Local SEO Best Practices For 2019: 12 Things You MUST Know

It seems everyday that there is a new article, blog post, or algorithm update that makes it that much more difficult to manage SEO effectively. The question I hear from so many potential clients is, "why am I not ranking?" or "how do I get on the first page of Google?" 

Luckily, there's hope. 

Google and other search engines have given us a glimpse to how they interpret quality and valuable information. If there's one thing that still reigns true in 2019, it's that black hat SEO is not only ineffective, but it can significantly damage your site's reputation and authority in your industry. For many, this used to be the "easy-out" option to search engine optimization. 

So let's dig into the best practices and how to manage SEO to its' fullest potential. 

And not just the quality of your content, but user-friendly content. This basically tells Google that you are, in fact, a legitimate person putting in the time to provide quality information for user. 

Do your site a favor; 1. Create some killer content. 2. update your content frequently and repeat steps 1 through 2. 

For location based SEO (Local SEO) each location should present an accurate representation of the area and attributes related to the user in that area. Basically, everyone that visits your page that lives in that location should feel as if the service/product they are inquiring about has a genuine interest in that area and provides valuable info. 

Check out our post on creating quality content. 

Google loves page titles and descriptions. Especially those which accurately describe what is on the page the user is about to click on. It seems all too obvious but the amount of unrelated, spammy information included in page descriptions and titles has raised concern. You should write for humans and optimize for search engines, not purely one or the other.
 
The obvious distinction that Google despises the type of content writing to manipulate search engines happened back in 2011 with the Panda algorithm update. This focuses on "low-quality" content and "spammy" content. Google continually updates this algorithm to weed out the black hat techniques which unfortunately still take place today in search engine optimization. 

In March of 2018, Google rolled out mobile-first indexing. This is a separate Googlebot type which crawls the mobile version of your site to ensure mobile-friendly content. With the increase in voice search and mobile searches alike, Google has begun using the mobile version of your content to rank your site. 

If you can help Google do its' job more efficiently, they'll usually return the favor. Creating schema markup is relatively easy with Google's Structured Data Markup Tool which walks you through step by step to creating your own. This data includes information to help search engines understand your content easier and to enhance rich snippets in SERPs. 

Keyword research is perhaps one of the most essential pieces of the puzzle. Ranking for a keyword in your industry is one thing, but what is it worth if no one is searching for that term?

Valuable keyword research is the key here. Along with your primary keywords you should strategically use secondary and related keywords as part of your SEO. 

User experience is becoming a more important factor in SEO each and every year. The ultimate goal here is to keep the user on the page as long as possible. Providing valuble content isn't enough, the page should appeal enough to keep the user engaged with infographics, visual cues, internal linking (which we'll discuss later). 

Web design plays a huge part in keeping your users on the page. Check out our article here for 5 recommendations to help with on-page SEO. 

Bounce rate is a large ranking factor according to Google RankBrain which also focuses on total keyword concepts with comprehensive content, instead of creating single pages for variants of the same keywords. The more attractive your website the lower your bounce rate will be. Have you ever visited a random site from SERPs and landed on a slow-loading, outdated, unattractive site? Let me guess... you bounced! Yep, it happens all too often and it's a shame these sites still exist for the sake of user experience.

Remember, only YOU can prevent unattractive, non-user friendly sites! 

Optimizing your pages for load speed on all devices is a no brainer, right? Unfortunately many forget to make their site secure (HTTPS). Google penalizes sites that are not secure. Reason enough.

Aside from that, your secure connection is a trust symbol for search engines, thus the added potential for better rankings and security for all users that visit your site. 

Is your business ecommerce? Service-based? Commercial insurance? Whatever you business may be, the key to a well-rounded SEO strategy is understanding your audience and their search intent. Our job is to answer exactly what these users are looking for. 

Google Ads and the search console are perfect places to see what users are searching for in your industry at the very least. Search terms are a gold mine when it comes to keyword research and search intent. Instead of targeting only off of assumptions to what your users are searching, really get inside of their heads to understand the type of traffic your business will best benefit from. 

Long-tail keywords are becoming more prevalent due to voice search and dynamic queries from those searches. Performing A/B tests with landing pages and keyword combinations can really help you accel in your strategy. 

Employing an internal linking strategy is essential in content marketing associated with search engine optimization.

What does an effective internal linking strategy provide?

• Ease of website navigation to keep the user engaged
• Allows search engines to crawl your site as a connected "web" pointing to relevant pages 
• Distributes page authority evenly across the whole site for overall ranking power

Example: You offer services that compliment one another but not necessary for your service to thrive if only one is used. Let's say you sell a party service that provides event planning, setup and take down. You also bake cakes for all special events.

Depending on your different services, you can link each type of cake offered for that service on a separate page. 

This is where creating a lot of content will benefit you greatly.

After a user scans and learns about your service on one page, make sure to provide a useful link that the user can click on to gain further information on another, and so on.  Employ deep linking to keep the user on your site and continue to learn everything about what you offer in the most effortless manner.

Google search console provides valuable information for issues to help your site perform better.  Correcting pertinent issues within your site can greatly improve your site speed and function. 

Whenever you have a powerful statistic tool (which is also free of charge) USE IT! Your site will thank you.

Let's touch back on the black hat techniques discussed earlier. One of the most popular things to do for an SEO was to buy a ton of "backlinks" from non-reputable sources. 

This "strategy" spiraled out of control and Google caught on real quick. Focusing on the quality of the backlinks you are building is essential. 

First, what constitutes a quality backlink?

A link to your website with a high domain authority that is trusted by Google and other search engines.

Trust has become one of the most valuable ranking signals for websites and quality backlinks or "references" from high domain authority websites only validate that trust.

While SEO is a very involved and time-consuming process, it should not be thought of as a mythical creature that requires the sword-in-the-stone type vibe to where you must find the magical combination of every word, image, title, link structure, listing, meta description, etc. 

Focus on value and substance. The quality of your content and whether you are providing valuable answers to your users' queries. 

From there build and work on the other aspects. BUT FOCUS ON THE BASICS! 

There is a lot of hype out there like "On-page SEO, Guaranteed to Drive 20K in Business" or "The ONLY Strategy for SEO That Really Works." 

Work on the basics, measure results & adapt!