If your professional activity depends on a local clientele, it is absolutely necessary that you can do everything possible to improve the local referencing of your website.
35% of searches carried out on the Google search engine have a local connotation and 85% of Internet users have already looked for local companies.
What is most effective for local queries is the rate of satisfaction of search intentions generated by Internet users, in particular via mobile phones: 89% of localized queries on smartphones result in a visit or a call in 24 hours.
This is enough general information to encourage you to discover the 9 essential tips from Webmaster Philippines to optimize your local seo and thus attract more visitors to your catchment area in the medium and long term.
It is undeniable that the use of relevant keywords in the content of your web pages has a serious impact on the referencing of this one.
Whether in the titles (h1, h2, h3, h4, etc.) or in the body of the text, also called "content" or "web content", is essential for the pages of your website to be well referenced on Google.
Still, it is not easy to stand out from your competitors on certain very competitive keywords: let's take an example with the term "restaurant", which is very sought after and very competitive on the web and in many of cities in the Philippines.
A restaurant will find it more difficult to be well placed in Google search results than with this one and only keyword (especially since the result will not be really precise or relevant). A web user looking for a restaurant is to eat in an establishment close to his geographical location. He is certainly not going to travel 300 kilometers to eat a good meal.
But by completing the keyword with a city or locality (for example: "Restaurant Makati"), the company greatly optimizes its local SEO. It is therefore absolutely necessary to add a geographical notion in your on-page SEO.
Hence the expression "Geo-locate your web pages", by specifying the titles and content of your page with relevant city names, you increase your chances of being well indexed on Google with prospects who are proximity to the place where you sell your services and/or products.
The devil is in the details, it's obvious when it comes to local seo. It is recommended to put a notion of locality in the urls of your web pages.
Many SEO professionals believe that the gain is insignificant because it is very low. Many SEO professionals believe that the gain is insignificant because it is very low. But we know from experience that you have to be precise to outperform your competitors on Google.
The same goes for pictures. You can also put the name of a locality on the name of an image. It is not forbidden and it gives more precision. However, Webmaster Philippines recommends that you put the odds in your favor by doing what others are not doing!
Each small parameter has its importance, and it costs absolutely nothing to do it as long as Google does not penalize it and gives more precise information to users.
Example for a link: restaurant-makati.php or restaurant-makati.html
Example for an image: restaurant-bgc.png ou restaurant-bonifacio-global-city.jpg
The "title" tag and the "meta description" tag are part of the family of meta tags in terms of on-site SEO. They have a significant impact on the local SEO of a website. You should know that all other computer media have these same tags, even in Google My Business profile.
Even though some SEO experts think that these are two things that have the sole purpose of performing a display function, they are not quite that. However, it is true that the title and meta description of a website are displayed in the search results (SERP).
This does two things: the first is to encourage Google users to click on a result with a catchy and relevant title.
The second is to help Google display websites with content that responds well to the search intentions of Internet users.
Ces deux éléments sont ceux qui vont s’afficher dans les résultats de recherche Google. It is therefore these 2 criteria that will make sure to motivate visitors to choose the link on which they will click.
We can say that in this context, it is indeed local SEO that attracts people around you.
By correctly indicating a location in the "title" and "meta description" meta tags (ex: "Spa Massage Metro Manila") of a website, you considerably increase your chances of seeing Internet users click on your link.
In addition to saving time, Internet users will be satisfied to have found exactly what they were looking for, that is to say, your website!
Remember that Google saves everything! The more the links on your website are clicked, the more Google will be able to gradually improve the positioning (ranking) of your site, because it will have found that people who search for your keyword like it. And so, you will gain local seo power.
Google provides entrepreneurs and website owners with the Google My Business service.
This free service allows local businesses and establishments to have a quality web page that indicates their contact details, but also precise information on their activity, opening hours, products, services and link to their website.
This profile, which is made available to Google users for free, practically resembles the professional pages of Google + and is also located on Google Maps. (We remind you that the Google + service has been closed since April 2, 2019).
For once, having a Google My Business account allows local businesses to be highlighted in a qualitative and ergonomic way in geolocated searches.
This offers potential customers (prospects) of a company, to view all the useful information they would need to contact the establishment, book online, or more generally, inquire, by displaying the following information: address, e- email, phone number, plan, type of products sold, hours, articles, information relating to COVID-19, and more.
Here are 12 tips for optimizing your Google My Business profile:
Online directories can be said to be general or specific. It is important to register your website in order to show your online presence on free and paid directories. Web visibility also involves the registration of its website in directories.
There are many popular directories such as YellowPage, Yelp or TripAdvisor are regularly consulted by Internet users looking for a specific place in their sector.
In addition, these websites allow them to leave opinions, indicating to others if the products offered are of good quality... Or not!
However, for this digital strategy to be effective, make sure that all the information is uniform, consistent, without making duplicate content in the description fields. This is the best way to solidify your local seo.
Also think about finding link directories that offer DoFollow links, which do not require a back link and which encourage you to describe your activity in a professional and as complete a way as possible.
When you register your website on an online directory, it is strongly recommended to make descriptions of more than 500 characters in order to effectively boost its local referencing.
In order to increase your web referencing in local searches, you must exclusively give some details to Google thanks to microformats.
These are enriched tags that allow search engines to better understand the structure of your site, in order to position you well in the SERPs.
Take the example with a restaurant, located at Mabini St., Malate, Manila, 1400 Metro Manila. Here is the code you will need to add to your website:
<div itemscope itemtype="http://shema.org/Restaurant">
<span itemprop="name">Restaurant</span>
<div itemprop="address"
itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">40 Mabini St.</span>
<span itemprop="addressLocality">Manila</span>
<span itemprop="addressRegion">Metro Manila</span>
(some rumors say that it is no longer worth mentioning)
<span itemprop="postalCode">1400</span>
</div>
Google will then interpret the type of "company" entity you have and will be able to geolocate it precisely on an interactive map such as Google Map, of course.
It is also recommended to put the opening and closing hours as well as the longitude and latitude in the code of your website.
To help you, Google has developed a free Markup Helper, which you can find here: Google Markup Helper.
This wonderful free tool will allow you to easily fill in the information to be marked up, then generate the HTML code to integrate on your site accordingly. Additionally, you can also use the Schema.org tool
As we said above, when you register in directories or create a Google My Business profile, you expose yourself to the opinions of Internet users. This exposure is necessary, it is a good thing to gain visibility on the Internet!
The more an establishment is noted on the different sites, the more likely it is to rank up in the search results.
My Business may also display in some cases reviews from other platforms such as reviews from Facebook, Tripadvisor and other rating sites. It is essential to encourage your satisfied customers to rate your services and products.
When a consumer gives their opinion on Google My Business, you act positively and sustainably on your local SEO.
Transparency and honesty are important criteria for Google.
All the following points will not be as naturally impactful if you do not have a site compatible with tablets and mobiles ("mobile-first"). Indeed, 65% of local searches are made from a smartphone.
The technical term for defining a website that is suitable for all screen sizes is called "responsive" or "Responsive Design".
What's more, voice search on mobile is becoming more and more used to find businesses close to our location.
The web giants are clear on this subject, if your site is difficult to read on a small screen, you risk losing a lot of traffic and chances of conversion and therefore penalizing your local on-site SEO.
To acquire traffic, therefore visitors who can be potential customers, this can be done on Google Images. Many website owners rarely think about it.
Each image on a website must have an “ALT” tag (for alternative).
This tag allows Google Image to properly reference the images and photos on your site.
Some Internet users seek specific results via this secondary Google engine, especially to search for the model of a product and/or the color of an article or an object.
In order to be well present on the search engines, it is necessary to regularly add content.
Each web page must have a specific mission, that of improving its local seo by positioning itself on a well-defined keyword beforehand.
The speed of your website also has an important role to play in local SEO. En effet, plus les pages internet de votre site se chargent rapidement, plus Google et les visiteurs vont apprécier.
A caching system must be installed, this can be managed both with an htaccess file, and at the level of your browser and/or your server settings.
It is also necessary to compress the images well. Indeed, it is possible to reduce the weight of an image or a photo, without lowering its quality. Plus une image est légère, plus votre page s’affiche rapidement.
To learn more about this subject, here is the page of our service dedicated to the optimization of a website.
In addition to writing articles, you need to be able to ensure that your htaccess file handles redirects well.
Webmaster Philippines recommends always redirecting to the HTTPS protocol and also to the version with or without the www.
A well-defined redirect is a local seo well appreciated by search engines.
And to finish with this bonus, know that the more time visitors spend on your web pages, the more Google will think that you offer quality content, and therefore, the more it will allow you to climb in the search results.
And if you are the leader in your niche or industry, the more efforts you put into your local SEO will be rewarded. You could reach the first page of Google with well-optimized local seo.
In order to work properly on your local SEO, it takes a lot of time, energy and skills.
Google's adjustments can be seen after only a few weeks. SEO is long, you have to be patient.
In order to avoid any loss of time, it is strongly advised to call on a web designer expert in SEO to carry out this type of sensitive task. Local SEO requires tremendous organization, logic, common sense and knowledge of the Internet.
Every detail can have a very positive or very negative impact. You have to know how to study your SEO strategy before you start.
Thanks to these 9 tips accompanied by its tips and 3 bonuses, you can start taking some places on Google's search results pages.
Surpass your competitors by being more precise and much more rigorous than them!
Webmaster Philippines remains at your disposal to optimize your website and thus give a boost to your local SEO.
" Webmaster Philippines helps Filipino entrepreneurs sell their products and services better through articles on sales techniques. In addition to creating showcase websites for SMEs / VSEs, we bring our know-how and our passion to make the websites we develop much more attractive and sellers. "
Salamat 😊
Web designer Expert SEO in the Philippines
July 27, 2024