Social media has changed the way people interact with one another. It has opened new path ways for businesses to connect with its target market, and increase traffic on their websites. However, having so many social media platforms can be daunting. Not everyone knows how to handle so many handles (yes, yes! Pun intended). 

It is therefore, prudent to get an organized idea on how to handle social media platforms. There are several ways to optimize your website for local research. On the other hand, there are just as many number of penalties waiting for you if you opt for practices that do not follow Google’s guidelines.

What Does Local SEO Look Like Today?

It is an obvious fact that legitimate business have better chances of gaining better ranks in Google local search as compared to less legitimate ones. It is therefore, crucial for you to avoid indulging in tactics which might appear as foul play. These can vary from buying fake likes, reviews to purchasing fake comments. 

Keep a Thorough Inventory of SEO Efforts

 Order and organization is the first step of success. By keeping a thorough record of your local SEO efforts you are able to avoid content duplication. Thus, it will help you post quality content and implement SEO to the best of your capacity.

Manage Your Citations

Multi location SEO refers to managing your brand around the internet and on-page optimization. Google assesses everything about your website, such as the name, address and even contact number. It checks whether these have links and determines ranking in local search. 

If your listings are not consistent, it negatively impacts your SEO. To avoid such a mishap, make sure your NAP is consistent for each business location. This means that you should make sure is not annotated based on location. Do not write the name of the city or area of the location. For instance IKEA at Springfield.

Look at how your business is listed on various locations such as Yelp, Yahoo Local, Foursquare and Yellow pages, among others. If you are having a hard time looking for your citations, you can use SEMrush’ Listing Management Tool. It can search the web and help you evaluate your business listings and their accuracy.

Ensure that Your Business Appears in the Knowledge Panel

You need to be sure of uploading and maintaining structured data on the website. It is imperative for achieving a knowledge panel about your business in SERPs. In doing so you will also be validated in Google’s Structured data Testing tool and you will not come across any problems when your website is indexed.

Build Links for Each of the Location Pages

Backlinks are essential for increasing traffic and improving SEO rankings. However, if you have multiple location0specific landing pages you are now required to improve the PageRank of each of them. You can develop a link building strategy which will let you focus on your pages. 

Become a sponsor or Host an Event

One of the best ways of increasing backlinks is by sponsoring local events. You can also participate in charities. You can also host events on your various business locations. It will create buzz about your business and ultimately increase backlinks in the process.

Start Content Marketing

Create content apropos to the local market. Something that people will connect with. Host blogs on each site to attract links and people. The more content you have, the more opportunities you will get for building links.

Manage the Reviews

Manage the reviews for each business location separately. It is an important part of local SEO. Many a time chain businesses focus on accruing reviews and testimonials for their business. In the process, they ignore location specific feedback. 

It is a rookie mistake. Google displays reviews location specific reviews in every search result.

Deal With The Bad Reviews

Bad reviews are inevitable. Not everyone will be happy with your products or services. The crux is how you react to those reviews. Here are a few steps which can help you:

• Respond quickly to those reviews. Be professional and composed. Do not be rude to the reviewer. Instead stretch out a helping hand.
• As the old saying goes: customer is always right. It does not mean the customer is incapable of making mistakes or misusing your product. However, pinning the blame on them can be off putting for them, and your future customers. 
• Do not instigate them. Be careful with the words you choose. You do not want to set them off, nor do you want to offend them. Be respectful.

Steps To Take For Positive Reviews

Negative reviews are inevitable. But you can encourage positive reviews from your customers. 

• For starters, you can use a widget, if you don’t have the ability to coe.
• You can also create QR code for every page separately.
• Resolve the negative reviews quickly. Indolence can be detrimental for your local SEO.
• You can also include call-to-action at your tangible and intangible business locations and encourage visitors to leave positive reviews.

Conclusion

Local SEO is a great way of increasing search visibility of businesses that cater to communities according to their needs. These could include tangible businesses such as a grocery store, or intangible ones that offer services.
Many businesses do not pay attention to the need for local SEO improvement, and carry on.
The long term effects could result in sheer losses and business closure.  By learning the ins and outs of local SEO, you can create your winning strategy which will give you a competitive leverage and better SEO rankings.