Here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design and content marketing professionals. We provide valuable web design, SEO, and marketing solutions to a range of clients, across the North West, including Southport and Wigan, as well as Manchester. As a result, we work with clients and companies across the region to deliver top quality web solutions. A large part of what we do revolves around Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). After all, what’s the point in a stunning website if your potential customers can’t find it with a simple search? So we strive to make sure that all of our websites rank highly and are found easily. But what does this involve? And what is SEO for local businesses?
What is SEO for local businesses?
First of all, what exactly is SEO? Well, SEO is the practice of making changes to your website, and content, to make sure that your website can be indexed by leading search engines, and will appear as a result, high on the search engines results page (SERP).
For local businesses there are some additional steps that we take to make sure that your business can be found easily in a relevant area. Search engines often personalize results based on location, and it is important for local businesses to top the location based search. This is a two fold operation involving both on page SEO and off page SEO.
What are the important factors for on page SEO for local businesses?
On page SEO involves a range of steps. From organising the layout, to writing great content, these are all the on page SEO steps we take to make sure that your website gets the attention it deserves.
- The layout- Using the appropriate H1 header tags helps the search engine to understand the topic of the content and to categorise it appropriately. Using secondary H2 and H3 tags can provide more detail for the search engine. Web pages without these headers will be difficult for a search engine to index, because there will not be enough information available. For local businesses, it is important for at least one of these headers to contain the place name of the location you wish to be found in, as this will help search engines to locate your business.
- Images- Completing the <alt> tag of an image with a description relevant to your content, as well as the image, can provide valuable information for the search engine about the content of the image. This means that it will be more likely to be indexed highly.
- Internal linking- Linking your webpages together through aspects of your written content is a great way to help direct customers around your website, and help them find the information they need. It also helps direct search engines through your website and adds value and authority to your webpage.
- Unique content- Great quality content that is 100% unique and original can really help not only add value to your potential customers, but also help Google to index your page accordingly. For local businesses we make sure that all content is relevant to the places that you want to be found in. This includes using words and phrases that will help search engines identify your desired location and index your website accordingly.
For more information or advice about SEO for local businesses, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design.