4 rookie local SEO mistakes you don’t want to make

Photo credit: Sylwia Bartyzel

It’s the highlight of any budding entrepreneur’s career — Googling your listings and finding out that you stand on top of the local mountain. After all of your hard work, sweat, and sacrifices, you can’t wait to type in your name and your location and see that you’re the most prominent entrepreneur in town.

Until you see the results.

You’re #7.

What gives? You thought you did everything right, and you can’t even show up as number one in your area! You made sure to include local keywords. You have a blog. You have the right header tags, meta tags — you’ve got tags up the wazoo. So why haven’t you won the local market yet?

Let’s look at four common mistakes and see if you’re not in violation of some very basic local SEO tips.

1. Forgetting about Google My Business

It’s okay, we understand. You’re forgetful. Running a business means you have a lot on your metaphorical plate.

But if you’ve forgotten that Google literally gives you the opportunity to open up a business page with them, consider this your friendly reminder.

There, you can adjust what search engine professionals call your NAP — which is a fancy acronym for “name, address, phone.” If you have an old NAP listing in your Google Business profile, or if you have no Google Business profile to speak of, then you’re not doing everything you can to enhance your local SEO standing. Rest assured, there is a company out there who will gladly take your spot at local #1.

Google is the gatekeeper of local SEO. If you’re going to optimize your local search rankings, you had better make sure that you’re in good with the gatekeeper first.

2. Rebranding every six months

3. Ignoring the other search engines

4. Not creating NAP listings for every individual branch

Consistency is the key to local SEO dominance