How to Prepare a Local SEO Checklist?

Developing a successful local SEO plan and putting it into action is a difficult task to do. We’re providing you with this checklist to help you achieve your goals. It is possible to optimize your approach to attract and earn local consumers from your target demographic by following the methods outlined in this article.

In our checklist, we break down your local SEO tasks into five major steps:

1. Google My Business Profile Setup Instructions
2. Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Your Website
3. Link Building and SEO Auditing for better SEO
4. Schema Markup to Improve Local SEO
5. Keeping an eye on your online reputation

Let’s take a closer look at each item on our checklist in greater depth.

1. Google My Business

First and foremost, you should set up your Google My Business profile, which should be the first item on your local SEO checklist.

What is the significance of creating a Google My Business profile for local SEO?

A Google My Business profile allows you to be more visible on Google search and Google Maps, which are both places where your potential consumers may locate your contact information and location.

You’ll have your own profile, where you can fill in the blanks with information about your company, upload photographs, and display customer reviews directly in the search results.

To get started, either create a new business on Google Maps or claim an existing company on Google Maps. Google provides step-by-step instructions as well as a helpful video.

One of the most crucial steps in this process is determining which category is the most appropriate for your company.In terms of SEO, selecting this category is equivalent to selecting the primary target keyword that defines your product or service on your website.

By 2020, there will be over 4,000 different categories from which to pick when labeling your company.If possible, select a category that not only pertains to your company but will also be a prominent search phrase in the future.

For example, if you run a summer fishing camp, you may select either “Fishing Camp” or “Summer Camp” as your category.If you run these two phrases through Semrush for a Keyword Overview, you’ll notice that the term “Summer Camp” received far more searches (1.3k vs. 49.5k monthly searches in the United States, on average).

The information you include in your profile will be welcomed by potential clients who are searching for your business online, as it may assist them in answering some of their questions or alleviating some of their fears about doing business with you.

Finally, your GMB checklist should include the following items:

• Make a page for yourself.
• Claim, add, and validate your profile information.
• Select the category that best matches your needs.
• Optimize your profile by including photos and information about your company.

2. Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Website Optimization is a term that refers to the process of optimizing a website.

Now, how can you improve your local company website for local search engine optimization (local SEO)?

In general, you’ll need to follow the same SEO principles that apply to any other website:

• Creating high-quality content is essential.
• Creating pages that are optimized for certain keywords
• Create backlinks to those pages.

Citation management and mobile-friendliness, for example, are two ranking indicators that are becoming increasingly essential for local SEO.

Because more consistent citations of your company’s name, location, phone number, and other information will increase Google’s confidence in your company, citation management is essential.

The importance of mobile-friendliness can’t be overstated, given how many people use their cellphones to look for local services.Begin by unifying your citations using Listing Management and evaluating your technical SEO with Site Audit to see where you stand.

First and foremost, make sure that your company information is prominently displayed on your home page or bottom so that people can quickly locate it. This includes your NAP (name, address, and phone number), as well as other critical information.

If you want to convey trust signals to search engines, be sure that the information in each citation is consistent with the others. Inconsistent information about a company might have a detrimental influence on your SEO.

Citation management has the potential to resolve this problem.The Listing Management feature on Semrush allows you to keep track of your local citations and improve their quality.

Also Read:What are Backlinks and their Types?

3. SEO Audit on a Technical Level

Following that, you’ll need to discover any technical difficulties with your website that might be interfering with Google’s ability to find your web pages.

To do this, run the Site Audit tool to obtain a list of the most serious problems, warnings, and notifications, as well as detailed advice on how to resolve each issue.

It is the little things that count when it comes to future SEO success. Things like repairing any broken sites, adding title tags and meta descriptions, and having optimized internal links are all important.Simply choose the option to crawl the mobile version of your site in the setup options to determine how effectively your site is optimized for mobile devices.

4. Link Building on a Local Scale

Following the completion of Google My Business and the management of the remaining citations, you now have a list of technical issues to fix in order to improve your website’s performance. Is there anything else you can do?

The fundamentals of link building boil down to nothing more than creating connections. Are you able to establish relationships in your local community and, as a result, obtain referrals from external websites?

How well do you write content that will entice other websites in your niche to connect to it?

Having your website linked to from local blogs, nearby companies, or other websites that are related to your unique niche or sector may go a long way toward improving your search engine optimization.

Also Read:How to develop an Effective Link Building Strategy?

5. The use of Schema Markup to improve local SEO

Schema markup can assist a local company in appearing on special search engine results pages (SERPs) such as carousels and answer boxes.

For example, here are some schema markups that are relevant to small businesses in your area:

• Events
• Reviews
• Local business
• Organization
• Electrician
• HVAC Business
• Plumber
• Real Estate Agent
• Store
• Landmark or Historical Building
• Volcano

These markups assist search engines in better understanding and trusting your website content.

The Markups report of Site Audit Tool will show you how much of your website (if any) is utilizing markups and how much of your website is not. As an added bonus, this report informs you whether any of your markups are now incorrect.

6. Reputation on the Internet

When it comes to attracting new clients who are seeking for local services online, your internet reputation is critical in gaining their trust.

You may control your reputation in a variety of ways, including:

• Positive reviews on Google, social media, and review platforms should be collected.
• Customers should be engaged on social media.