How to Create Content for Local SEO

Content is vital to any digital marketing strategy, local SEO included. If you don’t have web content, your target audience won’t find you online. What’s more, search engine bots won’t be able to crawl your site and rank your webpages. For this reason, you need to exert a bit more effort into creating content for your website. 

To get the best results possible, there are things you should know before you create content for local SEO. Here are a few tips from us here at Springhill Marketing to help you get started.

1. Add geotags to your keywords

If you want to get better local search rankings, you should start using localised keywords in your content. Add geotags to your focus keywords to make it easier for local audiences to find you online. For example, let’s say you’re a landscaping company in Northampton. Instead of simply targeting the keywords “landscaping services,” you should use “Northampton landscaping services” as your focus keyword.

2. Create location-specific landing pages

Are you serving multiple locations? If you are, you should consider creating specific landing pages for each area you serve. This will help you rank for local search terms, making it easier for you to appear on top of local search result pages. Creating location-specific landing pages is also much easier and more manageable than building separate websites, which is often overwhelming for small businesses and may dilute your local authority. 

A word of caution, though. You must never make the mistake of using the same piece of content throughout your location landing pages. Otherwise, you might receive a Google penalty for having duplicate content. Instead, you should create unique content for each landing page.

3. Find out the top questions your customers are asking

Do your customers often call you up to ask you the same questions? If they are repeatedly sending you the same enquiries offline, there’s a big chance that they are asking the same questions online. It’s also very likely that they are typing their queries into search engines. 

For this reason, you should list down these questions and find the answers for them. Then, using the information you’ve gathered, create a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page for your website. This will help boost your ranking potential for each question. Also, it can help optimise your website for voice search, which 58% of consumers have used to find local businesses.

4. Write case studies of old projects

Showcase what your business can do by creating content about projects you’ve worked on in the past. Case studies are an excellent example of this particular type of content. They can help you rank for local search terms. They also enable you to set your business apart from the competition. 

While case studies are ultimately about your business, you should avoid making them sound “too sales-y.” Instead, you should focus on telling stories on how you were able to solve a customer’s problem. This will help prospects relate to your former clients, which will help encourage them to do business with you.

5. Feature local events

If you have the budget, consider hosting or organising a community event. Not only will it get the locals talking, but it can also help spread awareness about your business and what it can offer. It can provide you with a great topic to write about and post on your website, as well. 

Don’t have the budget to organise a local event? Don’t worry. You can always team up with a local organiser and provide sponsorship instead. It can help get your name out there while offering you an excellent blogging opportunity. Also, the event organiser can be a great source of high-quality and relevant backlinks to your site.

6. Write about your customers’ experience

Another way to create content for local SEO is to write about your customers’ experience with your business. Through interviews and testimonials, you can provide future customers with a way to relate to your former clients. 

If you want to take things to the next level, consider video interviews and testimonials instead of plain old text. With most smartphones equipped with decent cameras and video recording capabilities, it’s fast and easy to film and upload videos that you can post on YouTube and embed on your website. Just make sure to include a transcript of your conversion to generate local SEO juice.

7. Run a blog

You’re missing out on a lot of SEO opportunities if your website doesn’t have a blog. Having an active blog can help increase both your local and organic search rankings. What’s more, it allows you to build local authority and obtain quality backlinks from relevant sites that want to use your posts as a reference. Blogging can also help your prospects get to know your business better. 

There are many things you can write about and post on your blog. They include: 

• Industry guides
• New location and pricing announcements
• New product/service announcements
• How-to articles and “Best of” guides
• Press releases

Content Is an Essential SEO Ingredient

Content is a vital ingredient of digital marketing. This is why you should take the time to carefully create content that will support your local SEO endeavours to give your search rankings and online visibility a boost. 

Do you need help with content creation? If you do, we at Springhill Marketing are happy to assist you. Our team of digital marketing experts will be there to provide you with the services you require to meet your SEO goals. Please speak with us and let us create a plan tailored for your Northampton business.