Latest Google Algorithm Changes Target Local SEO
By Google’s own admission, they make between 500-600 changes to the algorithm every year, so being mindful of all of them and how they affect your site can be a full time job. If you’re frustrated trying to keep up with all the changes that take place within the Google Local search space, then take heart, you’re not the only one! 
Just in the last year there was the Pigeon update, aimed primarily at local, MobileGeddon, and the demise of Carousel. These major events combined with dozens of minor shifts make it time to look at what we need to do to keep current.
We’ve put together a list of 7 best practices you can use when it comes to optimizing your pages for local SEO. Most won’t require a huge technical effort, but can yield much better results for you if you get them done!
7 Easy to do Local SEO Best Practices
Continue to build links – These days it’s not really the amount of links you have but the quality, and the best way to garner authoritative incoming links is to create awesome content people are dying to share and link to.
GEO-target your content – Google is now on a quest to deliver local results over global whenever possible. You can help this happen by using geo-modifiers on your pages content and meta data.
Citations still matter – These days it’s about getting quality citations, and cleaning them up so as not to have duplicate entries and inconsistent data.
Customer reviews help immensely! – With more than 90% of consumers reading online customer reviews before purchasing, these are more important than ever. A great form of social proof, you need to solicit these from happy customers and reward them if you need to.
Utilize your Google My Business – The latest local business tool offered by Google, this one’s a keeper. You can do many things from this virtual tool suite, including managing your online reviews.
Create and optimize local images – Use unique local images and make sure they are geo-tagged appropriately. This can help you in a number of ways, including Google Images, the 7 pack, Your Google My Business page and more.
Take advantage of social sharing – Make sure you have social media icons present on all your pages and content so as to provide your audience with the opportunity to share your content far and wide!
Don’t Have Time to Optimize for Local SEO?
Would you like a free, no-strings consultation including an analysis of your website? We will give you an honest assessment of the changes that we could make to improve your position. Complete the Discovery Form or contact us at (847) 450-7446 to learn how we can put your website on page one.
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