How to improve your local SEO

Time needed: 30 minutes

How to improve your local SEO is for most businesses and organizations more important than ever. That’s why Connect your World presents at least 55 tips to improve your local SEO. Verify your Google My Business listing and apply the SEO tips in this local SEO checklist!

1. Verified Google Business Profile

   You have probably already claimed your listing, but if not, claim it immediately! How to improve your local SEO starts with implementing a GMB account.

2. Primary Google Business Profile category

   Set your primary Google My Business category to be the one, that is the closest match with the most valuable search keyword you want to rank for in Google.

3. Keywords in Google Business Profile title

   The only legitimate way to take advantage of this factor is to change your actual business name at the official government registry and everywhere offline and online. Not actionable in most cases.

4. Additional Google Business Profile categories

   Make sure you have filled out every other available additional category that is relevant to your business services.

5. Quality/Authority of inbound links to domain

   Get quality backlinks to your website on any pages of the website.

6. Keywords in native Google reviews

   When you ask your customers for reviews, ask to mention the service or the product in their review. Manage your reviews in GMB

7. High numerical Google ratings (4 or 5 stars)

   Get higher SEO rankings by being a good business, doing excellent work, and offering great customer service.

8. Removal of spam listings through spam fighting

   Review the search results for fake listings and listings that are spamming, then report them.

9. Completeness of Google Business Profile listing

   Fill out every field in Google My Business to ensure your listing is as complete as possible.

10. Quantity of native Google reviews

    Get a review system in place and ask every customer for a review.

11. Keywords in Google Business Profile landingpage title

    Make sure your main keywords are in the title tag of the page that your Google My Business listing links to.

12. Quality/Authority of inbound links to Google Business Profile landingpage URL

    Receive quality backlinks to the webpage your Google Business Profile links to. This will be usually the homepage.

13. Topical (product or service) keyword relevance across entire website

    Ensure your website is “about” the terms you want to rank for. Add more content. Include your primary keywords and related keywords in this content.

14. Domain authority of website

    Get more links to your website (any pages of the site) to increase the website’s domain authority.

15. Keywords in anchor text of inbound links to domain

    This factor is not overly actionable.

16. Page authority of Google Business Profile landingpage url

    Get more backlinks to the page your Google Business Profile listing links to to increase the page’s authority.

17. Internal links to Google Business Profile landingpage from other pages of website

    Read through your content and look for opportunities to add in-content links to other pages of your site. Particularly from your homepage to your service pages.

18. Click-through rate from search results

    Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions to encourage more clicks.

19. Geographic (city/neighborhood) keyword relevance of domain content

    Include your primary city, state, and neighborhood names in your title tags and throughout your content.

20. Prominence on key industry-relevant domains

    Get links to any page on your site from the important websites and blogs in your industry.

21. Quantity of inbound links to domain from industry relevant domains

    Get links to any page on your site from the important websites and blogs in your industry.

22. Quantity of inbound links to domain from locally relevant domains

    Get links to any page on your site from the important websites and blogs in your city, state.

23. Quantity of inbound links to Google Business Profile landingpage URL from locally relevant domains

    Get backlinks to the page your Google Business Profile listing links to from the important websites and blogs in your city, state.

24. Consistency of citations on primary search engines like Google Maps and Bing Maps

    Audit and clean up inconsistent and duplicate citations on Google and Bing Maps.

25. Positive sentiment in review text

    Get a review system in place and ask every customer for a review.

26. Volume of content on Google Business Profile landingpage

    Make sure you’ve written at least 3 solid paragraphs of text on your homepages that describes what you do and includes the primary keywords and topics you want to rank for.

27. Quantity of engagement signals on Google Business Profile listing like for example: scrolling through listing, clicking images, reading reviews & reading Q&A, clicking on Posts.

    Fill out every field in Google Business Profile to make your listing more compelling and engaging.

28. Consistency of citations on data aggregators like Foursquare/Factual, DataAxle & Localeze.

    Audit and clean up inconsistent and duplicate citations on the primary data aggregators.

29. Quantity of inbound links to Google Business Profile landingpage url from industry relevant domains

    Get backlinks to the page your Google Business Profile listing links to from the important websites and blogs in your industry.

30. Diversity of inbound links to your domain

    Get backlinks to any pages on your website from a diverse set of websites, blogs, news sites, online guides & directories.

31. Keywords in domain

    While keywords in your domain name can help your rankings, unless you’re just starting out. We wouldn’t normally recommend changing your primary domain to include keywords.

32. Internal links to service pages from Google Business Profile landingpage

    Read through the content on your Google My Business landingpage (usually the homepage) and look for opportunities to add in-content links to the service pages of your website.

33. Keywords in Google Business Profile landingpage H1/H2 tags

    Ensure that the headings in your content include your primary keywords.

34. Volume of quality content on service pages

    Make sure you have a separate page for every service, and make sure you’ve gone into extreme detail on how you perform the service, why people should hire you, frequently asked questions, etc. The more text content the better.

35. Quality/authority of structured citations

    Get your business listed on the highest rated general, local, and industry business listing sites.

36. Clicks to call business

    Build out a complete and engaging Google Business Profile with lots of information, photos, and reviews to encourage more people to click to call you.

37. Html NAP matching Google Business ;Profile NAP

    Make sure that the name, address, phone nuber (NAP) on your Google Business Profile listing matches the name, address, and phone number on the page your Google Business Profile listing links to. Note that it’s ok to use a call tracking number on your Google Business profile if you set it up correctly.

38. Volume of quality content on entire website

    Ensure that every topic related to your business has a dedicated page, and ensure that all those pages have a significant amount of text based content.

39. Matching Google account domain to Google Business Profile landingpage domain

    Make sure that the email address you used to claim your Google Business Profile is an email on the same domain as your website instead of a @yahoo or @gmail email.

40. Proper hours set on Google Business Profile

    Make sure your opening hours on your Google Business Profile are correct and up to date.

41. Quality/relevance of photos

    Upload plenty of quality photos on your Google Business Profile. Use no stock photos.

42. Quantity of inbound links to domain

    Get backlinks to any pages on your website from a diverse set of websites, blogs, news sites and directories.

43. Volume of searches for business name

    Look for ways to encourage people to search for your brand name in Google.

44. Authority of third party sites on which reviews are present

    Get Google reviews for your business on a diverse set of review websites, particularly industry relevant sites.

45. Quantity of citations from locally relevant domains

    Get citations on local specific business directories.

46. Reference to location specific entities on Google Business Profile landingpage

    Include mentions of authoritiative local specific landmarks and entities on the page that your Google Business Profile links to.

47. Keywords in third-party reviews

    When you ask your customers for Google reviews, ask them to mention the service or product in their review.

48. Quality/authority of unstructured citations like newspaper articles, blog posts, gov sites and industry associations.

    Get your business’ name, address, and phone number mentioned on non-directory sites.

49. Driving directions to business clicks

    Build out a complete and engaging Google Business Profile with lots of information, photos, and Google reviews to encourage more people to request driving directions from your listing. Also, include a Google Map on your website.

50. Keywords in Google posts

    Ensure you’re posting new Google Posts at least weekly, and include your primary keywords in some of your Google posts.

51. Consistency of citations on key sites for example Yellowpages, Yelp, D&B & CityGrid

    Audit and clean up inconsistent and duplicate citations on the primary data aggregators.

52. Quantity of inbound links to Google Business Profile landingpage URL

    Get backlinks to the page that your Google Business Profile links to from a diverse set of websites, blogs, news sites and directories.

53. Mobile-friendly – Responsive website

    Be sure your website has been designed and developed to work well on mobile devices, not only just desktop.

54. Dedicated service page for each category in Google Business Profile

    Make sure you have a separate page for every service, and make sure you have gone into detail on how you perform the service, why people should hire you or frequently asked questions (FAQ). The more text content the better it is.

55. NAP in Schema/JSON-LD on Google Business Profile landingpage URL

    Use local business ‘schema markup’ on the page that your GMB listing links to.