A list of 100 simple local SEO tips & tricks

  1. 01Include your location details and services offered in the title tags to give viewers a better understanding of your business.
  2. 02Make sure your title tags are in the range of 50 - 60 characters. Longer than 60 can lead to text getting cut off.
  3. 03Make your title tags relevant and avoid stuffing of keywords.
  4. 04Don’t allow duplication of title tags on your business website.
  5. 05Keep your URLs clean and simple. Eg: www.xyz.com/adavtages-air-conditioner.html
  6. 06Try including relevant keywords in your URLs to rank higher for search keywords.
  7. 07Add your primary keyword (or something close) in your website URL.
  8. 08Build a sound structure for your URLs that can be implemented across the website.
  9. 09Limit URL length to 512 pixels as Google tends to truncate them after the specified limit.
  10. 10Use static URLs over dynamic ones as they are easily identifiable and have better recall among visitors.
  11. 11Make sure your meta descriptions are not longer than 155 characters as they can get truncated in search results.
  12. 12Use 301 redirect to point all versions of your site to the secure https version.
  13. 13Point all pages of your site that are non-www to www.
  14. 14Add canonical tags to similar web pages, so that Google understands which one to pick up.
  15. 15Avoid having duplicate content on the website. Use SiteLiner/CopyScape to check for duplicate content.
  16. 16Feature at least 100 words on each crawlable page of your site to allow Google to make sense of the content.
  17. 17Use relevant ALT tags for images to give search engine spiders the right message.
  18. 18Maintain a blog on your site so that fresh content is updated regularly.
  19. 19Avoid having a large chunk of hidden content on your website. It can lead to low text-HTML ratio.
  20. 20Use Google Analytics to get a better understanding of your site’s performance and traffic.
  21. 21Install Google Webmasters to improve your site’s search performance.
  22. 22Clear all errors that show up on Google Webmasters to make sure your site is functioning properly.
  23. 23Setup Bing Webmasters Tool to get an insight into your site from Bing’s search engine.
  24. 24Maintain an accurate Google My Business page.
  25. 25Enhance your Google My Business profile with media like photos and videos.
  26. 26Use an official mail ID to get your Google My Business listing verified.
  27. 27Use of emojis in your Google My Business listing is a violation of Google’s guidelines.
  28. 28Make sure you select the correct and relevant categories for your Google My Business listing.
  29. 29Check your competitors’ categories on Google before picking yours.
  30. 30To check your competitors’ categories on Google, go to their Maps listing and click source.
  31. 31Check the internet for any/all the listings your business might have.
  32. 32Remove all duplicate listings to avoid inaccuracy of data.
  33. 33Edit old/inaccurate business listings on all business directories online.
  34. 34Make sure your NAP data is uniform across the internet so that you can rank higher for local search terms pertaining to your business.
  35. 35Get yourself listed on all the major directories like Yelp, Foursquare, ExpressUpdate, MerchantCircle etc.
  36. 36Make sure your business location is accurate on Google Maps, Apple Maps, OpenStreetMaps etc.
  37. 37Provide all relevant information across online business directories.
  38. 38List your business on all the niche-specific directories so that you can be found by more customers.
  39. 39Feature your business information on all local directories for easy access.
  40. 40Create a social handle for your business on all social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc.
  41. 41Identify the social platforms that your customers are active on and try to engage with them.
  42. 42Make your business accessible on all social platforms. This can help improve business reviews and customer experience.
  43. 43Block a username/handle for your business across all possible social platforms for reputation management purposes.
  44. 44Allow users to review you on all forums so that the overall rating for your business improves.
  45. 45Make sure you respond to all reviews, especially the negative ones. This will help improve customer experience.
  46. 46Try getting more reviews for your business by mailing your customers.
  47. 47Provide your customers with a few points they can add on their review for your business.
  48. 48Google does not allow incentivizing for reviews. Be careful when you start requesting for reviews.
  49. 49Improving your business’ star rating can increase the number of clicks your business listing gets through search.
  50. 50Place a clear Call-To-Action button on your website.
  51. 51Use plugins like Yoast to optimize your website for SEO from the get go.
  52. 52Make sure you have a structured data markup on your website.
  53. 53Check your site’s Schema and modify it, if required, to make sure the search crawlers pick up the right content.
  54. 54Create an XML Sitemap for your website so that the search crawlers understand your site architecture.
  55. 55Use XML-Sitemaps.com or the Google XML Sitemaps WordPress Plugin to create a sitemap for your website.
  56. 56Submit your site’s XML Sitemap on Google and Bing Webmasters tools.
  57. 57Create a robots.txt file for your business website to guide search crawlers.
  58. 58Add a review widget on your site to showcase the kind of customer reviews your business has.
  59. 59Use an ”Add a Review” button that encourages your customers to review your business on Google, Yelp or any other platform.
  60. 60Try embedding “Find Us on Yelp” banner on your website.
  61. 61Showcase user reviews on your website and connect them to the source like Facebook, Yelp etc.
  62. 62Use Check-In deals on Yelp to increase the number of reviews and walk-ins for specific locations.
  63. 63Add a local contact number on your website instead of a call center number.
  64. 64Geo-tag all your Youtube videos to improve their searchability.
  65. 65Include complete NAP details in the description of your Youtube videos to help it rank higher for relevant keywords.
  66. 66Geo-tag all images that you upload on any image-sharing platform to improve searchability.
  67. 67Make sure all your images and videos are connected to your Google My Business listing.
  68. 68Get your business listed on the top 50 citation directories to get found easily.
  69. 69Do a competitor citation audit and get your business listed on the same avenues.
  70. 70Track and detect your old citations. Bring all your old citations up to date.
  71. 71Check the load time for your website on Google Page insights and work towards improving it.
  72. 72Add the location and contact details of all branches of your business on your website.
  73. 73If your business has multiple locations, then make sure you link the specific location pages of the website.
  74. 74To kick-off your website’s off-page SEO, work towards creating high quality backlinks.
  75. 75Try partnering with sites that have a high domain authority for backlinks. This can help increase your site’s credibility.
  76. 76Build only ethical backlinks from different sources that are relevant to your site’s content.
  77. 77Try getting backlinks from local news, event feature sites etc. to improve local press coverage for your business.
  78. 78Encourage your local partners to provide backlinks to your website.
  79. 79A press release on local PR sites can help spread more awareness about your services/products.
  80. 80Limit the number of on-page links on your website. Too many links can dilute your page’s value.
  81. 81Identify your competitor’s top backlinks.
  82. 82Use tools like Ahrefs Link Diagnosis, Open Site explorer etc. to identify your competitors’ backlink profiles.
  83. 83Focus on creating backlinks on the same sites as your competitors to improve your chances of being found.
  84. 84Partner with local community experts for interviews/webinars and feature the same on your website.
  85. 85Promote partnership with local community experts on your business’ social media handles to gain more traction.
  86. 86Make sure your business has an active participation in local communities and forums.
  87. 87Your business can also focus on creating content that is community-focused. This will connect better with your target audience.
  88. 88Develop a mobile-first design for your website so that Google ranks it higher for relevant keywords.
  89. 89Check your site’s mobile-friendliness using Google’s Search Console tools and modify it accordingly.
  90. 90Inspect your website’s performance on multiple browsers using BrowserStack.
  91. 91For businesses that focus on content, news and articles, an Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) is advised to rank higher on Google search.
  92. 92Use tools like ScreamingFrog to check for broken links or other errors on your website.
  93. 93Use Google’s Keyword research tool to understand the search volume and intent that your are looking to rank for.
  94. 94Put down a list of keywords relevant to your business and develop content for your site based on it.
  95. 95Start with a small volume of keywords for your website.
  96. 96Add a link to your website in your email signature and all your employees’ signatures as well. This can get more visitors to your site.
  97. 97Send out a timely newsletter to customers with only relevant information. This can improve customer experience.
  98. 98Include a link to your social media handles and website in your newsletter.
  99. 99Try getting feedback from loyal customers via emails to improve your business’ brand perception.
  100. 100Include a language declaration on your page. This can help with geolocation of your website.