Local SEO forms part of your overall SEO strategy. It involves targeting potential customers in your business's local area. This type of SEO is important for local businesses, as it helps them attract more customers in their immediate vicinity.
In the past, businesses handled flyers or relied on word-of-mouth to spread the word about their business. Nowadays, with the rise of technology and internet usage, local businesses need to adapt and utilise Local SEO techniques in order to stand out.
A big part of local SEO is creating content that targets your local audience.
But how do you write SEO content for local businesses?
Let's take a look.
What Is Local SEO Content?
Local SEO content is any type of written content that is optimised for local search. This means it includes keywords and phrases that are specific to your business's location.
For instance, if you're the owner of a restaurant in Johannesburg, South Africa, your local SEO content would include keywords and phrases such as "restaurant in Johannesburg" or "best restaurant in Johannesburg".
This way, when someone in Johannesburg searches for a restaurant, your business is more likely to appear in their search results.
The purpose of this type of content is to help your business show up in local search results when potential customers are looking for products or services in their area.
How To Write SEO Content for Local Businesses
If you own a business and want to target local customers, here are some tips for writing SEO content that will help you stand out in local search results:
1. Do Keyword Research To Identify Local Keywords
Without proper keyword research for any SEO strategy, your content may not reach its intended audience.
This is especially true for local SEO.
To start your local keyword research process, think about what products or services your business offers and add location-specific terms to them.
Once you have a general idea of relevant keywords, you can use tools such as Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find more specific and high-ranking local keywords.
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that provides insights into the search volume and competition of keywords. Ahrefs, on the other hand, is a paid tool that offers a more comprehensive keyword research feature.
Take a look at the image below from Ahrefs' keyword explorer, where we searched for "restaurant in Johannesburg":
You'll see a list of related keywords, their search volume, and keyword difficulty.
Keyword difficulty refers to how challenging it would be to rank for a particular keyword, while search volume indicates how many people are searching for that specific term.
Use this information to narrow down your list of keywords and choose the most relevant and achievable ones for your business.
2. Write A Piece Of Content
Before getting overwhelmed with keywords and where to place them, take a step back and focus on creating valuable high-quality content for your audience.
Types of content that will perform well for local SEO include:
- Blog posts
- Guides
- Landing pages
- Case Studies
Think about what information or solutions potential customers may be looking for related to your business.
For example, if you own a restaurant in Johannesburg, write a blog post about the best places to eat in Johannesburg or cooking tips that your chefs use.
After you've written a quality piece, you can now insert your local keywords in a natural and organic manner.
Your keywords must be divided into primary and secondary keywords.
- A primary keyword should be the main focus of your content and appear in the title, headers, and throughout the body.
- Secondary keywords can be sprinkled throughout the content to provide context and support for the primary keyword. Make sure not to overuse them, as this can come across as spammy or unnatural.
Here are some tips when inserting local SEO keywords into your content:
- Insert the primary keyword/ into the title of your piece.
- Insert the primary keyword into the title tag and meta description of your webpage.
- Use the primary keyword in the first paragraph of your content.
- Sprinkle variations of your primary keyword and secondary keywords throughout your content, but do not overdo it. Keep it natural.
- Incorporate local keywords into headers and sub headers within your content.
3. Include Visual Elements
When creating content, remember that visuals are just as important as the written words. Including visual elements such as images, infographics, and videos makes your content more engaging and helps with SEO.
For local SEO specifically, include local images (such as your restaurant or city landmarks) and add alt text with your primary or secondary keywords. This will help search engines understand the context of your visual elements and improve their visibility in local searches.
Additionally, videos are a great way to showcase your business and its location. You can create a video tour of your restaurant or film your top chef preparing a signature dish. Be sure to include your business name and location in the video title, tags, and description for better optimisation.
4. Utilise Links
Internal linking and link building are pillar strategies in SEO, and they are just as important for local SEO.
When you create content, be sure to include internal links to other relevant pages on your website. This can be your map, contact page, and other relevant blog posts or product pages.
Link building, on the other hand, involves getting external links from other reputable websites back to your own. This can be achieved through collaborations, partnerships, guest blogging, and more. These external links act as votes of confidence for your website.
5. Update & Maintain The Content
Fresh, relevant high-quality SEO content is key to maintaining a strong online presence.
It gives customers and search engines a reason to keep coming back to your website.
Updating and maintaining your content regularly is crucial. It shows that your business is active and engaged, and it can also help improve your search engine rankings. Search engines like Google prefer fresh, relevant content, so regularly updating your content can help you stay visible in search results.
Consider creating a content calendar to plan out regular updates and ensure consistency in publishing new content.
The Importance Of Local SEO Content For Businesses
Without local SEO-optimised content, your business will not be able to compete with local competitors.
Customers rely heavily on online searches to find local businesses, and if your content is not optimised, it will be difficult for them to find you.
Google alone performs at least 8 billion searches a day, and with proper local SEO content strategies in place, you can capture the attention of potential customers searching for businesses like yours.
This can lead to:
- increased website traffic
- higher conversion rates
- ultimately more revenue for your business
So don't overlook the importance of local SEO content—it could be the key to unlocking your business's success in today's digital world.
Need Help Writing SEO Content?
If you're not sure where to start with creating optimised local SEO content for your business, consider reaching out to us.
Starbright is a digital marketing agency in Pretoria, South Africa, that offers SEO Copy and Content Writing services.
Together with our SEO services, we can help your business create and implement a strong local SEO content strategy that will drive traffic and increase conversions.
Don't let your competitors have the upper hand – invest in quality local SEO content for your business today!