SEO or search engine optimization has been through a number of upheavals over the past few years as Google have been rolling out updates to their Algorithms. But a few simple steps, if implemented properly, can give you a good chance of getting quality, local customers finding you online.

If you run a business targeting a local audience, you’ll appreciate the contribution that good SEO can contribute to your capacity to reach that audience. Google local listings are extremely powerful and can drive a lot of customer enquiry. In this article we discuss improving local rankings by following some simple tips.

So, let’s find out some effective ways for improving local SEO rankings—

Smart Linking

The Google Pigeon Algorithm originally released in 2014 made getting local links more important for local rankings, so the best place for local businesses to get links is from other local businesses. In this article you can learn about a good place to look for relevant local links.

Online Advertising

Google’s pay per click (PPC) ad campaign AdWords is the platform used to advertise on Google. Make sure that any campaign you run has been prepared with relevant data and phrases that speak directly to your target market; this will help more relevant traffic to hit the ads and find your website. This is very effective for fast traffic generation but it needs to be well managed.

Social Media campaigns

Taking advantage of premium social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. can be helpful for generating more traffic. With a strategic social media presence, your business can find more local traffic. It’s worthwhile considering which social platforms your target market is most likely to be engaged with and put your focus there. For example, if your business is related to fashion, then Facebook and Instagram would be good choices, but it would be better to focus on LinkedIn if your business is targeting other businesses.

Hire a good SEO company

The real truth about ranking in Google is that you have to do SEO to get the top first page rankings you want. Look for an SEO company with a good track record, and ideally local SEO should be one of their specialties.