Do you feel that SEO techniques are changing? Is it on a constant incline?
Well, you are not alone. Google has become smarter and more powerful. It has started to do deep analysis. Also, it has a better understanding of webpages.
Google needs to be the best in answering the queries within the SERPs and directing users to the ads. This way it would earn good money. But things are hard for businesses depending on Google’s organic search traffic. The SERPs continue to change.
How do they change? Well through displaying video packs and disguising ads. Also, by making knowledge panels more prominent and using them frequently.
Ultimately marketers and traffic control businesses must work harder. They have to create better pages and faster websites. Also, they need to follow the best local SEO strategies.
Gaining Momentum With Local SEO
Frankly, eighty percent of local searches drive conversions. No doubt, local SEO is the best turnkey solution for earning more leads. It provides revenue through in-person and online sales.
SEO for local business harnesses the power of the internet. That helps to drive online traffic to your website. Also, it would foot traffic to your physical location.
What Is SEO For Local Businesses?
SEO for local businesses would use various kinds of similar strategies like traditional SEO. In traditional SEO, it promotes global and national ranking. But local SEO helps businesses like traffic control in local search results.
Build Your Local SEO Strategies
For performing well in local search, you have to adjust your SEO methods. Some of the best ones for your traffic control business are –
1) Perform Local SEO Keyword Research
Keyword research for local SEO is very simple. Most importantly, it is more straightforward compared to non-local keyword research. Of course, certain locations and cities would be more competitive than others.
But there would be a smaller competitor pool for local keywords. Here you need to brainstorm a list of keywords. Use simple formula like product/service in (location), like –
- traffic control business in Melbourne
- road traffic services in Australia
- best road traffic providers in Melbourne
- traffic control business for Sydney
Here you have to combine each of your services and product. This has to be done with all of your locations. And you end up with a seed list.
2) Run A Competitive Analysis
For doing a competitive analysis, add the competitor website into SEO tools. You can use Spyfu, SEMRush, etc to view which keywords your competitors rank for.
Here you would able to see that your competitors rank more than the core queries. Just leverage these findings to create a list of long-tail keywords. That must target your site with additional content.
Also, compare your Google My Business results with local competitors using other SEO tools. That would help you to get an accurate view of your local performance in areas like review, citations, etc.
After that take a look at the backlink profile of your local competitors. Keep a note of the media outlets, local resources, and blogs where they would be mentioned. Just add these opportunities to your lists of targets for link building.
3) Optimize For Google My Business
Just like you expect, Google My Business listing plays a major role in local search. Google My Business helps search engines to verify whether your company is legitimate. So, they could avoid serving their local search audiences junk search results.
Whenever you optimize and claim your profile on this platform, you would be shown up in local search results. These include Google Maps and coveted local pack. Additionally, the information you are feeding to Google My Business creates a knowledge panel in the Google SERPs. That would appear when people search for your brand.
Here a good portion of this knowledge panel for local results is created from the information provided to Google My Business. These even include your services and products, business description, hours, and contact information. The reviews would be pulled from Google Reviews and third party sites.
4) Optimize For Bing Places, Apple Maps And Google Maps
Using non-local SEO, you can assume one thing. What ranks in Google would even rank in Bing. But that is not the case with local SEO. Here the local listings are heavily influenced by each search engine’s place listing.
So, you need to claim and optimize your Bing Places profile. That would help to capture all your local search traffic in Bing. Also, the optimization for Google Maps is large to make sure that you are as thorough as possible in GMB.
Also, it is the default navigation tool for mobile searches on iPhones. Even on Apple Maps, it is important. You have the option to update or add your business information on Apple Maps Connect.
5) Audit And Optimize Your Citations
Citation signals are one of the major factors for ranking on local search engine result pages. These citations are just online mentions of your company. These include your business’s name, phone number, address, or NAP.
Some of the examples of websites that contain local citations are Angie’s List, Yelp, your company’s Facebook profile, etc. Sometimes you would be having more than one business name. Make sure to consolidate them. That would help potential customers and even search engines.
With a consistent business profile through all the citations, it is important for local SEO for two reasons –
- It would reinforce the information Google has on file for your site. That would be done through GMB listing, and even increasing the trust in the detail.
- People would be using those citation sites to search for business directly. That can lead to traffic and sales.
For optimizing your local citations, firstly you have to audit them.
6) Improve Local On-Page SEO
Armed with your local keyword research, you need to optimize your website’s on-page content. You would have to apply the same best practices as you can do with other SEO efforts. These would even include optimizing the meta description and title tags.
But there are many local SEO tips that can go further, like having the GMB (Google My Business) page.
Optimize Your Homepage
You won’t be optimizing your home page for local keywords. Rather focus on the keyword that applies to the whole customer base. Try to optimize your home page for the highest-opportunity keywords. These keywords are the ones that serve your market at the broadest level.
After that optimize your h2, metadata, and on-page content for these home page keywords. Sometimes your business would be highly dependent on showcasing your locations. These would be early on the home page focused on your traffic control services and products.
In such a case, you would need to add a tool for your home page. That would allow your users to search by location.
Optimize Your Local Landing Pages
Set up the local landing pages for each of the locations. Here you have to optimize each page. This can be done using the local keywords. Add the NAP information to the content.
Also, write the geo-targeted content for each of the web pages. Identify the traits that make the location unique. Also, pull in some of the success stories from the local customers. You can even highlight the positive reviews.
Additionally, add the transit and parking instructions. Even you can input the location-specific details. Try to make sure that each of the local landing pages is unique and useful as much as possible.
Add Schema Markup
Well, schema markup is just a form of structured data. You can add them to your website, which helps search engines display more detailed search results. For your physical locations, there are many kinds of location markup you could use. These can be used to display location details, hours, and more in the SERPs.
Try to go to Google’s structured data markup helper. Click the box that says Local Business. Allow the prompts. Keep your NAP consistent here.
Improve Internal Linking
Want to know how to improve your SEO? Just focus on the crawlability and develop SEO-friendly site architecture through internal links. Here on each page of your site, look out for opportunities that can naturally link to other pages of your content.
Additionally, audit navigational elements like your menu. That would make sure that the navigation is logical and smooth. This would include priority pages too. Try to make use of your website’s footer to add more detailed navigation links. Here it would make sense in the main menu. Frankly, the footer would be a great place to link to the most popular brick and mortar location.
7) Local SEO Best Practice For Link Building
You would get inbound links from third-party websites. These would be one of the most necessary ranking factors for local SEO. Your local citation listings would put you on the map. But they won’t suffice a whole backlink strategy. There are certain ways local websites can build links. Some of them are-
- Create relationships with local bloggers and publishers. You can reach out to them with newsworthy content.
- Provide a new angle or expert opinion on something occurring in the news at a broader level. You have to be creative here and know how to use all the details you have.
- Throw events that capture the local flavor. Give back to the community. Sponsor local community events.
- Join the local chamber of commerce, business associations, and other community groups. Just scout out the best opportunities. That would help you to be listed on local resources.
- Create a scholarship fund. Get the scholarship listed on .edu sites. Form connections with each local school in Australia.
8) Create Local Content Strategy
Develop local bogs, or add geo-specific content to your main blog. Make sure to blog regularly. Add other local content for increasing your rankings for long-tail keywords. Reinforce your relevance in each location.
You can write about local and industry news and events. Develop resources for your local audience. Create a visitor’s guide or local ‘Best Of’ guide or the local calendar. Transform your content strategy into a link building asset.
9) Get Reviews
Online reviews are the significant trust signal for Google. They factor heavily in your ranking on vertical search engines based on your traffic control industry.
Of course, you won’t be able to control the reviews that are displayed on the SERPs. Also, you won’t be able to turn off the bad review so searchers can’t see them. However, you can handle the narrative and gain a more holistic view on the SEO level. That would make sure that your happy customers are the loudest.
Similar to most of the traffic control business in Australia, you would be having a big swath of happy customers. And the unhappy ones would be the smaller portion. When you are mobilizing the voices of happy customers, you are reducing the impact of negative reviews. That would pop up, but they would kick off. Maybe to the first few pages of the SERPs.
Try to provide potential customers a call to action. That would help to review your traffic control business on Google, Yelp, and other review sites. Also, you can add this CTA on receipts, signs at the register, and more.
10) Make It Scalable
When your business is national, it would be having various locations. So, staying scalable would be tough. Try to task regional employees with soliciting and managing reviews. Also, report any business changes.
Try to make sure you are providing enough directions. So, that information remains consistent. Frankly, there is an easy way to make your strategy scalable. That is through local SEO tools.
Conclusion
Local SEO tactics for your traffic control business would be great. Only when you have a good SEO company at your disposal in Australia. But you have to do good research before selecting these SEO companies. Always check out their website. Go through it.
See if the customer’s reviews are authentic. Also, they need to provide the local SEO strategy that you want.