SEO for Local Businesses
For a craft business, practice or store, the most important search engine is not the classic hit list, but the display of cards with the three entries above it.
The Company Profile First
A fully completed GoogleCompany profile is stronger than almost anything you can do on your website, full means: right category, opening hours, performance, current photos, and answered reviews.
Name, address, telephone – the same everywhere
Experts call this NAP consistency, and if you have the old phone number in one directory and the new one on the other, it weakens your assignment.
On the website
- Location in title and heading – Not stacked, but of course: “Bicycle repair in Erkrath”.
- Address in the text, not only in the picture – What is integrated as a graphic can not read a search engine.
- Own page per location – For several branches – with own address, own opening hours and own text.
- Structured data – The “LocalBusiness” type feeds address and opening hours directly into the card display.
Assessments
The number and timeliness of the reviews count. Actively asking for this is allowed and useful – a QR code on the counter significantly reduces the hurdle. Not applicable allowed: buy reviews, reward with discounts or ask only satisfied customers. Google “Review Gating” and punish it.
Suitable tools
Further in SEO
- 15 SEO Mistakes Nearly Every Website Makes – The points that turn red most often in the test report – and what lies behind each of them.
- What is a Sitemap? – A list of your addresses for search engines – what it is good for and what belongs in it.
- Create title and meta description correctly – The two lines that decide the click – with the lengths that matter.