Local SEO Optimizations for 2020
In order to manage and optimize your businesses’ Local SEO, you want to focus on using platforms such as Google My Business, citation networks and your business website. This blog will mainly focus on Google My Business SEO Updates and other Local SEO Optimizations for 2020. This involves consistently posting content, interacting with customers, responding to reviews, and providing business updates, all on a regular basis.
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Key Local SEO Optimizations for 2020:
- Download and use the “My Business” App by Google weekly
- Schedule weekly and monthly reminds to post to GMB & Social Media
- Create, Update or Syndicate high quality citations or directories
- Share Custom Google Review Link & Collect Reviews
- Post to Google My Business (Pictures, Updates, Offers, Products, etc)
- Update your GMB Information, especially regarding the COVID Crisis
- Turn on your Messaging in the App, and respond to all Questions.
- Geo Tag & Label All Photos to Your GMB Account
- Get A Virtual Tour Using a 360 Camera or Matterport
- Increased Your Domain Authority through social bookmarks, citations, directories, blog outlets, and cheap/easy credible sources.
- Create Local Website Pages for each location you own/manage.
- Add Local Schema Markup to your website
- Create & Optimize Content for each local page and listing — (Images, Photos, Video, Blogs)
If you follow these recommendations using this blog and video then you can drastically increase your business exposure and traffic on Google with Local SEO.
A lot of these Local SEO Optimizations for 2020 using Google My Business can be found in our previous Momentum Monday Marketing Blog talking about Major Google My Business Updates during the Coronavirus.
Let’s begin …
To ensure that you are consistently managing and optimizing the local SEO of your business, first, you want to create a content calendar, either on Google or elsewhere. In your calendar, set up daily or weekly reminders that notify you of when to work on your business’s local SEO.
Once you have that setup, download the Google My Business app on your phone. Log into your accounts on the app. This gives you the ability to manage your GMB accounts anytime and anywhere. You can create a GMB for free, or claim your listing if its already on Google.
Inside the Google My Business app, navigate to the “Manage Locations” tab on the right sidebar.
Select the location of the business that you want to manage. Be sure to do the same, along with each following step, for every other listed location that you want to optimize.
There are several things you want to do to optimize your business’s local SEO. In the Home tab of your Google My Business listing, find the “Get more reviews” box located on the left sidebar. This gives you the option to request reviews from your customers or clients. Google now offers a custom URL you can share with customers and clients. This link directs them to where they can leave you a review on Google.
This article from ReviewTrackers talks about creating and using the Custom Google Review Link.
To request more customer reviews, select the “Get more reviews” box. This will open up a link that you can share. When opened, it will redirect to your Google My Business page where people are able to fill out a review of your business.
Here is a screenshot of Momentum Digital’s Google Review Link. If you like this content please write us a review, and we can for you as well if you comment your Google Review link below!
In addition to requesting customer reviews, you want to create a post on your page that informs people about the current state of your business during the COVID crisis. Learn more about
To create a post, simply navigate to the “Create post” box on your GMB page.
Next, you want to make sure that you make new posts every week. Post detailed up-to-date content that keeps people informed about your business’s current events, offerings, promotions, products, and services. You have the useful option to share all of your posts on social media, increasing your GMB page exposure.
Here you can see a screenshot of the GMB Post Update about COVID.
As with posts, you want to upload photos and videos on a gradual weekly basis. Adding a cover photo to your GMB page, provides a visual representation of your business to potential customers and clients.
Likewise, having an up-to-date gallery of photos and videos of your business’s services, products, events, and offerings helps people see what you are providing.
In addition to photos and videos, consider uploading a virtual tour of your business.
A virtual tour gives people the ability to see the entire space of your business, which is incredibly useful if physical location is an important aspect of your business, such as with office spaces, retail stores, restaurants, and the like. Check out Momentum 360 when thinking about hiring a Virtual Tour Photographer.
We talk about this and other GMB Content Updates in a previous blog.
Google My Business also gives you the ability to interact with customers through messaging.
Messaging works through the Google My Business app.
When you turn on the option to receive messages, your customers will be able to send you questions and messages regarding your business.
Currently, the Question and Messaging option is closed due to the COVID crisis.
Fortunately, you are still able to interact with customers in other ways with your Google My Business account. One way is by responding to customer and client reviews. Responding to reviews is a great way to keep a dialogue with your customers while also gaining more feedback on your services.
Currently, reviews are closed due to the COVID crisis as well.
This article by Google talks about the COVID updates and how they may affect your business.
You want to further manage your business’s local SEO by tracking its Google My Business analytics. Through the “Insights” tab, which you can find on the right sidebar, you are able to track the analytics and performances of each specific feature on your page such as searched queries used to find your page, page traffic based on customer location, phone calls, etc.
In addition to using Google My Business to optimize your business’s local SEO, you want to focus on using your business website. One important way to enhance your business’s local SEO is through enhancing its domain authority.
Additional Local SEO Updates for Your Website
One of the bigger issues to tackle with SEO involves increasing your website Domain Authority by being recognized as an authority site by Google.
The higher domain authority a website has, the greater its credibility. Domain authority is the search engine ranking development and credibility score of a website.
To get your domain authority increased, your website needs consistent placement of quality backlinks.
Backlinks are links to your website from other websites. It works this way, because Google sees this as a website having more credibility. Other quality websites must link to your website through articles, posts, or tags.
Learn more about easy backlinking strategies from this article by Ahrefs.
In addition to getting your website’s domain authority increased, you want to add pages to your website specified for each location of your business.
The location page should be linked out from your Google My Business page under the website listing. This should be done for every location GMB listing.
Each service, product, and location your business offers needs to have its own web page, with metadata and content explaining that page — therefore giving the page (the product, service, or location) the SEO it deserves to rank.
The final thing you want to do for your website, is add a local schema markup for each location page. You can have your website developer add local schema markups, or follow this tutorial by The HOTH.
Some final SEO techniques for 2020 involve social content and social bookmarking.
Ideally all small or local businesses want to take advantage of social bookmarking by creating profiles with your business information and a backlink to your website from other social sites. These don’t always necessarily give backlink domain authority credit, but they do send social signals to Google to help increase your credibility online to rank higher for SEO.
This article by Brandwatch talks about the Top 10 Social Bookmarks to use.
You want to make sure you are also using platforms such as Facebook, Yelp, and Bing.
Using Facebook, you are able to tag each local location of your business throughout posts. On your business’s Facebook page, tag the local location throughout your posts to give a local presence to them.
Likewise, make sure you’re maintaining your Facebook and Yelp pages just as you would your Google My Business page. Make consistent new posts and media content, get and respond to reviews, interact with your audience, and tag your business locations.
Thanks for reading our latest Momentum Monday Marketing Blog about Local SEO Optimizations for 2020! Comment below if you have anything you would suggest or like us to add next time!
Written by SEO Expert & Ex-Googler Mac Frederick