Best Practices to Boost Local SEO for Your Home Care Agency
You may have heard of SEO, but what about local SEO? What's the difference and how can you use it to help your business?
What is Local SEO?
While most business owners are familiar with search engine optimization (SEO), fewer know what local SEO is and why it matters. SEO is the process of increasing your website traffic and brand exposure through unpaid search engine results. Local SEO is fundamentally the same, but it works relative to your particular geographic area.
Why is Local SEO Important?
When searching for a product or service, most people like to search for that product or service “near me.” People want the best options at the most convenient location and price. Searching locally allows people to be expedient, savvy consumers.
If you can boost your local SEO, you can increase the chance that you’ll emerge as a top choice for people searching for home care services in your area.
Set Up a Google My Business Page
Perhaps the most important thing you can do to boost your local SEO is to create a Google My Business Page. Creating a page will add your company to the Google My Business Index, an online “phone book” that will make you available to anyone searching the internet for your services in the area.
The Google My Business Page will also link your company to Google Maps, so people will be able to easily locate your business. Finally, creating an account will allow people to review your company through Google. Frequent, positive reviews work to boost your SEO rankings overall.
How to Maximize Your Google My Business Page
Creating a page is free and easy. Follow the prompts provided, and make sure to fill in your profile completely. Make sure that your business name, phone number, and street address are exactly the same as what is listed on your own website and on other online materials.
Any discrepancies in this key information may signal to Google that your business is illegitimate, and that will drop you in the rankings. Google is particular.
For example, if your business address uses the word “avenue” in one online listing and the abbreviated “ave.” in another, that difference could impact your rankings negatively. So double-check that this key information is consistent.
Target Local Keywords
We’ve talked before about the value of using the keywords and phrases most frequently searched by your audience. To boost local SEO, it’s important to add regional keywords to your content to narrow the focus for people searching in your area.
Imagine that you’re a home care company in Miami, Florida trying to improve your rankings for the phrase “best home care companies.” That can be quite a tall order to fill, as you could be competing with home care companies around the world for that same phrase.
Now imagine optimizing your content for local SEO using a more specific geographic location, “best home care companies in Miami,” for example. With a more specific focus, you’re much more likely to appear in nearby searches by users who are seeking your services locally.
Optimize for Mobile
Often, if people are using their smartphones to search your website, they’re looking for directions, reviews, or contact information. Make sure this information is easy to find and read on a mobile screen.
Check that your website, and all content on that website, loads quickly. Ensure that text and images are as easy to read on a phone as they are on a desktop.
Want to see how readable your site is on mobile? Google has created a free tool to show you if your website is up to its standards for mobile pages. Simply enter your URL here, and Google will run a quick test to let you know your readability.
Optimize for Voice Search
Voice search is on the rise with no sign of slowing down.
People especially use voice search to find services “near me” while multitasking or driving. These queries are usually more conversational and frequently use words indicating a question: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Brainstorm questions that people are most likely to ask using voice search, and revise your website to include that information.
An easy way to do this is to include a FAQ page that reads more like a conversation and less like a list of bullet points. You’ll still provide essential information, but in a way that will connect with readers seeking information that way.
We Know Local SEO
It’s important to leverage your online presence in order to reach the many potential customers who use local search to find services, especially on mobile devices.
If you need help creating a plan to boost your local SEO, we can help. From maximizing your Google My Business Page to strategizing your website for mobile, we can do it all. Give us a call today, and we’ll talk about how to build your local SEO to drive that local search traffic your way.
