It’s that time of the year again. Yes, 2021 is around the corner. It’s about time to take a good hard look at the search engine optimisation services you’ve been utilising in Malaysia. Did you get to the top page of the various search engines & stay there permanently? Did you outrank your competitors & reduce your ad spend to maximise your ROI? Do you display high quality ad copies in your search engine marketing campaigns?
Well, these are some soul searching questions that you will have to ask yourself before stepping into 2021. Today, this article is going to emphasise on local business SEO.
If you have been following an SEO strategy, then you will know one thing: SEO is always changing. When it comes to local SEO, it is more important than ever to optimize on-site and off-site SEO strategies for customers who may be searching for your local business. Here are some reliable local SEO strategies you can use this year to help your business rank higher on local search terms. Local competition is heating up, and if you are not at the top of your rankings, then you can bet that your competitors will do.
Title and Meta Description Tags
These HTML elements must be consistent on your Google My Business (GMB) listing and the pages linked to it. Think of this text as a “mini ad” that you need to craft carefully. The text of your title and description tags is displayed in the search results. Last year, Google increased the width of the main search result area to 600px. In view of this, the generally acceptable length of the title tag is about 50 to 60 characters, and the description tag can be about 160 to 200 characters. Add a long and unique description Don’t blow it by wasting characters that won’t help convince a searcher you’re worth looking at.
Claim Your Business
For crying out loud, this is one of the fundamental mistakes done by many businesses. The register a business on GMB, but do not verify it via the 5-digit number that is (hopefully) sent to their business premises via a post card. As such, this business is eventually categorized as an Unclaimed business…begging to be hijacked by your competitor👿
It’s very important for local businesses to claim their Google My Business (and Bing Places for Business) page. You need to complete a verification process, during which Google will send a postcard with a PIN to your company’s physical location. Then, you only need to log in and enter your PIN to verify your business. This verification process is necessary because Google wants to confirm that your business is legal and that you are actually the business owner. Please note that according to Google’s terms of service, only business owners can claim a GMB page, but in reality, they don’t really care to enforce this.
Remember, if your company appears in search results, you’ve got a chance to get that person to click on your link. However, many small businesses do not even claim their GMB listing, which is a huge missed opportunity. According to a Google survey, about four-fifths of consumers use search engines for local searches.
Local Business Citations
Add your company address that matches the address on your website and local directory. You will also need to look up respected local directories to list your company. The important thing is that you must correctly and consistently list your business on all online business directories. Please contact the website of your local newspaper and your chamber of commerce to see if they have a local business directory that accepts listings.
Don’t you ever use citation data aggregators. It will be very difficult to edit your Name, Address & Phone (NAP) once they blast your directory submissions to numerous directories.
Always make sure that your company’s NAP is consistent on all these directories and reference sites. When Google is unable to determine the correct information about your business, differences such as spelling errors, abbreviations, missing suite numbers, and phone number errors can cause confusion. Google My Business (GMB) is considered a directory too, so the information listed here needs to be accurate too. If Google is not sure, they may display the wrong information-or not show your business in search results at all.
Local SEO: More Important Than Ever
SEO changes very quickly. You never know when Google will introduce new features on its SERPs for local searches, but you can count on these changes coming. This is why it is important to always maintain local SEO. By implementing these actionable items, you will ensure that your business not only takes advantage of the profitable local search function, but also has a solid foundation when introducing new SEO features. And, if you don’t have enough time to make these adjustments, you may want to consider finding a small SEO service provider in Malaysia.
Transfield SEO is a Malaysian Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, WhatsApp Marketing, Web Design, Business Leads Scraping, Social Media Marketing & Content Writing agency. We deploy proven Digital Marketing techniques to help of our clients get more customers.
Check us out today!
