Local SEO refers to optimizing a website’s visibility for local search terms on local search results. For example, you can use local SEO to improve your website’s search ranking for local search queries such as “Toronto SEO”, “SEO audit Toronto”, “Google Ads Toronto”, or “Google Analytics consulting services Toronto”.

Local SEO is important for businesses such as restaurants or beauty spas that rely on local clients because local SEO helps these businesses gain more online visibility, local website and foot traffic, and more clients! Here are five local SEO tips every business should use.

1. Write Localized Website Content

   If you’re a local plumber, make sure to include city names of areas that you service in your page title. For example, if you’re a Seattle plumbing company, make sure you have “Seattle Plumbing Company” or “Seattle and Redmond Plumbing Company” in your title tags. Doing this helps your website rank for local search queries such as “Seattle plumbers” or “Seattle plumbing” that are related to your business.

2. Join your local chamber of commerce

   One local SEO ranking factor is where your backlinks are coming from.If you’re a New York photographer, gaining a backlink from a New York-based website such as a New York blog or news site will contribute to your search ranking for “New York photographer” related search queries compared to a backlink from a similar website in another part of the world or country.

   One easy way to gain more local backlinks is by joining your local chamber of commerce and listing your website in the member directory. Your local chamber of commerce website is filled with local content and keywords such as “Toronto businesses” or “Ontario businesses”. Gaining a backlink from your local chamber of commerce is beneficial for your site’s search ranking for local search queries.

3. Get featured in local publications

   Create something newsworthy so your local newspaper will feature your business and include a link of your business in their online news article. For example, you can host an event and reach out to your local publication to feature the event in an article.

   Getting a backlink from a local newspaper is beneficial to your local SEO because a local news website is filled with local keywords and content such as “Vancouver businesses” or “Vancouver restaurants” and gaining a backlink from a local news site will help you rank for your city-specific search queries.

4. Submit guest blogs

   Submitting guest blogs entails finding websites such as industry magazines or local news sites related to your business and asking them if you could submit a blog that their audience will find useful. If a publication approves your proposal, you can submit a blog post and most likely, you can include a link to your website in the author bio section. This backlink is beneficial to your search ranking!

5. Perform competitor backlink audit

   Find out which websites are linking to your competitors’ sites but not yours. Once you have identified these websites, reach out to them and see if you can get backlinks from them. For example, if you’re a local beauty spa and you’ve found out that a newspaper website has listed your competitors in a “top ten beauty spa locations in your city” article, reach out to the news site and ask them if your company could be featured in the article because you also offer exceptional products or services.

   You can perform backlink audits using third party tools such as SEMRush or Ahrefs.