Are you making any of these mistakes that might be causing you to receive lower rankings in local search results?
In today’s digital world, being able to be found in online search results is incredibly important, and this is especially true for local businesses. In fact, according to research from Google, 50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within one day.
If you’re a small business that wants to attract customers to your store or make sure people know about the services you provide, you need to get the best rankings possible in search engine results pages (SERPs). But what if, no matter how hard you try, it seems like you are always being outranked by your competitors? Here are 5 reasons why this might be happening:
1. People Don’t Know How to Find You
When people perform a search for products or services near them, they're definitely going to be more likely to select the result that has an easily visible phone number and address. If your competition has made it easy for people to find them, while your contact information is buried somewhere on the "Contact Us" page of your website, you're going to lose clicks and end up ranking lower and lower in local searches.
To combat this, you need to make sure to include your company’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on every page of your site. You should also make sure you've set up a Google My Business page for your company, which will ensure that your location and contact information display correctly in Google's search results and on Google Maps.
2. You Don’t Have Any Reviews
When you're searching for a product or service near you, which result are you more likely to choose, the one with a 4.5 star rating out of 200 reviews, or the one with no star rating at all? Reviews and ratings from previous customers are one of the first things that people look for when deciding to make a purchase, so if your competition has built up a large number of positive reviews while you don't have any, they're probably going to outrank you, and people will be much more likely to visit their site.
If you don’t have any reviews for your business, try to encourage your customers to review you on Google or sites like Yelp and Citysearch, and then respond to those reviews to show your customers that you care about what they have to say.
3. You Aren’t Active on Social Media
In today’s marketplace, simply maintaining a website isn’t enough to stand out. People want to form relationships, and doing so will build trust in your business. One of the best ways to build these relationships is on social media. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram provide a great opportunity for you to connect with your customers, answer their questions, share your expertise, and demonstrate the value that you can bring to them.
Social media isn’t just a great way to engage with your customers; it can also affect your search rankings. Ensuring that your social media profiles and pages have your correct company information will increase the likelihood of people finding you in local searches. Plus, if you regularly share information that is relevant to your local customers or post about events in your area, you’ll increase the chances that people will see this information in their search results and not just engage with you online, but go on to purchase your products or services. If you're not taking advantage of these social channels, it's likely that your competitors are, and that's a big reason why they might be outranking you in local searches.
Outranking the Competition
These are some of the top reasons your competitors might be beating you in local search rankings, but don’t lose hope! If you take the time to correct these mistakes by ensuring that your business’s information is correct and easy to find, getting some positive reviews, and engaging with your customers on social media, you’re sure to see your rankings improve. And if you can demonstrate that you’re the best solution for your customers, you’ll soon be winning the local search game.
Do you have any questions about how to implement these fixes? Do you want to know more about how Diagram’s Local SEO services can improve your company’s search rankings? Please contact us, and we’ll work with you to build a successful digital strategy. We can’t wait to help you find SEO success!
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