Orlando Local SEO

The internet has a wealth of information that most people would not know what to with in a lifetime. While this is more than a good thing, it can pose a challenge for small businesses. How so?

Big companies have all the resources to reach far and wide and gain clients, but it is unlikely for a small shop in Orlando to do a similar thing.

Ahead of local Orlando SEO and Google algorithms, this was a huge challenge. For a tiny business, a blog or a small site was simply a portal for customers to go to when they need information, check for products, or possibly buy merchandise. But using the World Wide Web and their own site to gain new customers? Highly unlikely, until now.

With Orlando SEO, small business websites or pages has become a tool to entice new customers, create new business opportunities, and improve profits and earnings. That small shop in Orlando may not be able to ship products in India, but it’s a guarantee that they can pick up local sales, sales that they would never have obtained if not for local or neighborhood SEO.

What Exactly is Local SEO?

Let’s start with the basics.

SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” It is used by webmasters and business owners to optimize their website or webpages in order for search engines to find them easily and eventually drive traffic to their sites.

When one says local SEO, it employs the same strategies as with SEO in general. However, the former prioritizes neighborhood search. This can be done by utilizing the features of Google My Business and other online directories, optimizing local key phrases and keywords, and making sure that content is focused and directed to one’s locality.

All these, in turn, will result in more visibility, especially when potential customers look for local businesses online. These customers will be given local results — companies that are near them — but only those companies who have optimized their content for Orlando SEO will show up first in search engine results pages (SERP).

What business owners need to understand is that Orlando SEO is designed to advertise their products or services to a targetted audience. It’s not like TV commercials or print ads, where the approach is to deliver to a lot of people and hope for the best.

At its core, Orlando SEO targets a particular audience, which gives businesses a bigger chance for gains. It’s certainly better than sending out an ad and hope that it will attract people eventually. With a targetted audience, you’re essentially guaranteed of brand new customers. What’s even better is the fact that this method is considerably more affordable than all types of marketing strategies put together.

Best Local SEO Practices

To succeed in local search, there are three things that you need to do:

1. Optimize your Google My Business account
2. Update your website and on-page SEO
3. Become the authority on the internet

While doing all three seems like a mighty feat, in truth, it’s possible to achieve them, that is if you persevere and you arm yourself with a lot of patience. Let’s explore the ways to succeed in neighborhood SEO.

Use Google My Business

Google My Business has become the trump card for local searches. To show up on SERPs, you need to make sure that Google understands what your business is all about. The humongous search engine loves to fact check, and when it comes to local business, you have to be verified for legitimacy. If Google sees your business as legit, it will reward you of a sidebar space in Google local search.

So how do you go about optimizing your Google My Business account?

The process is fairly simple. Obviously, you’ll have to make a Google My Business Page, make sure its verified, and use Google Posts within your account. You should be able to get your customers to review your products and post/share them online. When they do, respond to these reviews and be sure to put your location on your replies.

For example, “Thank you for your feedback on [product/service] in Orlando, Florida. We’ll see you on your next purchase!”

It’s as simple as that, but the gains will serve your business greatly.

Update Your Site

Think your website is good enough? You might want to check again. Let’s explore what website updates you need to work on to strengthen your neighborhood SEO.

Pay Attention to Internal Linking

A lot of business owners think that external links pointing to their sites is enough, but what should be remembered is the fact that the structure of internal links matters as well. For example, your site visitors should be able to get the information they need with just a few clicks. This will affect your SEO rankings positively.

Optimize Content, Metas, Headers, Title Tags, and URL

Keep in mind that every new blog post is a new indexed page for your site. This new page presents a new opportunity to be found by Google and eventually make a mark on SERPs. Before you publish a copy, make sure to place your keywords strategically not just within the content itself, but also in its meta description, header, title, and in the URL.

Update Location Pages

If you happen to own more than one store in Orlando, make a location page for each of them. Locations pages are your way of informing web users your NAP, which stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. Don’t forget to include the description of your store, store hours, offers, customer reviews, and many more.

Another thing: each location page should have different content. Do not make the mistake of duplicating your content. Otherwise, Google won’t be able to index it. Add a Google Map to each location page as well. Google loves that.

Produce Local Content

Google no longer works like a bot — it’s getting more human as time goes by. This means that content writers can write freely without worrying about the technicalities that search engines are known to require. These days, Google favors content that’s made for writers, and not search engines.

There are many topics to write about but to succeed in neighborhood SEO, focus on local news or topics that are currently relevant in your community. Your goal is to be the local authority in your industry.

Optimize Your Site for Mobile Use

It’s pretty obvious that more and more people have become more reliant on mobile devices. Even with a desktop computer at home, users will most likely use their phones to search for various kinds of stuff on the web.

That being said, you should take advantage of this mobile-first tendency. Hire a web designer that will create a mobile version of your site, something that people can read through and easily understand even on a tiny screen.

Improve the Content of Your Business Info

Your business info should be as specific as it is clear in order for both search engines and web users to find you. Start with your NAP. Your business name, address, and phone number with area code should be included on your pages. Write them down on the page itself, not in an uploaded image. Search engines can’t read images the same way it reads HTML text.

Go Social

With the advent of social media, Google has paid attention to businesses’ social media behavior as well, for the reason that this is where most people are found. Social media sites allow customers to engage with the business, which is critical now more than ever since Google has become more pro-human than pro-search engine.

Now that you have an optimized Google My Business Page, make sure to share it on social media in order to get more visibility.

Get Local Orlando SEO Services Today

Implementing local SEO is easier said than done. It could be a challenge to implement these practices, which is why you need the help of an expert. Remember that a better understanding of practices that Google favors when it comes to local SEO is essential for your business to succeed.