Search engine optimization, or SEO, is something worthwhile for all businesses to invest in for their websites. It boosts online visibility and allows the brand to become a digital authority in its industry. However, when it comes to SEO, many things can go wrong, especially when business owners with little experience in the industry decide to handle SEO efforts themselves. It’s easy to make mistakes with something as delicate as SEO. If your website isn’t ranking the way you expected it to, check out the most common local SEO mistakes to avoid so that you can identify any blunders.
Lack of a Google My Business Profile
Many companies skip the step of creating or claiming their very own Google My Business profiles. Google My Business is a free service that Google provides to businesses to inform their customers and increase their chances of ranking locally as well as in Google’s Map Pack—an essential thing for local companies.
Setting Up Google My Business Without an Address
Even if a company services a specific area, if it has no physical storefront there, it should not have a Google My Business profile. If you service more areas than just around your physical location, it’s better to build out location landing pages on your website to signal to Google and users that you service those areas. Google cannot verify a Google My Business listing without a physical address.
Keyword Stuffing
A common problem on local business websites is keyword stuffing. Using keywords is essential for ranking for relevant search terms on Google, but overusing those terms raises a red flag to Google’s site crawlers. A common place where local companies often keyword-stuff is the footer of their websites. Putting every location landing page in the footer isn’t beneficial—it looks weird to users and to Google.
Duplicate Content on Location Landing Pages
Another regular mistake website owners make with their location landing pages is copying and pasting the same exact content from page to page and only changing the name of the town or service area. This is one of the riskiest moves because Google dislikes duplicate content. Putting the same content across multiple pages on your site could result in Google flagging your website and pulling it out of the search results entirely—making your site nearly impossible to find online.
Missing Contact Information
Building a Contact Us page onto a website is a smart move for businesses—especially local businesses. This page helps with user experience because many users visit a local company’s website to obtain contact information. It also allows Google to verify your contact information on your Google My Business listing and across the web.
At Logical Position, we offer search engine optimization services tailored to local businesses. A perk of hiring us to help with your SEO is that every month, we set aside time to optimize each page of your site for local rankings by creating unique location landing pages, updating Google My Business listings, and adding blogs with local keywords. Contact us today for more information or a free consultation.
