Interview With Shane Barker: Local SEO Tips To Make Your Site Rank Higher

To answer the first part of your question, I would say that they need to redo their entire local SEO and optimize for that new location. That means that they first need to update their Google My Business listing and all of their local directory listings with the new address. The next thing to look at is if all landing pages are optimized for local SEO. They need to update the new address and contact details across their website.

As for your second question, I would recommend deleting all non-relevant listings. These might be driving some traffic to your website but those users will not be interested in your website and will leave quickly. This will result in a high bounce rate, low dwell time, and other unwanted SEO metrics. Overall, directing traffic from non-relevant sources will do more harm than good for your website and hence all such listings should be deleted

The first and most important thing that all directories should do is be very strict about the kind of listings they have. They should only list businesses in their respective niches because listing irrelevant businesses will do no good for anyone. It will not send relevant traffic to the business websites, it can annoy users, and it will reduce the credibility of your directory.

Another important SEO tactic for directories is to optimize their SEO titles and meta descriptions for local search keywords. For example, using a simple format like "(business type) near me" can go a long way in helping your directory pages ranking higher for local search queries.

You can also start a blog to get higher search rankings. This is a strategy for all websites, whether it is a directory or any other type of website.

Well, the starting point should be adding your business listings to local directories and creating a Google My Business listing. That will definitely help you get some local traffic.

Next, you need to do keyword research to identify relevant local keywords for your business. Use these keywords to optimize your website content and your business listings. And, if you have multiple outlets or business locations, create separate landing pages for each. Those pages will rank better for local search than any other landing pages on your website.

As for how you'll know if your local SEO strategies are working, here are some key metrics that you can track:

• location traffic (targeted city) and its growth on a monthly basis;
• local keyword rankings for the targeted landing pages;
• number of leads (monthly growth);
• traffic acquisition source (organic, referral, social);
• if your Google Business Page is well optimized or not (its monthly growth).

Doing anything to your site that will lower your page load speed is a bad idea. I would add Google Maps to your footer and then test the page speed. If it is too low then remove it.

Business listings on Google My Business and local directories are the single-most important off-page SEO factors for local SEO.

Not having a mobile-responsive website is the biggest mistake that local businesses can make. A lot of local searches happen on the go using mobile devices. So, if your website is not mobile-friendly then you risk losing a lot of high-intent prospects.

Using local search keywords, especially long-tail ones is one thing that local business owners should continue doing.

Budget-allocation really varies on a case-by-case basis and there is no magic formula for that. However, assuming that local businesses probably don't have a lot of money to burn, I would suggest that they focus more on SEO and steer clear of PPC ads unless absolutely necessary.

In-store promotional tactics like providing limited-time discounts or holiday-specific sales are the best if you want to see an immediate increase in foot traffic. However, in the long term, you need to build a loyal customer base that regularly visits your store. For that, you can start a customer loyalty and referral program.

Unlike other marketing tactics, like content marketing and influencer marketing, tracking the impact of SEO initiatives is much easier. For one, you can easily use any SEO analytics tool to see exactly how much traffic is being driven, from what source, and how it has increased over time.

However, measuring the impact of SEO on the bottom line is not as straightforward. I think the best way is to track your SEO metrics over a long period of time and then compare them with your profit growth. If you see a clear correlation between the two, you'll know that your SEO tactics directly affect your bottom line.