map will show up in the top right corner, along with some results. Those results are not from Google’s main rankings – they’re from Google My Business profile pages.

It’s often just assumed that Google will automatically list your business in a local search, but if you’re without a Google My Business page, you won’t show up in the map results. Totally free to do, it won’t take you very long and you’ll instantly start seeing some results you were probably missing out on. But, if you need help with writing any part of your profile page, Ukwritings or Boomessays can provide you with original content to use.

If you want to quickly add your business to Google maps, open it and sign in. Then zoom in to where you want your business location to be set and click on ‘Send Feedback’ where you can add a missing place. You’ll be able to drag a marker exactly where your business is and add the information your customers need. Then, just submit and off it goes!

Not categorizing yourself properly

If you’ve got your Google My Business profile set up, you’re on your way to increasing your local SEO results. But don’t press the ‘Done’ button on that profile page too quickly. When you’re setting up your profile, ensure you’ve gone through Google’s extensive list of business categories to find all of those relevant to your business. WordStream or Eliteassignmenthelp can give you some insight into what keywords are most popular in your industry, to help you narrow down the relevant categories to include yourself. If someone is searching for your products or services, but you haven’t included yourself in the category they’re looking in, they won’t be able to find you. You can also check out Ahrefs, to see why your competition is ranking higher than you are and what you can do to change that. If you’re a business that sells products or services in a number of categories, ensure that you’ve added each and every possible category so that, no matter what your customers are looking for, they’ll find you easily. This is especially true if your business name does not clearly state what products or services you offer.

Conflicting NAP info

NAP is an acronym for your Name, Address and Phone number, and it’s got to be correct and consistent everywhere it’s posted. Google compares your NAP info on your Google My Business Page to what you’ve posted on your website and all across the internet. Inconsistent NAP info could knock down your rankings. If you’ve made any changes to your contact information or location, double check every instance where that information appears online, to ensure that it’s consistent throughout. Not only will this help keep your rankings high, but it will also make it easier for your customers to access your contact information.

Not utilizing your social media

Never underestimate the power of social media, even when it comes to your local SEO rankings. Google actually uses the activity in your social media platforms to help rank your business. Take the time to keep your social media sites active and updated, and you’ll help boost your local Google rankings. And, when customers see you being active online, they get encouraged that you’ll be readily available and highly responsive, should they have questions or problems they want addressed. Australian Help and Academized can provide you with professionally written content to use to keep your social media outlets constantly up-to-date.

Not providing correct contact information

Even if a customer manages to find you on Google, if you’re not giving them the right contact information, they’ll never be able to reach you. Incorrect contact information can cause a potential customer to easily get discouraged and move on to the next business listed. Don’t miss out on potential customers and sales because of something that’s so easily fixable. Make sure that your contact info is correct, no matter where you’ve posted it. And, always display it as text, rather than in an image, so that Google can easily find it. A little bit of training from Yoast or Academadvisor can go a long way to helping you improve your rankings for the better.

When your company relies on business from the local community to thrive, you’ve got to ensure you’re doing everything you can to promote yourself as much as possible. Check that you aren’t making any of these mistakes and, if you are, fix them immediately and watch what a difference it makes.

Gloria Kopp is a digital marketer and an elearning consultant at Paper Fellows service. Shes is a contributing author HuffingtonPost, Template Monster, Essayroo, etc. Besides, Gloria writes Oxessays blog where she shares her experience with students and educators.