Does your new client want to be
ranking in position one in the map pack? To do this, does not involve
typing“near me” ever 3 words. Instead, it involves many factors, one of which
is having an amazing location landing page.
How to have an amazing landing
page?
As SEO professionals, we
constantly tell our clients and stakeholders that great SEO implementation is
meant to satisfy search intent. Which is why we need to bring that same logic
into our location page optimization.
This list aims to address several
possible questions that a website visitor might have when learning about a
local business.
1. NAP(name, address and
phone number)
NAP stands for name, address, and
phone number. Your NAP should be an exact match on your location page, Google
My Business profile, or any other citation.
Some SEO professionals as well as
google claim that an exact match is no longer really important, however, some
still do. Don’t risk it and just make sure it is a match.
2. Photos
Photos are incredibly important
on location pages however most businesses are missing important opportunities
with them.
Interior photos
Interior photos allow guests to
get a realistic expectation on what to expect inside your business. This is
important, especially with healthcare businesses, where nice-looking interior
photos can be a deciding factor.
Exterior photos
Exterior photos are just as
important as interior photos for location pages. Exterior photos are meant to
help new visitors find your business upon their initial arrival. And just
like interior photos, they can also be a decision-making factor for someone
visiting a new business.
Your exterior photos should
include:
Signage and logos.
Parking(if applicable).
Nearby businesses(if
inside a mall or strip mall).
Optimize your Metadata
Your images should be high
quality but sometimes the file size is too big. This could be due to the high
amount of metadata. There are many tools like ImageOptim that can remove
unnecessary metadata while maintaining the high quality of the photo.
3. Description of Business
Location
The description of the location
is where many businesses fail. Some businesses simply use the same description
on all location pages and just replace the location name. This is what you
shouldn’t do since it is not beneficial for
SEO Services. Each location page should be
unique.
Here are some suggestions to
think about when writing your location description.
Services Offered: Are there
any services offered at this location that is unique compared to other
locations?
Products & Brands Nearby: If
your location is a physical store, what are some major brands that someone may
be searching for near you?
Nearby Locations: Do you
have other locations nearby? This can also help with internal linking.
Different from the Competition: What
makes your store different when compared to your competitors in the area?
Menu: A must-have for
restaurants.
4. Helpful CTA
Call to Action is incredibly
important for any marketing and that includes on location pages. Make sure that
your CTA makes sense and adds value to your user experience.
Some suggested CTAs are:
Get Directions(link
to Google Maps).
Reserve Table.
Request Appointment.
Shop Now(if online shopping
is available).
5. Directions to Business
Including directions to your
business can help your users find you as well as gives an opportunity to work
in geo-specific keywords and targeting in your copy.
If you don’t know how to do this
then just stick to providing instructions from at least two
directions(East/West or North/South) from major highways. Mentioning major
intersections can also help people identify your business location
6. Embedded Map
Embedding a map into your website
allows users to figure out which of your locations is closest to them.
7. Title and Meta Description
Even though this is SEO 101
businesses often forget to do it for their location page since they are trying
to rank in the map pack. It is still incredibly important since organic results
still give businesses traffic.
Title
Your title should have three
basic elements:
Brand name
Geo-specific keyword(city
or local area)
Keyword
Meta Description
Even though Meta Description
doesn’t directly affect rankings, it is key for selling someone on coming to
your site. Make sure you include the same three elements that you have you used
in your title and expand on their selling points.
8. Internal Linking
There are many ways to add
relevant internal linking. Remember internal linking is an important SEO
tool.
Here are some ideas for internal
linking, not all will be relevant. For SEO it’s important to only do the
relevant ones.
Link to other nearby locations.
If your location offers specific
services link to informational pages about those services.
Link to location-specific social
media profiles.
For medical clinics, link to
doctor profiles.
For restaurants, link to menus.
Link to your company about page.
Have space for recently
published blogs.
For stores, link to any available
online shopping.
9. Load Speed
One very important ranking factor
as well as important for local SEO is load speed.
Having a fast loading location
page can make the difference between your site ranking in position two and
position one in the map pack.
Tools like Google PageSpeed
Insights or GTMetrix can help you diagnose issues with the load speed of your
webpages.