Whether you’re a plumber or a local shop, securing the top spots in search engine results for your location is essential to reaching new customers. Local SEO is a different beast from regular SEO, so it’s important to understand the nuances and how to exploit them if you’re a local business in Wirral looking to dominate the SERPs.
With that in mind, here are our top tips for dominating local SEO in Wirral.
1. Get Your Business Listed on Google My Business
One of the most important ranking factors for local SEO is your listing on Google My Business (GMB). This free platform is provided by Google, which allows businesses to list their name, address, phone number, opening hours, website, and other relevant information.
This information is spread across Google’s various platforms, including Google Maps. Including your information on Google Maps is crucial as it’s increasingly becoming the go-to platform for people searching for services in their area. With 154 million monthly users, you can’t afford to not be on there as a small business in Wirral.
2. Optimise Your GMB Listing
Once you’ve claimed and verified your GMB listing, it’s crucial to optimise it for maximum impact. This means including relevant keywords in your business name and description, as well as uploading high-quality photos and videos.
You should also encourage your most loyal customers to leave reviews whenever they get a moment, as these can positively impact your ranking. If someone googles your business and sees a long list of great reviews, they’re far more likely to pick you over the competition.
3. Create Locally-Focused Content
Another crucial element of attaining local SEO dominance is making sure the content you put on your website is relevant to your location. This means including your city or area’s name in your blog post titles as well as sprinkling in a few relevant keywords throughout the body of your content.
For example, if you run a café in Wirral, your blog posts might be titled “The Best Coffee Shops in Wirral” or “How to Spend a Perfect Day Out in Wirral”. This way, when people search for these terms, your website is more likely to appear in the results.
4. Build Local Citations
Another important ranking factor for local SEO is citations. These are mentions of your business name and address on other local directory-style websites. Even if there’s no do-follow backlink back to your site, listing your information on these websites can still help to improve your ranking.
There are a number of ways to find local directories, but the simplest is to do a Google search for “[your location] directory”. Once you’ve found some, claim your listing and fill in as much relevant information as possible. Once you’ve done them, you can also fill out your information on national directory sites such as Yell.com.
5. Get Involved in Your Local Community
Finally, one of the best ways to dominate local SEO is by carrying out offline activities within your local community that can be tied in with your online marketing. This might involve sponsoring a local sports team, holding charity events, or attaching your business information to community centre, parish church, and local school notice boards.
The irony is that these offline activities will often have a positive knock-on effect on your online ranking as they’ll help to build brand awareness and generate backlinks from high-quality local websites as they discover your involvement in the community.
Speak to Ctrl Alt Create Regarding Best-in-Class Local SEO Services in Wirral
Local SEO is a long-term game, so it’s important to be patient and consistent with your efforts. By following these tips, you should be well on your way to dominating local SEO in Wirral and driving more customers to your business.
If you would rather focus your efforts on your core business activities or don’t quite understand the ins and outs of local SEO, then get in touch with Ctrl Alt Create. We offer a comprehensive local SEO service designed to help Wirral-based businesses of all sizes achieve sustainable long-term growth.
Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you. A member of our team will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have regarding local SEO or any of our other digital marketing services.