Factors That Affect SEO & Importance of Local Listings

Factors That Affect SEO & Importance of Local Listings

Factors Affecting SEO

Google is trying to show all users the most local, relevant information based on what they have searched for. 

The factors that affect SEO (or as we like to call them, 'Google's Rules') are:

Relevance:
Do you provide the service a user wants?

For example, someone searching for 'Math Tutor' and landing on your organic website will be a relevant search. Someone searching for 'Plumber near me' and landing on your organic website will not be a relevant search. 

We ensure the website is optimized with key words so that when someone searches for our services our organic website is more likely to show in top results for relevancy. 

Proximity:
How close is the business to the Google searcher?

This is related to the physical location of your business. For example, if a searcher physically in Los Angeles searched for 'tutors near me', the organic Toronto location will not show up. 

Prominence:
Does your business have reviews, results, and a reputation of providing the requested service?

This is where reviews play a big role in your local SEO. Getting lots of good reviews on Facebook, Google, Yelp etc. is really important for your local SEO as it shows that you have a good reputation. 

Other Factors:
  • Content - we ensure regular content is going up on the sites such as blog posts, infographics, videos, as well as refreshing and creating new pages.
  • NAP (Name, Address and Phone number) consistency across online platforms - see below for more information


The Importance of Local Listings

Your local consumers use search engines like Google, Yelp, Yellow Pages, etc., directly on their phone, tablet, and computers to find local businesses in their area. Local listings are a must for your business. Your accurate and updated local listings play an integral role in local SEO.

It is very important to have consistency. This means the exact way you reference your business NAP (name, address, phone number) has to be the same on every site/ online directory.  If you have your address on your website as 1234 Main Street then you need to have that information on Yelp, Facebook, Yellow pages online, etc. You can’t change one listing to 1234 Main St. as Google then does not recognize it as the exact same business. The only exception to this rule is your PPC ad/landing pages as they are not indexed by Google.

Top Tip: Having consistency on online listings helps improve your organic ranking.

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