Improving local SEO for your business can significantly enhance its visibility to potential customers who are searching for related products or services in the area.
Local Search Engine Optimisation aka Local SEO, is all about optimising your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches.
Keep reading to learn how to improve your local SEO.
What is Local SEO
Local Search Engine Optimisation aka Local SEO is about optimising your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches in your area; usually from Google, but also less popular search engines like Bing.
Local SEO can also be defined with two separate goals:
- Optimise your Google Business Profile to rank higher in the local business listings.
- Optimise your website to rank higher in Google search results for location-based searches.
#1 is traditionally what local SEO is all about. But it’s also about ranking your website higher in the organic search results, i.e. outside of the local business listings (excluding ads).
Note: If you don’t have a Google Business Profile set up yet, don’t rush to set one up. Read step 1 below first about optimising your GBP. Incorrect setup, e.g. with a suboptimal business address, can significantly reduce your potential for online exposure.
Google Business Profile vs Google My Business (GMB)
Note that throughout this article (and others), you might see the terms Google Business Profile, GBP, Google Business Listing, Google My Business, and GMB. They all mean the same thing.
The reason I mention them all is because some people still call the business listing a Google My Business listing, GMB, or Google Business Listing even though the new name, as set by Google, is a Google Business Profile or GBP.
1. Google Business Profile
The first step is directly related to the first and most important goal of local SEO; to optimise your Google Business Profile to rank higher in Google’s local business listings. In fact, for many businesses, simply creating a profile to get your business listed is all you need to do.
If you are on a very tight budget, just start with setting up your Google Business Profile. Don’t worry about investing in a website just yet. If your Google Business Profile is well optimised, you should be able to generate enquiries about your services quite quickly, or simply bring people to your physical store to buy your products in person.
Claim and Verify Your Google Business Listing
After claiming your Google Business Profile, Google will require verification. This typically involves receiving a verification code via postcard at your business address. However, Google has recently been allowing verification via SMS or a phone call. Probably because postcards kept getting lost or business owners would assume it was lost after 4 weeks of waiting, then request another postcard verification, to find the postcard arriving the following day. This has happened to me soooo many times. So if you have to wait for a postcard, just be patient.
However, you might get unlucky if Google requires a video verification. So be prepared to verify your business via video by showing footage of the actual address (e.g. street sign, nearby businesses, etc.), business premises, signage, etc.
Note that if you already have a GBP, be careful not to change key information like your business address if you don’t absolutely need to, otherwise you’ll almost certainly need to do a video verification. Video verifications can be difficult to pass due footage requirements, but also because the video upload process can timeout if your video is too long.
Business Address Matters
I’m mentioning this first before you get carried away with setting up your business listing.
Set Your Business Address Strategically: Even if you choose not to display your business address publicly, when verifying your GBP, aim to have it as close as possible to your target audience. For instance, if your target market is in the City of Greater Geelong, setting your address within the Geelong CBD can significantly improve the relevance of searches. e.g. People often search combining the service or product with the location, like “Florist Geelong.” Usually a Florist that’s located in Geelong, usually the CBD, is more relevant than one that is not located in or near Geelong. More on this below.
Consider the Location Carefully: Ideally, place your business address near the city center or where your competitors are clustered. This is particularly effective in competitive areas, such as the CBD, where being in the midst of similar businesses (e.g., florists) can enhance your visibility.
Understand Google’s Preferences: Google tends to prioritise listings that are centrally located and near other similar businesses. This strategy helps Google present the most relevant results to users. While not officially confirmed, my observations suggest that listings closer to the city center or in areas with a high concentration of similar businesses (that already rank well) tend to rank higher.
Show Your Physical Address: Google appears to favour GBP listings that include a physical address. Displaying your address can be beneficial, but it’s not strictly necessary for ranking well. For instance, before showing a physical address, my own business consistently ranked at the top for “Web Designer Geelong” by verifying with an address close to the CBD and my competitors.
Note that the above location tips are based on personal experience and observations over time while optimising Google Business Profiles. While strategies like these can enhance your listing’s performance, Google’s algorithms are complex and subject to change.
Your Business Name Matters
When it comes to setting your business name for your Google Business Profile, it can help your rankings to show your full business name + your target keyword. Don’t overdo this though, otherwise Google might get angry and suspend your account for trying to game their system, or at least make you do a video verification, which can be hard to pass if the business name you used isn’t actually shown on anything or seemingly unrelated. So it has to make sense. For example, if you are a florist, I would use [Your Business Name] + Florist. e.g. The Pink Carnation Florist. This example is fine in my books. But still, use this tactic at your own risk.
Complete Your Profile with Detailed Information
Ensure your Google Business Profile is filled out in its entirety. This includes your business name, business category, address, phone number, website, services, and hours of operation. Use keywords that describe your business and are likely searched by your target audience in Geelong.
Here is a full list of the most important details to fill out:
- Business name
- Business category (add secondary categories if relevant)
- Business description
- Opening date (this is important to help your business stand out from competitors who haven’t been in business as long. e.g. Been in business for 10+ years is a huge trust factor)
- Phone number or mobile number
- Website link (use the full URL include https, e.g. https://www.maxjacobs.com.au/)
- Social profile links (LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, & Instagram)
- Business address and/or business service areas
- Opening hours (if relevant)
Whatever you add above, make sure you also add it to your website (if you have one). Key places on your website to add the above information includes:
- Website footer
- About page
- Contact page
Of all of the information above, the most important is your business name, address and phone number. SEO people call this your NAP (I prefer NAPE to include email address), and should be consistent across the internet. i.e. Your website, Google Business Profile, business directories, etc, should all show the same business information. If it’s different Google might think it’s a different business.
In addition to the above, I would add your NAPE to your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
Add High-Quality Photos
Upload high-quality images of your business, including the interior and exterior, staff at work (if any), and your products or services. Regularly update these images to keep your listing fresh and engaging.
If you don’t have time or just want to do the bare minimum for GBP listing success, just add your business logo and a cover photo.
Add these as the bare minimum:
- Logo (or Favicon)
- Cover Photo
The above is what will make your business listing stand out. i.e. regardless of your rank in the Google business listings, people might click on your listing if it stands out more than your competitors.
Encourage and Respond to Reviews
Actively encourage your customers or clients to leave positive reviews by sharing a reviews link via email, social media, or directly with customers. Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, in a professional manner to show that you value customer feedback.
New listings without reviews create a bad first impression. So do whatever it takes to get at least 5 reviews on your new Google business listing.
How to get more 5 star Google reviews
Follow this 2-step process to get more 5 star reviews or at least increasing your average Google rating.
- Step 1 = When a client or customer is happy, send them a link asking them to leave a review.
- Step 2 = When a client or customer isn’t happy, don’t send them a Google review link (at least not yet). Instead, ask for their honest feedback about how you can improve your service or product. And if someone did leave you a bad review, reaching out to them might give you the opportunity to make things right where they possibly change their review. Definitely don’t respond with an angry comment! If you do respond, show everyone how good your customer support is, and how you moved mountains to rectify the problem they faced, even if they don’t change the review.
If you are a perfectionist and can’t stand looking at your Google business profile with less than a 5 star average rating, it’s possible to get it back to 5/5. If you get enough 5 star reviews where the average is above 4.9, Google will bump you back up to 5 stars. So just keep providing an epic service or products with world class customer support, you’ll get back to 5/5 eventually.
Add Products and/or Services
Google gives you the option of adding products and/or services to your Google Business Profile. These can be a great way to showcase your product and services from Google Search. It also helps direct people to specific product pages or service pages if you’ve added a website link for each (definitely do this!).
Even if you offer a service, I still recommend adding it as a ‘product’ on your listing. Doing this let’s you link to your service page(s). The ‘services’ feature of your listing doesn’t currently let you link to a services page. So just pretend your service is a product. i.e. a productised service.
‘Add Update’
Once you’ve followed the above steps, I think it’s a good idea to publish a post to your new listing using the ‘Add Update’ feature. This does two things:
- Tells Google’s algorithm that your listing has fresh and relevant content on it.
- Shows potential customers that your listing is active with a post feed.
If it’s your first time publishing a post to your Google Business Profile, just create a simple post explaining who you are, what you do, how you are different from your competitors, add a feature image, and make sure to add a link to your website. I like to add a link inside the post, and I also like to link out to my website using the ‘Add Button’ option.
2. On-Page SEO
This part is about optimising your website and is the foundation to achieving goal #2 to rank higher in Google search results for location-based searches. I believe this can also help increase the ranking of your Google business listing, particularly if the home page is well-optimised.
TLDR:
- Focus on optimising your home page first (this is usually the most powerful page and most likely to rank higher, especially if other websites have linked to your home page).
- Each page should be optimised to rank for a different keyword. e.g. your home page should try to rank for the most competitive keyword or the overarching topic your website is about, each service page would try to rank for that particular service in Geelong, etc. There is no need to optimise your About or Contact page for keywords, just add your key business details like business name, address, phone number, email, etc.
- Include target keyword in title tag + meta description
- Include target keyword in your H1 heading and a H2 heading if it makes sense
- Include your target keyword or keywords a couple times throughout. I’ve played around with keyword stuffing and you are always better off under optimising than over optimising. Just mention your target keyword 1-2 times on your home page and maybe a couple variations of it. Nothing more. Also think about the reader and make your page easy to read. If it looks weird with keywords in places that don’t make sense, change your text content until it reads naturally.
- Add location pages aka service area pages if there is enough search volume. e.g. Creating a page that targets gutter cleaning in Torquay in addition to the primary service page that targets gutter cleaning in Geelong. Use AHREFS free keyword tool to check search volumes for different suburbs around Geelong: https://ahrefs.com/keyword-generator/?country=au
- Add local business schema markup
- Add internal links using keyword-rich anchor text
- If your website is built using WordPress (my favourite), I recommend using an SEO plugin called The SEO Framework. It’s the best performance focused SEO plugin I’ve found. If you are on a budget, or need more SEO features, then Rank Math is a good option, which I still use for some websites. It’s free version has all of the premium features (and more) of Yoast and The SEO Framework.
Just so you know, On-Page SEO refers to optimising your website and its content to rank higher in search engines. In terms of local SEO, it’s about optimising your website content to rank higher for location-based searches. e.g. Tree Removal Geelong, Florist Geelong, etc.
If you are a Geelong business, and you want to rank for Geelong-based searches, make sure your website mentions your service or product and Geelong. If your website doesn’t mention the word Geelong, then Google doesn’t know that you want to rank for Geelong-based keywords. This is the biggest issue that I see with websites trying to rank higher in Geelong. i.e. their website simply doesn’t have any or very little text content that includes the keywords they want to rank for. It’s somewhat simple, but people also get into trouble adding the word Geelong everywhere or optimising different pages for the same keyword. More on this below.
Focus on the Home Page
In terms of SEO, I believe your home page is the most important page and the easiest to rank higher for Geelong-based searches. In my experience, it’s low hanging fruit and will give you the best ROI for time or money spent optimising. So, optimise your home page first.
Also, because your home page is likely to attract the most inbound links, i.e. other websites linking to you (more on this below), the home page’s potential to rank higher will grow over time. And because it’s the strongest page and growing stronger, you should try to optimise it for the most competitive keyword or the overarching topic of your website.
Add internal links using keyword-rich anchor text
To power up the home page, add a few internal links from your internal pages to your home page using your home page’s target keyword as the anchor text.
This tactic is better if you link from pages that are likely to rank for something similar to your home page. e.g. a product category page showcases different flower products is a bit too similar to the home page trying to rank for Flowers Geelong or Florist Geelong, so you would leave this category page alone, i.e. don’t optimise for Flowers Geelong’, and instead use it as a way to power up your home page with a description like, ‘Discover artfully crafted bouquets by the best florist in Geelong.
Note the internal link that takes people (and Google crawler) to the home page and tells people (and Google) that your home page is about the best florist in Geelong.
Checklist:
- Optimise your home page first.
- Optimise your home page for the overarching topic of your website. e.g. if you are a Florist, you should optimise it for Florist Geelong.
- Add internal links from similar internal pages to your home page using the home page’s target keyword, secondary keywords or variations as anchor text.
- Follow all tips below for specifics of how to optimise your home page. e.g. Title Tag, H1, text content, etc.
Each page should be optimised for a different keyword
As mentioned above, one of the biggest issues I see with local SEO or optimising websites for certain locations, e.g. Geelong-based searches, is adding your location, e.g. Geelong, to all pages and/or optimising multiple pages for the same keyword(s). If you have multiple pages with the same text content, it could be considered duplicate content by Google. See the screenshot below from Google’s SEO Starter Guide that you should not have two pages that contain the same information.
When Google ranks a web page for a search query, they are typically looking for the best, most relevant page (not pages) to show from your website. So if you have multiple pages with the same content, i.e. optimised for the same keyword(s), then you are making it harder for Google to determine which page is the most relevant and also harder for your visitors to understand what each page is about.
For example, I recently did an audit of a Geelong business website trying to rank for their particular service in Geelong. There were quite a few SEO issues with the website, but one of the biggest was every page had the exact same main heading aka H1 and the same target keyword in the title tag for every page. This is the wrong way to do it, unless the word Geelong is part of your business name. Not only should each page have a unique heading and text content, but each page should be trying to rank for a different topic or service. Otherwise Google thinks all of your pages want to rank for the same keywords, which means you end up competing against yourself and confusing Google about what you want pages to rank for. Google aside, your visitors will probably get confused seeing the same heading/content on all of your pages.
After some basic text content changes to this client’s website, e.g. changing the contact page heading and title tag to simply ‘Contact Us’, the about page heading and title tag to ‘About Us’, etc, instead of the same heading and title from the home page, the website’s home page rank was boosted from #6 to #2. I expect them to reach #1 soon following Off-Page SEO work (more on this below).
SEO is often about making it easier for Google and users to understand what your website is about and what you offer.
Sometimes their is overlap or too much similarity between services and your home page’s target keyword. This is ok. Just let Google rank your homepage. When I see Google doing this, i.e. ranking the home page instead of the service pages, I either de-optimise the home page if I want the service page to rank instead, OR I follow Google’s lead and add internal links from those service pages to the home page (as mentioned above) to give it a relevancy boost.
Checklist:
- Optimise your home page for the overarching topic or most lucrative/competitive keyword.
- Optimise each service page for its particular service.
- Optimise each product category for its particular product category.
Include your target keyword in the Title Tag
This is arguably the most powerful tactic to tell Google what your page is about. Although, I’ve noticed over the last couple years that they automatically change your title tag to match your H1 heading (more on this below) to match the searchers intent. Regardless, you should optimise your Title Tag to include your target keyword for that particular page.
Take my home page for example. My target keyword is ‘Web Design Geelong’. So I’ve made my title tag ‘Web Design Geelong > Google Ads & SEO > Max Jacobs’. I actually think this could be optimised further for Web Design Geelong by removing the Google Ads & SEO part to make it even more clear to Google that my home page is trying to rank for Web Design Geelong.
Title Tag checklist:
- Include target keyword in your Title Tag.
- Show your target keyword at the very start of your Title Tag.
- Include your business name at the end of the Title Tag.
- Use a hyphen or some kind of symbol as a divider between your target keyword and business name
- Make your Title Tag stand out by using a different divider. i.e. Don’t use a basic hyphen. Instead use one of these symbols: |,
›, », >. - If you have a blog article that is dependent on the current year, e.g. a review, or up to date statistics, etc, add the current year to the end of the Title Tag. e.g. Best Geelong SEO Agencies Reviewed 2024 > Max Jacobs.
- Limit your Title tag to 60 characters.
Include your target keyword in the Meta Description
While Google has stated this doesn’t affect your rankings, it can certainly affect your click through rate. So why include the target keyword in your meta description? Well, your target keywords will get automatically highlighted in bold by Google. You don’t have to include the exact keyword, just include the words naturally in the meta description. e.g. my home page meta description is:
‘I’m a Geelong Web Designer who specialises in WordPress websites that are FAST, accessible, follow best practices, and optimised for Google Search.’
Notice how I didn’t stuff ‘Web Design Geelong’ in there. Instead I put Geelong Web Designer, which gets highlighted when you Google ‘Web Design Geelong’. I could also put ‘I’m a web designer in Geelong who specialises…’ and the Google would still highlight the words web, designer, and Geelong.
As you can see, including the words that make up your target keyword or close variations, will get highlighted in bold, which will help make your description stand out and increase your click through rate.
However, having bold words is really just a bonus. The main goal of your meta description is to pique your target audience’s interest and encourage them to click through to your website. If it’s boring or confusing, people searching on Google or other search engines will likely click through to your competitors website instead. First impressions count, and it happens BEFORE people go to your website.
With that said, I think my meta description could be improved. I think it succinctly explains who I am, what I specialise in, and how I do things, but it’s doesn’t sound exciting to me. So maybe it doesn’t pique people’s interest or maybe it uses too much jargon that Geelong business owners find confusing. Thoughts? Let me know in the comments what you think I should change it to…
Meta Description checklist:
- Include your target keywords or close variations in the description because they will get highlighted when someone searches for your target keyword. This will increase your click through rate.
- Use your meta description to encourage people to click through to your website from Google. Write it in a way that piques peoples interest or makes you stand out from your competitors.
- Make your description stand out by showing a power words in UPPERCASE. Don’t overdo this though.
- If Google automatically changes your description when searching for your target keyword, it means Google thinks your description isn’t relevant to the search intent. Look at what text they used instead, and rewrite your description based on that. If they haven’t done this, but you want to match the search intent as much as possible, look at the results in Google when searching for your target keyword and see if you can find a competitor who’s description has been changed. They often get cut off with a … but sometimes you need to cross reference the description with the description set in the source code of your competitors website. If using Chrome, you could do this by going to the competitors website > click 3 dots in top right hand corner > More Tools > Developer Tools > click on the Elements tab > click <head> to open up header code > look for <meta name=”description” content=”This is where their description will be”>. If this is different to what Google shows, you could use Google’s preferred description to help write your own.
Show target keyword in H1 heading
Your H1 heading tells Google what your page is about. So leverage this and include your target keyword in the H1 heading. Sometimes it looks unnatural though. If you can’t think of a clever way to include it, just include the base keywords.
For example, Web Design Geelong or any [insert your service] + Geelong type keywords are quite hard to fit into the H1 in a natural way. So just include a joining word (preposition?) like ‘in’ to make it flow. A H1 heading that reads, ‘I’m a Web Designer in Geelong’, reads much better than ‘Web Design Geelong’. You don’t want your website to look like it’s been SEO’d.
If you really want to include the exact match keyword to maximise optimisation, try this structure: ‘We Provide The Best [Insert Service] Geelong Has To Offer’. This could work well for my home page, i.e. I Provide The Best Web Design Geelong Has To Offer. Notice how I’ve got the exact match keyword in there (highlighted in bold). I don’t think I’m the best though, so I don’t feel comfortable with this. If you feel the same way, you could tweak to something like ‘One Of The Best [Service Providers] Geelong Has To Offer. So it would be ‘I’m One Of The Best Web Designers Geelong Has To Offer’. It’s not exact match, but it’s pretty close!
H1 heading checklist:
- You should only have one H1 heading on each page.
- Try to include your target keyword in the H1 heading in the most natural way possible.
Don’t over optimise your web pages
Include your target keyword or keywords a couple times throughout. I’ve played around with keyword stuffing and you are always better off under optimising than over optimising. Just mention your target keyword 1-2 times on your home page and maybe a couple variations of it. Nothing more. Also think about the reader and make your page easy to read. If it looks weird with keywords in places that don’t make sense, change your text content until it reads naturally.
Add location pages if it makes sense
While your primary keywords might target Geelong-based searches, e.g. Gutter Cleaning Geelong, sometimes people in Geelong will search for a service provider in their suburb, especially if it’s closer to the coast or on the outskirts of the City of Greater Geelong. e.g. Gutter Cleaning Ocean Grove. This keyword gets ~20 searches per month according to AHREFS, so I think it’s worth creating a location page targeting ‘Gutter Cleaning Ocean Grove’.
Location pages checklist:
- If there is enough search volume for suburbs or areas on the outskirts or completely outside of Geelong, consider creating location pages for them. e.g. Places along the coast, general areas like Bellarine or Surfcoast, Melbourne, etc.
- However, if you only target a general area or perhaps just Geelong and Melbourne, then it can make more sense to optimise your home page and service pages for both instead of creating location pages. This is because you might be able to fit the words Geelong and Melbourne in the Title Tag, H1, etc. e.g. Gutter Cleaning Geelong & Melbourne.
To check search volumes, you can use the free keyword tool by AHREFS.
Create Content with a Local Focus
Write blog posts or create content that’s relevant to your city/suburb and the community. This could include guides to local attractions, local event coverage, or advice relevant to your local customers.
This will be dependent your business and what people are searching for though. To get ideas, use this free keyword generator tool by AHREFS to check questions people ask related to your area.
Here are some common questions people are asking about Geelong that could be worth writing an article about. Even if it’s not directly relevant to your business, these kinds of articles can attract lots of backlinks, which can significantly increase your domain authority (more on this in the local backlink strategy section below). I’ve also included their approximate monthly search volumes according to my SEMrush SEO tool.
- What to do in Geelong? – searched 1600 times per month
- What’s on in Geelong? – search 390 times per month
- Where to eat in Geelong? – 320
- What’s on in Geelong this weekend? – 260
- What to see in Geelong? – 140
- Is Geelong a good place to live? – 70
The above keywords are very general though. While they can be good for increasing the number of backlinks to your site through a popular article published about one of these topics, you should also consider article topics that are more relevant to your business. It’s hard for me to say what these are, but my keyword tool SEmrush says there are almost 6000 keywords related to Geelong. Many of them are similar but there are certainly many Geelong related questions you could write an article about.
Here are some free tools you can use to find location-specific topics to write about:
- AHREFS free keyword tool
- Google Keyword Planner
- Just start Googling ideas and see if anyone else has written an article that you could improve upon.
Adding Local Business Schema Markup
Schema markup is a great way to help Google understand your most important business details, content, products and service offerings. It just makes it easier for Google to understand what your website is about overall and what certain pages are about too.
There is a type of schema markup called Local Business Schema Markup that you can add to your site to help Google understand that you are a local business along with all of your most important business details.
Schema markup is a powerful tool for local SEO. By implementing local business schema markup on your website, you provide search engines with explicit information about your business, such as its name, address, phone number, and services offered. This structured data helps Google understand and display your business information in rich snippets and local search results, enhancing visibility.
How to add Local Business Schema Markup
If your website is built using WordPress, you can easily add local business schema markup using most SEO plugins. I recommend using The SEO Framework.
If your website is built using a different content management system like Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, etc, then you’ll need to manually add the schema markup. It’s not as hard as you think. Just use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to guide you.
How to add Local Business Schema Markup using The SEO Framework (paid option):
- Install the SEO Framework
- Enable ‘Local’ extension
- Click on Local tab and fill out all of your business details including: schema type (choose local business or another schema type if it is more relevant), business name, website URL, business address, phone number, opening hours (if relevant), price range, and business logo.
How to add Local Business Schema Markup using Rank Math (free option):
- Install Rank Math
- Go to Rank Math SEO > Titles & Meta > Local SEO
- Fill out all business details including: confirming you are an organisation or person, website name, alternative website name (if relevant), person/organisation name, logo, website URL, email, address, business type (this is your schema type – choose local business or another schema type if it is more relevant), opening hours, price range, and set about page and contact page where local schema markup will get added.
3. Backlinks
If you have lots of competitors in your area, this part is extra important. If you don’t, then this part can help you secure and keep that #1 spot for your target keywords.
Analyse your biggest competitor’s websites
How do you know if you have lots of competitors? Start by Googling your target keyword and see how many other business websites rank in the top 10. Then check their website authority using this free backlink checker tool from AHREFS. This is just a general indicator, but it will show you a domain authority score and the number of websites that link to your competitors website.
Your goal is to increase your domain authority higher than your competitors by having other high authority websites like to yours. Looking at your competitor’s backlinks, and more importantly referring domains, can also give you ideas of where you can also get some easy links pointing to your site.
These are often business directories but you might find that some competitors are doing guest posts on websites in your industry and linking back to their own from there. You could start by copying their strategy, then build on it from there.
List in Local and Industry-Specific Directories
Start by listing your business in as many relevant local business directories as you can find. Ensure your business is listed in reputable local directories and industry-specific listings with consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) details. Prioritise directories that are well-regarded and relevant to your business.
Here is a list of common business directories to list your business and website link for free:
- Google Business Profile (obviously start with this)
- Yellow Pages
- Apple Maps
- True Local
- Bing Places
- Word of Mouth
- Yelp
- Hot Frog
- Trip Adviser
You could also consider the below paid directories:
- Geelong Chamber of Commerce
- Hipages (for tradies)
- Oneflare
Note that not all will increase your domain authority. Many local business directories have changed the website link from dofollow to nofollow, which essentially means they don’t increase your domain authority. However, it’s still worth listing your business to increase your online exposure, drive traffic to your website, and show Google that you are a real business with your business details all over the internet, not just on your website.
What is the best business directory in Geelong?
The best business directory in Geelong is the Geelong Chamber of Commerce. They are the most well known place to list your business, and one of the best ways to connect with local businesses.
All other business directories in Geelong seem like scam/spam websites or created purely to generate money from subscription fees. I couldn’t find any other business listing sites that looked legit or had a high domain authority where a backlink is actually beneficial for most businesses in Geelong.
Engage with the Local Community
You could try participate in or sponsor local events, charities, or community projects. This can lead to natural backlinks from local organisation websites and press coverage.
Collaborate with Local Businesses
Establish relationships with neighboring businesses to create referral networks or co-host events. This can lead to valuable local backlinks and increased referral traffic too.
4. Social Media
Engaging with your target audience on social media can also help boost your online presence. Creating social media profiles and including your website link is also a great signal to Google. Similar to business directories, most of these are nofollow these days. But still worth doing. Some social media platforms will even change the link from nofollow to DoFollow if you get enough engagement on it. e.g. Reddit.
Consider creating a profile on the below social media platforms:
- Tik Tok
- Tik Tok
Note that it’s better to focus on social media platforms that your target audience actually use. Otherwise you’ll probably end up wasting your time curating content for an audience that doesn’t exist.
Create a Facebook Group
Creating a Facebook Group can be a great way to build an audience in you local area and drive traffic to your website. Again, only do this if your target audience hangs out on Facebook.
P.S. Sometimes Google will rank Facebook Groups higher than other websites if you choose a relevant name for the group that includes your target keyword. This happens because Facebook has a higher domain authority (100/100) than almost all other websites, certainly higher than any of your competitors.
Utilise Social Media to Connect with Your Community
Use social media platforms to engage with local customers. Share local news, participate in local conversations, and use local hashtags to increase your visibility.
Promote Local Events and Offers
If you’re hosting or participating in local events, promote these through your social media channels. You can also try geo-targeted ads to reach potential customers in specific locations.
5. Monitoring
Use Analytics to Track Performance
Regularly review your website’s analytics to understand how users are finding you and which pages are most popular. Google Analytics and Google Search Console can provide insights into your website’s performance in local search.
Refine Your Strategy Based on Data
Google Search Console can be a goldmine of local topic ideas to write about. It can also help you further optimise each of your pages to be more aligned with what people are actually searching for.
SEO is an ongoing process. Use the data from your analytics to refine and adjust your strategy. This could mean updating keywords, improving user experience, or increasing your focus on certain types of content.
SEO Services
In case you don’t know, I provide Geelong SEO services. As an SEO professional, I understand the unique challenges and opportunities that Geelong businesses face.
With a comprehensive understanding of local SEO, I can optimise your online presence to attract customers and clients within the City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and surrounds.
Wrapping Up
In summary, improving local SEO requires a multifaceted approach that starts with optimising your Google Business Profile and extends to enhancing your website’s on-page SEO.
By strategically selecting your business address, refining your business name, completing your profile with detailed information, and incorporating high-quality photos and customer reviews, you can significantly improve your visibility in local search results.
Also, developing a local backlink strategy, engaging on social media, and monitoring and adjusting your strategy based on analytics are critical steps in maintaining and enhancing your local SEO efforts.
By following this guide, my goal is that businesses can effectively attract more local customers and stand out in a competitive digital landscape. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, and success requires consistent effort, adaptation to Google’s evolving algorithms, and a commitment to providing value to your local audience.
If you have any questions about local SEO, please leave a comment below.
