11 Local SEO Mistakes You Are Making That You Didn't Know About

Local SEO is a powerful tool for businesses, and it's getting more important every day. Local SEO is gradually replacing traditional search methods. Google has displayed local results for many non-localized terms over the past couple of years. 

Are you hurting your Google rankings, say SEO Agency in Ahmedabad experts? To find out if you're hurting your own Google rankings, use this list as a checklist. 

We often do SEO audits, and we find that almost all of the companies we examine are making at least one of the 11 mistakes listed in this article. Therefore, it's likely that you'll discover that you're also making some errors.

1. NOT HAVING A GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING

As a local business owner, it's important to have a Google My Business listing in order to properly claim your business on Google Maps and other mapping services.

The problem is... According to SEO Agency in Ahmedabad, this data was taken directly from each company's Google My Business profile page, not from their websites! 

The benefits of having a GMB include the following:

• Improved rankings in the local pack (local search results)
• Easier discovery by potential customers searching for businesses like yours
• Enhanced click-through rates (CTRs)

Therefore, if you don't already have a Google My Business profile page, you're losing out. This setup should just take a few minutes of your time and is completely free. 

2. NOT ACTIVELY QUESTIONING CLIENTS FOR REVIEWS

Reviews are an important part of your online reputation and should be actively sought out. Not only do they allow you to be seen as an authority, but they also help customers make decisions about who they will hire. 

But there's a lot more you can do with reviews than just passively watch them come in and disappear. 

You can actively seek out reviews from your clients. You should also include a link to where you have an online review system set up (such as Yelp or Google Places) so that people can leave a review there if they prefer not to leave one on your website.

3. SELECTING THE WRONG KEYWORDS

In the context of local search, keywords are not just the words people use to search for something, they are also the words that people use to describe what they are searching for.

In other words, SEO Agency in Ahmedabad expert team explained that when you think about your keywords in a local sense, consider what people might be looking for if they want to find a business like yours.

For example: If you are a bakery, then words like "bread" and "pastry" may be good keywords. If you are a restaurant, then words like "food" and "catering" may be better options.

4. ADDING KEYWORDS TO AREAS WHERE THEY DO NOT NATURALLY FIT

This may sound obvious, but adding keywords to your website will only work if they are added in the right places. Trying to stuff keywords into places they do not naturally fit can hurt your website's search engine rankings and make visitors less likely to stay on your site for a very long time. 

For example, if a user sees a headline on a blog post about something unrelated to what would normally be searched for when looking up that term, then this user might wonder why there are so many irrelevant words there and move on from the page immediately without reading any further (which is actually pretty bad for SEO).

5. IGNORE COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Competitive analysis is the process of researching and analyzing your competitors' content, strategy, and performance to figure out what you should be doing differently. 

This applies to all areas of business, especially SEO. If you want to rank higher than your competition on a given SERP (search engine results page), it's critical that you understand who ranks above and below you.

If done correctly, competitive research can reveal more than just what your competitors are doing well; it can also show where there are gaps in the market for new ideas or products.

6. NOT INCLUDING NEW CONTENT

If you're not sure what content to include, check in with your customers. What do they want to learn about? How can you show them how to do something with your product or service? You can also use tools like Google Trends and Google Correlate to see which topics are trending in your industry and how long those trends have been around.

7. NOT INCLUDING IN CONTENT LOCATION-SPECIFIC TERMS

One of the most common mistakes local SEOs make is not including location-specific keywords in the content. Whether you are targeting a specific city, county or region, it's important to include those keywords in your content so that you can rank for them in Google.

Including location-specific keywords will improve your chances of ranking for searches that are relevant to the area you are targeting. It will also help you rank at a higher level when someone searches for those terms across the entire state or country.

8. NOT USING ANALYTICS TO TRACK SITE TRAFFIC AND FLOW

Analytics is a valuable tool that can help you identify areas of improvement, what is working and what isn't your target audience, and the keywords that are most effective. 

It can help you identify popular content that is not ranking, what keywords are working best for you and which ones aren't, and the traffic sources that are most effective. 

You should be using analytics to track your site traffic and flow on a regular basis so that you can make necessary changes when needed.

9. NEGLECTING SITE SPEED

Site speed is one of the most important factors in your site's performance, and Google has made it clear that fast websites will rank better than slow ones.

Check your site's speed by using a third-party tool like GTMetrix or WebPagetest. Then, you can do some basic optimization like minifying JavaScript and CSS files, optimizing images, and using image sprites to reduce HTTP requests.

If you don't want to spend money on an SEO company or consultant for local SEO services, you can use these free resources to improve your website's speed: 

- Try Google's PageSpeed Insights tool to see how fast your site loads on mobile and desktop.

- Use an HTML like the one that comes with W3 Total Cache for WordPress.

10. NOT OPTIMIZING NAVIGATION

Navigation is one of the most important aspects of your site. It allows visitors to easily find the content they're looking for and can also be used to highlight certain pages or sections. One of the most common mistakes made by website owners is not optimizing navigation. 

Having a great navigation system allows visitors to easily find what they're looking for and encourages them to stay on your site longer. If you're looking for more information on how to optimize your navigation, check out our article on how to create an effective website navigation system.

11. VIDEOS ARE NOT USED FOR LOCAL SEO

Videos are one of the most effective ways to engage with your audience. However, videos from your business do not help local SEO and should never be used for that purpose.

This is because Google does not consider YouTube a credible source for local searches. The search engines look for sources that can verify businesses' location information, and those sources don't include YouTube videos or blog posts from other sites (like yours).

For example, if you have a video on YouTube talking about "Best Restaurants in Ahmedabad":

Google might think it's just another person's opinion; it doesn't require any verification of facts as far as they're concerned, so why would they trust it?

If someone searches for "best restaurants Ahmedabad" and finds your video at the top of their results but then clicks on it only to find out that you haven't actually been to all these restaurants yet—well, then they probably won't trust anything else either!

Conclusion

I hope this list helps you avoid some common pitfalls that new businesses can fall into. If you follow these simple tips and tricks, then you will be well on your way to a successful local SEO campaign!