Complete Local SEO Guide to Improve Local Search

Summary

This video script offers a comprehensive guide on local SEO for small businesses, emphasizing the importance of online visibility for attracting customers. It outlines steps for optimizing a Google Business Profile, setting up local SEO on a WordPress website with Rank Math, and creating multiple location pages. The script also provides valuable tips for enhancing local search rankings, such as conducting keyword research, creating content that meets local search intent, and managing customer reviews. Additionally, it suggests leveraging social media and online directories to boost business authority and visibility.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Understand the importance of local SEO for driving website traffic and increasing business visibility in local search results.
• 🏪 Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile, ensuring consistency in Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) across all online platforms.
• 📈 Use tools like Ahrefs Keyword Generator to identify local search trends and target relevant keywords in your content.
• 🎯 Create unique and valuable content for each service and location page to avoid duplicate content and improve local search rankings.
• 📸 Add images, videos, and customer testimonials to your Google Business Profile to build trust and engage potential customers.
• ✍️ Respond to all customer reviews, providing a professional and empathetic response to both positive and negative feedback.
• 🔗 Build backlinks from reputable sources and claim your business on online directories and review sites to enhance credibility and SEO.
• 📍 Utilize Bing Places for Business in addition to Google to capture a wider audience and increase online presence.
• 📊 Encourage happy customers to leave reviews specifying the location of service, which can boost local search rankings.
• 🔗 Add internal links to related content within your service pages to improve navigation and SEO.
• 💬 Engage with your audience through social media platforms, creating and sharing content that helps solve their problems and builds brand authority.

Q & A

Why is local SEO important for a small business like a locksmith store?

Local SEO is crucial because it helps businesses appear in local search results, which can significantly contribute to website traffic. According to the script, local searches account for 22.6% of website traffic, and 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours. This highlights the potential for driving foot traffic and increasing sales through improved online visibility.

What are the three main factors that influence a business's ranking on the local pack?

The three main factors influencing local pack ranking are proximity, relevance, and prominence. Proximity refers to how close a potential customer is to the business. Relevance measures how well the business matches the search terms of potential customers. Prominence is the business's visibility and reputation, often determined by the number of positive reviews and mentions across various platforms.

How can a small business owner improve their local SEO?

To improve local SEO, a business owner should set up and optimize their Google Business Profile, ensure consistency in Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) across all platforms, add relevant services and categories, and respond to customer reviews. Additionally, they can enhance their WordPress website with Rank Math Pro for SEO, adding structured data and local SEO schema markups to the site.

What is the role of Google Business Profile in local SEO?

Google Business Profile plays a central role in local SEO as it is where businesses can manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying the business and providing accurate and consistent information such as name, address, services, hours, and customer reviews, businesses can improve their visibility and ranking in local search results.

How can a business with multiple locations optimize its online presence?

A business with multiple locations should create separate location pages on its website, each targeting local search terms specific to that area. It should also set up each location on its Google Business Profile with accurate and unique information. Additionally, the business should utilize internal linking and consider creating separate pages for different services offered at each location.

What are some local SEO tips mentioned in the script?

Some local SEO tips include using keyword research to understand what potential customers are searching for, creating content that serves the intent of those keywords, avoiding duplicate content, replying to customer reviews, adding images and videos to the Google Business Profile, engaging influencers for backlinks, claiming the business on online directories and review sites, and encouraging customers to leave reviews with location-specific keywords.

What is the significance of having a consistent NAP across all platforms?

Consistency in Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) across all platforms is essential for local SEO as it helps search engines identify and accurately list the business in local search results. Any discrepancy can lead to confusion and negatively impact the business's online visibility and trustworthiness with customers.

How does Rank Math Pro help with local SEO on a WordPress website?

Rank Math Pro is a WordPress SEO plugin that assists with local SEO by allowing users to add structured data and local business schema markups to their website. It also helps in managing business information, opening hours, and provides tools for creating location pages, all of which are crucial for improving local search rankings.

What are the benefits of responding to customer reviews on the Google Business Profile?

Responding to customer reviews, both positive and negative, shows that the business is engaged and values customer feedback. It can help manage online reputation, build trust with potential customers, and encourage repeat business from satisfied customers. Negative reviews, when responded to professionally, can turn into opportunities for improvement and demonstrate the business's commitment to customer service.

How can a small business leverage social media for local SEO?

Small businesses can leverage social media by creating and maintaining active profiles on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. By sharing relevant content related to their business, engaging with their audience, and encouraging customer interactions, they can build brand authority and trust. This online presence can lead to backlinks and mentions, which can improve the business's local SEO and visibility in search results.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding the Importance of Local SEO for Your Business

This paragraph introduces the concept of Local SEO and its significance for small businesses, using a locksmith store as an example. It emphasizes the need to be visible online to capture not only foot traffic but also online leads. The video's goal is to guide viewers, whether beginners or experienced, on how to rank their local businesses on search engines to attract customers. The introduction also presents Jack from Rank Math, a WordPress SEO plugin, and encourages viewers to subscribe for SEO and business tips.

05:05

📈 Setting Up Local SEO for Single Location Businesses

The paragraph explains the importance of local SEO, citing statistics on local searches' contribution to website traffic and the likelihood of these searches leading to business visits and purchases. It then transitions into a step-by-step guide on setting up local SEO for businesses with one location, focusing on the Google Business profile and WordPress website setup. The tutorial is tailored for WordPress users, highlighting the ease of setting up Schema markups and location pages. It also touches on the importance of local SEO for businesses with multiple locations and provides tips for quick results.

10:07

🏢 Factors Influencing Local Pack Ranking and Business Profile Setup

This section delves into the factors that influence a business's ranking on the local pack, such as proximity, relevance, and prominence. It explains how these factors affect search results and the importance of having a complete and accurate Google Business Profile. The paragraph provides a detailed walkthrough for setting up and optimizing a business profile, including adding business information, services, hours, and verifying the business to ensure it appears in local search results.

15:07

🌐 Optimizing Your WordPress Website for Local SEO

The paragraph discusses the importance of optimizing a WordPress website for local SEO, emphasizing the use of Rank Math Pro for seamless SEO implementation. It covers the setup of essential modules like Structured Data, Local SEO and Knowledge Graph, and Sitemap. The guide continues with configuring the Local SEO settings, including selecting the correct schema, adding business details, and setting up opening hours and contact information to enhance the website's visibility on local search results.

20:08

📌 Creating Multiple Location Pages and Schema Markups

This section provides a comprehensive guide on creating location pages for businesses with multiple branches and adding schema markups to these pages for optimal local SEO. It explains the process of setting up individual location pages on the website, optimizing titles for local search terms, and adding relevant schema information. The paragraph also discusses displaying business information on location pages, utilizing Rank Math's Local Business block, and the importance of having a consistent address across all online platforms.

25:08

🎯 Advanced Local SEO Tips for Faster Results

The paragraph offers advanced local SEO tips to help businesses rank faster and higher on local search results. It suggests using tools like Ahrefs Keyword Generator to identify local search trends and creating content that aligns with these trends. The tips include avoiding duplicate content, targeting different local search terms for various services and locations, responding to customer reviews, and engaging with influencers for backlinks. The section concludes with the recommendation to be socially active and create valuable content to improve business authority and local search rankings.

30:13

🤝 Building Trust and Visibility through Online Engagement

The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of engaging with customers online to build trust and visibility. It advises businesses to respond to all customer reviews, whether positive or negative, with a professional and understanding tone. The paragraph also highlights the benefits of adding images and videos to the Google Business Profile and utilizing platforms like Bing Places for additional exposure. Furthermore, it encourages claiming business listings on online directories and review sites, and encourages happy customers to leave reviews specifying the service location. The paragraph concludes with a call to action for viewers to subscribe to the channel for more SEO and business insights.

Keywords

💡Local SEO

Local SEO refers to the practice of optimizing a business's online presence to rank higher in search engine results for local queries. In the video, it is emphasized as crucial for businesses to be discovered by potential customers in their area, and the tutorial provides step-by-step guidance on how to achieve this through various online platforms and strategies.

💡Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile is a platform that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. It is a critical tool for local SEO, as it helps businesses share information such as name, location, hours, and reviews. The video provides detailed instructions on setting up and optimizing a Google Business Profile to improve local search rankings.

💡WordPress SEO Plugin

A WordPress SEO plugin is a tool that integrates with the WordPress content management system to enhance the site's search engine optimization. In the context of the video, Rank Math is highlighted as a plugin that assists with local SEO by adding schema markups and managing business profiles directly from the WordPress dashboard.

💡Schema Markup

Schema Markup is a form of structured data that helps search engines understand the content of a web page more effectively. By using Schema Markup, businesses can provide additional information about their organization, location, products, and services, which can enhance their appearance in search results.

💡Search Engine Rankings

Search engine rankings refer to the position or order in which websites appear in search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific search queries. Higher rankings typically lead to more visibility and clicks, making it a primary goal for businesses seeking to improve their online presence. The video focuses on strategies to improve local search rankings for a locksmith business.

💡Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are feedback or evaluations left by customers who have used a business's products or services. These reviews can significantly influence the reputation and trustworthiness of a business online. In the context of local SEO, positive reviews can enhance a business's visibility and ranking in local search results.

💡Local Pack

The Local Pack is a section of Google Search Results that displays a map and a list of businesses relevant to the user's local search query. It is designed to help users find local businesses quickly and easily. The video discusses the significance of appearing in the Local Pack and provides strategies to achieve this for a local locksmith business.

💡NAP (Name, Address, Phone number)

NAP is an acronym for Name, Address, and Phone number, which are critical pieces of information for local businesses. Consistency of NAP across all online platforms helps search engines and users identify and trust a business, improving its local SEO and overall online presence.

💡Backlinks

Backlinks are incoming links to a webpage from another website. They are considered a vote of confidence and can significantly impact a website's search engine ranking. High-quality backlinks from reputable sources can enhance a website's authority and trustworthiness, leading to better local search visibility.

💡Online Directories

Online directories are websites or platforms that list businesses and their contact information. They are important for local SEO as they help distribute NAP consistently across the web and can increase a business's online visibility. The video advises businesses to claim their listings on various online directories and review sites.

Highlights

The importance of local SEO for small businesses is emphasized, highlighting that local searches contribute to 22.6% of website traffic.

Google search results often include a local pack, with 29% of all results containing this feature, which is crucial for local businesses to be a part of.

The significance of being found in local search results is underscored by the fact that 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours.

The tutorial focuses on setting up local SEO for WordPress users, emphasizing the ease of use and effectiveness of Rank Math as a core SEO plugin.

Proximity, relevance, and prominence are identified as the three key factors influencing a business's ranking on the local pack.

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is introduced as a critical tool for businesses to manage their online presence and local search rankings.

Consistency in Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) across all online platforms is stressed for clarity and trustworthiness.

The importance of adding a business location for better local search performance is discussed, along with the necessity of including detailed and accurate address information.

The tutorial outlines the process of verifying a business through Google's verification process to ensure legitimacy and boost local search visibility.

Adding high-quality images and videos to a Google Business Profile is recommended to enhance trust and engagement with potential customers.

The setup of local SEO on a WordPress website using Rank Math Pro is detailed, including the activation of necessary modules and the addition of structured data.

For businesses with multiple locations, the tutorial explains how to create individual location pages on the website and optimize them for local search terms.

The process of setting up and optimizing multiple locations on Google Business Profile is discussed, emphasizing the need for accurate and consistent information across all branches.

Local SEO tips are provided to enhance a business's online presence, including conducting keyword research, creating valuable content, and engaging with customer reviews.

The tutorial concludes with a comprehensive guide on how to improve local search rankings through various strategies, such as engaging with influencers and utilizing social media.

Transcripts

Imagine you own a local locksmith store

in a small town, and right across the street is your competitor.

Their business is always busy and their

staffs are always on the road to perform their services.

While you're sitting in your office

wondering why things are aren't working out for you.

You went to Google and type in locksmith in your local area and you discovered

that your competitor is showing up at the first result, while your business......

It's nowhere to be found.

So, how do you take your local store and be

found online so that not only you can rely on your business location,

the foot traffic and word of mouth, but also maximize the potential of your

business by acquiring leads online that will turn into customers.

That's our main goal for this video.

Whether you are a total beginner to local

SEO or you're not getting the results from your local SEO efforts,

I'm going to walk you through step by step on how to get your local business ranked

highly on search engines so that leads and customers will start coming to you.

Let's go.

Hey, it's Jack here from Rank Math, the WordPress SEO plugin that gives your

business the best chance of beating your competitors on search engines.

We put out a lot of videos to help you grow your search traffic,

so consider subscribing to our channel to get SEO and business knowledge

delivered straight to our YouTube notification.

So here's the plan.

Let me first share with you why local SEO

is so important in case the first locksmith example is not solid enough.

And then I'll walk you through step

by step on how to set up local SEO for businesses with one location on both

the Google Business profile as well as on your WordPress website.

This tutorial is specifically for WordPress users,

so if you're not a WordPress user, you may need to skip the parts on how we

add Schema markups and create locations on the website.

But we highly encourage that you watch this video completely and maybe

considering switching to WordPress with Rank Math as a core SEO plugin because

we made everything seamless for you, as you will see in this video.

Next, I will show you how to set up local

SEO for businesses with multiple locations.

And, you definitely want to stick with me to the end because I'm going to share

with you some awesome local SEO tips to get the results much faster.

With all these in place,

you don't need to hire a local SEO expert to do the job for you because you'll

become an expert after following this video.

So, why is Local SEO important?

A research done by Milestone has found that local searches contribute 22.6%

of website traffic,

which means there could be millions of people visiting multiple websites every

day, and 22.6% of them come from a local search.

So, keywords like "Best restaurants

in Dallas, Oregon", or "Where to buy fish tanks near me" and so

many different variations of keywords takes up a big chunk of website traffic.

So... How does this affect me?

According to Rank Ranger,

29% of all Google search results contain a local pack in the results,

which is this huge box that takes up most of the space on the search results page.

And, according to Google themselves,

76% of people who conducted a local search on their smartphone visit a business

within 24 hours and 28% of those searches result in a purchase.

So, that's why local SEO is important in this day and age.

Even the older generation may do a Google search before visiting a store.

They'll probably check if the store has the item they wish to buy.

They'll look at the reviews of the store.

They may even contact the store just

to make sure that they will not be wasting a trip.

Now back to you. Do you think getting your business to rank

on the local pack and the organic search results are important?

If you're ready to get your local store

visible on search engines, let's start with the setup.

I'll first walk you through setting up

local SEO for businesses with one location.

If your business has multiple locations, this is still relevant to you.

So be sure to watch everything.

Before we get into the setup

that will allow your business to rank highly on the local pack.

Let's understand the factors that influence its ranking.

The first ranking factor is the proximity,

which means how far away a potential customer is from a business.

For example, in my country, Singapore,

although it is a small country that is divided into different areas.

If your business is located in the central area, but the potential customer is

currently in the Western area and she or he has searched for the term "Locksmith"

without any location specified, the businesses that will show up

on the local pack are those that are in the Western area.

However, if a potential customer now

expands the search term to "Locksmith central area", maybe that person works

in the Western area but resides in the central area.

So, while traveling back, that person is searching for a locksmith.

So, since the search term is specific to the central area where your business is

located, your business would now have a chance of ranking on the local pack.

That's the first ranking factor and then the second ranking factor is relevance.

For example,

instead of searching for locksmith central area, the person now search for "Unlock

doors in central area", which kind of means the same thing,

but it is a specific service and most likely you will see matching search terms

on the results like provides "Unlock Doors service".

This really depends on how well your business profile is created that matches

the search terms of your potential customers.

Everything that you do

on the Business Profile Manager has a direct influence on your rankings.

Don't worry, I'll walk you through

the steps on setting up the business profile in a while.

The third factor is prominence,

which is the degree to which your business is known to your customers.

And to determine that, Google analyzes the Google Reviews,

product reviews, links, articles, etc., that relates to your business.

So, the more people speaking positively about your business, giving five star

reviews on your business profile, the better your ranking will be.

Now that we know what influences your

ranking on the local pack, let's start working on your business profile.

You have probably heard of the term

Google My Business or GMB, but as of November 2021,

Google My Business will be known as Google Business Profile

going forward.

To reach this page, you can either type this into your browser

or if you find your business in the Local pack, you can click on this "own this

business" link and you can connect your business to your Google account.

Some of the business information has already been entered for you if you go

through this method, but I'll walk you through the set up from scratch.

Let's say that I have a locksmith business

and the registered business name is "Jack's Locksmith".

I want to put in the exact business name over here and Google will be matching your

business name to those that are already on their database.

If there is a match, you can claim the business if you own it legitimately.

But if not, you can continue to add your business to Google.

You'll start with adding your business name.

Again, this needs to be the exact business

name because that's how your customers will identify your business.

There is something called "NAP",

which is you have to be consistent with the Name, Address and Phone number.

So, whatever Name, Address and Phone number you have on the Google Business profile,

you want to have the same across every other place on the internet.

For example, your website, Yelp,

Yellow Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn or whatever.

A slight difference in those information in other places could cause confusion not

only to the search engines, but to your customers as well.

So, be consistent everywhere.

As for the business category,

I recommend that you select the primary business you're in.

For example, if you are locksmith, but you also sell and install digital

locks and many other services, then choose one that best represents your business.

Maybe the main business you're in is in the Emergency Locksmith service.

You want to choose that.

Don't worry much about this.

You can change and add more later as it states here.

But for now, let's go ahead to the next step.

Google is now asking if you want to add

a location so that your customers can visit your physical store,

office or whatever place your business is located at.

It is not compulsory to have a location, but in most cases businesses that have

a physical business address will perform much better on local searches.

So, if you have a place for your customers to visit, why not add it?

Right? Next, you will want to add the address.

Make sure that every detail of your address is included.

We will start with the street name and then if your business has a suite

number, you want to add it by clicking on the "add line". For the addresses

in my country, the suite number looks like this, and we will add the postal code

following that with the address given.

Google will display some businesses that have the same or similar address.

If that is your business, you can claim it.

If not, select "this doesn't match" and move along with the next step.

If your business provides deliveries or home and office visits,

in my example, it is going to be a yes.

It only makes sense since we have to visit our customers home or office to unlock

the doors for them. And then, we will want to add the areas our business serves.

For example, we are located in the central

area of Singapore but we do serve people from the east so I'll add Tampines.

This is not pronounced as "Tam" "Pines"

if you guys visit Singapore, it is "Tam" "pa" "nis".

Then, we also provide services to the north.

So I'll add Woodlands and basically

wherever your business can operate you want to add that location here.

Let's continue.

Now, you want to add your contact information.

This is basically the business line that your customers can contact.

It can be the landline of your support

team or in this case it could be a mobile number since the service is 24/7 and then

you will want to add your website URL here.

Click on Next.

Now you have to verify your business so

that Google knows that your business truly exists and it is not some bogus business.

While you're in the midst of verification,

you can continue to add information for your business.

The information will not go live on Local Pack unless your business is verified.

You can continue to add your services.

As you can see, because there are so many businesses in Google's database,

they can provide you with really good suggestions related to your products or

services so you can add whatever that makes sense to your business.

And if you can't find the services

in the recommendations, you can add a custom service.

We recommend doing keyword research

to discover what your customers are searching for.

This is part of the local SEO tips that I will share with you in a while.

When you're done with your services, let's click on Next.

You need to add your business hours. Try to be as accurate as possible. Situations

like the example we are working on, the office is open from nine to six

and after normal hours we still take calls around the clock.

This is due to the nature of business,

so for this case we will select 24 hours instead.

Do note that on Local Pack, your potential

customer has this filter function, so if you do provide services around

the clock, it is beneficial that you select 24 hours.

Stay true to your opening hours and do not abuse this feature.

There are some instances where Google

makes automated phone calls to verify the business hours,

especially for businesses that claim to be open for 24 hours.

Next, if you toggle this "on" on your

business profile, you may get a "Request a quote" button on your business profile,

a "Request a booking" button, or simply a "chat" button.

It depends on how you set up your chat

feature and it requires some technical knowledge.

If you want to know more about how to set up the chat feature,

you can visit Google's Guide to have it set up for your business.

We have left the link in the description. Next,

for your business description, you need to describe what your business

offers, what sets you apart from your competitors, the history of your business,

and everything else that's helpful for your customers to know.

This description will appear on your business profile,

so it is important that you describe everything in 750 characters.

Do not add URLs or HTML codes to this text field.

In our case, we will write something like this.

Once you're done, let's click on Next, and then this is going to be important.

Just imagine yourself as a customer when

you are doing research on businesses you want to be in contact with.

I'm pretty sure you want to see images of the business,

it's staffs at work, happy customers, etc.

It gives a personal touch and it enhances the trust level between you

and the business even before you reach out to them.

So on the flip side,

you definitely want to add images related to your business, your location,

your products, staff at work, and with the permission of your customers,

you want to add their images on your business profile because all these will be

visible whenever your business appear on the local pack or on the Knowledge panel.

So, add whatever images related to your business and you'll click Next.

And in this case, because this is an example, I'll skip this.

If you want to advertise your business

on Google, you can do so, and once your business is verified,

your business information will be seen on the local pack.

If you want to add information about your business profile,

you can click on "Edit Profile" and these are all the information you can add.

To visit your Business Profile Manager.

You can either click on your business

profiles or you can visit "business.Google.com"

Either methods will bring you to this page.

Any information about your business you

wish to add, remove or update will be on the Info tab.

You can change your business address, add service areas,

change your operating hours, add products, added, your services and everything.

We'll talk more about how to deal with multiple locations, but for now,

that's all the setup you need to get your business ranking

on Google's Location Pack, but make sure that you verify your business.

Now, we have configured your

Google Business profile and have the potential to rank in the local pack.

Let's not forget that you also have the potential to rank organically right

below the Local pack even when your business is not in the proximity.

That's what we'll be working on right now on your WordPress website.

On your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins and Install Plugins you want

to make sure that you have installed Rank Math Pro.

If you are not a Pro user yet,

you may want to visit our website and upgrade your account because you will

get a lot more benefits than just local SEO.

We have made every aspect of your site SEO seamless.

You can check out this page to discover all the benefits. Anyway,

once you have installed Rank Math Pro,

Hover to Rank Math and Dashboard, make sure that the "Advanced mode" is selected.

Then, you will first want to ensure

that the "Structured data" module is turned on and then you want to turn

on the "Local SEO and Knowledge Graph" module and finally the "Sitemap" module.

I'll walk you through everything,

especially the Local SEO and Knowledge Graph module.

On the "Titles and Meta" you will see the Local SEO tab here.

If you didn't turn on the Local SEO module, you will not see this.

I'm pretty sure that your local SEO is an organization, but if for some reason

you're operating on a personal level, maybe you are a freelancer.

You'll want to select the Person schema,

but for this example, I will select the Organization schema.

Just know that there are more information

to be added if you have selected the Organization Schema option.

Next you add the business name.

This business name needs to be consistent

with the business name you have added to your Google Business Profile and then

we will add the logo of your business as well.

Because it will appear on the knowledge graph of your business.

This is the minimum and maximum resolution.

We recommend having a squared image, probably 500 by 500 pixels.

We recommend not to go above 1000 X 1000. Then the URL of your business,

which most likely is the URL of the website you are working on right now.

And for now we will not be talking about

the multiple locations, but we will do it in a while.

This is the email you will regularly check for business inquiries.

As for the address, if you have selected the "Multiple

Locations" option, these address fields will be hidden.

But anyway, this address needs to be as

accurate and consistent with the address from your Google Business profile.

It's best that you copy whatever you have

added on the business profile and paste it on your website.

But if you're confident in what you've entered, that's good too.

You will also want to arrange the address

formats to match the placement of your address on Google Business Profile.

So for our case we didn't make use

of the locality and region, so we can remove that.

But we have the country right in front of the postal code.

You can use this shortcode and add all

your business information onto any page of your website.

Let me just double check the address format so I will copy this shortcode.

Let me save changes and onto a page I've

just created, let me add a shortcode and paste it here.

Let's publish this page and see how it looks like.

We need to add a comma here.

So back to the local SEO setting.

We want to add a comma right after

the address and let's save changes and see how it looks again.

Cool. Let's head back for the business type.

This option will be hidden when you have enabled the multiple locations earlier.

The business type should be the same or at least similar to the business category

you have selected on the Google Business Profile.

In most cases, you should be able to find

your primary business category in Rank Math.

In our case it will be locksmith.

Similarly, the opening hours will be hidden as well when the multiple Locations

option is enabled, but if you have a single location,

it should be set up the same way as you did on the Google Business Profile.

For our case it is open 24 hours on all days.

If your business is a restaurant, for example, maybe you have a brunch

service and you break a couple of hours before you open for dinner.

So, the first set of opening hours it will be the timing for brunch,

maybe 11:00 a.m. to 02:00 p.m. For all days and then you can add time.

For this case I'll add another set of timing.

I'll add seven entries

and this will be the opening hours for dinner.

So maybe from 06:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m..

And as you save changes, this is how it will look like.

And then on your business profile you can edit your opening hours.

This will be the opening hours for your brunch and you want to click Add Hours

and this will be the opening hours for your dinner.

That's how it works.

But anyway, let me put this back to our use case

next for the opening Hours format.

By default, the 24 hours format is

selected and this is how it will look like.

However, if you choose to have the

12 hour time format, it will look like this, which honestly looks better to me.

It is what Google uses as well.

Then the phone number.

Remember NAP, we need to use the same

number you have added to your Google Business profile.

Choose whatever that makes the most sense to you.

For our case it will be either customer service or emergency.

You can add as many numbers as you wish.

The same goes for your Google business profile.

But do think from the point of view

of your customers, the more numbers you add,

the more confusing it gets, especially for your potential customers.

For your price range.

Honestly, it depends on the nature of your business.

It would probably make sense to add the price range of all your products.

But if you are a service based business

where pricing is subjective, you can leave this empty if you want to.

But if you don't want to leave it empty and you want to give a gauge instead.

Adding a dollar sign signifies that your

products or services are cheap and inexpensive.

$$ signs means moderate, $$$ signs means expensive and $$$$ signs

means your products or services are high ticket or very expensive.

So for our case, I don't think our services are very

expensive and we want to portray that as cheap.

So I'll put $ Sign. Google Maps API Key If you want to embed a location map of your

business, we recommend that you check out this link to get the API key set up.

The same link is in the description.

Next, if you want to find the GEO coordinates of your business,

go to Google Maps and search for your business address.

If you find your business hotspot,

right click on it and you will see the GEO coordinates here.

Click on it and you will be copied to your

clipboard and you can head back to your local SEO settings and paste it here.

This information is important because it will be added to your local sitemap.

We will discuss this in a while.

And finally we have the about page and Contact page.

If you don't have these pages, hover to pages and add new, add a title.

Let's say it is "About us".

Then, you want to add all the business

information that your customers should know.

Maybe you can add the history of your

business who is managing your business, the services that you provide,

some customer reviews or basically whatever information

that will help elevate your business trust with your customers.

And then, you want to open up the permalink.

We recommend having the main keyword in the URL.

In this case, it is about that's good.

Once you have published this page, head back to your Rank Math

local settings, search for "About" and you should see your about page appearing.

If you don't see it, refresh this page and you should see it.

The same thing goes for your contact page

and conveniently, we have added a contact page and we have used a shortcode on it

and that's why you're seeing all the contact information.

It should include your opening hours,

the contact information, the address and any information that will

help your customers or potential customers reach you.

And once you're done, let's save changes.

That's all the set up you need.

If your business has one location,

you definitely want to stick with me to the end.

Because I've left the best to the last, which are all the tips that will help your

business rank highly on both the local pack and the organic search.

Now, let's talk about the businesses that have multiple locations what you do

on Google Business Profile and on your website.

I highly recommend that before we get into the Google Business Profile Manager,

we should set up different location pages on our website.

So remember on your local SEO setting you have this "Use Multiple Locations".

You want to toggle this on.

As soon as you save changes you will see a new custom post type added here called

"RM Locations" and there are more options available for you such as the "Open 24/7

Label", the "Map Style", the "Primary Country", and many others.

If you don't like that the "RM Locations" to be called "RM Locations",

you can scroll down to the locations post type name and added the label here.

This is for the singular and this is for the plural.

For this example,

let's name this as "Branch" and as for the plural, we'll put it as "Branches".

As we save changes, you will see the change in the label name.

Now to best explain the options available

that we have not discussed, let's create a new location for our business.

Let's assume that my locksmith business

used to be a single location business, but now I've opened up several new

branches to serve customers all over Singapore.

So to create a new business location, I'll hover to branches for you.

If you have not changed the label, it will be RM locations and let's add new.

This will look just like any other pages of your website,

but on the title of the page you want to add something like your business name

which in my case it will be "Jack's Locksmith at Tampines" because now we have a new

location in Tampines or "Jack's Locksmith Tampines branch".

It has to have the service

and the location in your title for local keyword optimization.

In my example I have the service keyword

which is Locksmith and I have the location which is Tampines.

So if somebody types in the keyword

"Locksmith Tampines", this local business page will be optimized for that keyword.

But if your business name does not have

a service keyword then you may want to add the service to the title.

For example, if your business name is "Secura"

then you want to have something like "Certified Locksmith

in Tampines" you get the idea.

Next, you want to add the local business schema to this page.

To do that, you want to click

on the Rank Math's tab right at the top and Select Schema which is the third icon

from the left and you will see that the local business schema is already added.

You want to click on this icon to add

the business information of this location. For name,

by default, it will take the title

of the page we have created which is "Jack's Locksmith Tampines branch", for my case.

If you want to customize the business name

for this location, feel free to add that here.

Otherwise, if you leave this empty, the title of the page will be used.

Then for the business type you can select the option that best suits your business.

But for simplicity sake I will keep it as local business.

Now as for this image URL, this will be the image URL of your logo.

I'll just paste it here.

If you have a branch manager who takes care of the request around that area,

you will want to add the manager's email address here.

Let's assume that my branch manager's

email is this, then the address of your new location.

In my case I will put something like this.

But remember this address has to be

consistent with the address from Google Business profile.

So when you add the address later

on Google, you will want to compare it to this address here.

Changing the address here to match what's

on Google is much easier. And then, for GEO coordinates.

Similarly you want to go to Google Maps and search for your business address.

If you can find a hotspot of your address, right click and you will see the GEO

coordinates of your business, click to copy and then paste the coordinates here.

The first set of numbers will be

the latitude and the second set of numbers will be the longitude.

Then similarly on top of the email address

of your branch manager, you want to add his or her contact number here.

If you don't have the secondary number you can leave it as it is.

This is not a compulsory field.

Compulsory fields are marked with an asterisk like this.

Anyway,

if you have all these information like the Business Fax, Value Added Tax ID, Tax ID,

Chamber of Commerce ID, you will want to add them here.

They can be displayed on your page

and will be added to the local schema. For the price range,

as mentioned earlier, you can add the price range of your

products or services, for example $$50 to $100.

Or if you don't want to specify an amount

you can add the dollar sign indication I've mentioned earlier.

As for the currency accepted, we follow the ISO 4217 format but you

should already know the currencies your business accepts.

If it is US Dollars it will be USD, Euro Dollar,

it will be EUR.

These are common currency codes you will use on the foreign exchange.

If you want to get to this page, we have

left a link in the description. For my case,

it will be Sing Dollars which is SGD. Payment accepted,

this will either be cash, credit card, PayPal or whatever.

The common payment method in my country is

cash, credit card, debit card or NETS. For area served,

we will leave this empty for now because

we want to rely on the information from Google.

We'll get back to this.

Now if your business is open 24/7 just like my imaginary business, you'll want

to toggle this on and the opening hour schema data will be hidden.

However, if you are a restaurant with two

opening hours you can click on add property.

This will be opening hours one. You can set the opening hours.

Previously it was 11am to 2 pm and you can add another set of opening hours.

We can put this at 6 pm to 10pm

but my business needs to open 24 hours so I'll just turn this on.

Oh, one more thing before I forgot, you've got to select your time zone otherwise

Rank Math wouldn't know what time zone you're operating in.

Anyway, we're basically done with all the local

schema data, and here's the thing, the schema data that we have entered, most

of them will be similar for other locations,

so instead of re-entering the information

for each location, let's recycle this schema by clicking on "Save as template".

Once done click on "Save for this post" and then if you want those schema

information to be displayed on this page you can simply add a block, browse all,

and as you scroll down you will find Rank Math's blocks.

Let's select the local business block.

The reason for this is because we have not

published this location page, so let's publish this first and as we refresh this

page. You will see all the schema data appearing here.

Click on the block and select the gear

icon at the top and you will see all its block settings.

You can choose the type to be "Address",

"Opening hours", "Map", if you have connected Rank Math

with the Google Maps API key, a map will show on this page.

We'll talk more about that later or you can select "Store locator" in case you want

to give of options for your customers to search for your other business locations.

Now, before we talk about the block settings, let's check

on the Permalink.

As you can see over here, it is good to have the focus keyword in the URL so

maybe I'll only keep the focus keyword and remove the rest.

Now, this is the entire Permalink for this location page.

If you're happy with this "locations" prefix you can leave it as it is.

But if you wish to change the prefix you can go to your local SEO settings

and under "Location post type base" you can change it to whatever you want.

For example "Branch".

If you have location categories this is the prefix.

If you want to change it you can do so.

We recommend having everything in lower case and as you save changes and refresh

your location page you will now see the permalink looking like this.

I'm happy with this. Now let me quickly add another location

because that way I can show you what these block settings are.

I'll head back to the WordPress dashboard and add a new location.

Let's say that I'm serving the west

of Singapore and there is a town called Jurong.

So I'll add a title "Jack's locksmith Jurong

branch" and I'll save it as draft. Go to "Rank Math",

select the Schema option.

I'll delete the default local business

schema that is added by Rank Math because I want to load the saved template.

There should not be any duplicated schema type.

I'll click on the Schema generator and select your templates.

This is the template we have saved.

Let's click on "Use" and all the save data are loaded.

I'll change the relevant information

and I'll publish this location.

Let me create another location because we have forgotten to create the location

of the main branch which is the branch that serves the central area.

Now, once done, as you can see here, we have

created three locations but this is for the Tampines branch.

So, I definitely do not want to have

the information from other branches on this page.

The reason all this information are here

is because on the block setting, we have selected all locations.

So, on the Tampines branch page I want

to select the information from the Tampines branch.

Now as for the maximum number of locations to show, if let's say that I've selected

the all locations, there are three Branches information here.

If it's set to zero, it will show everything.

But if I set to one it will only show one.

But this is just for demonstration purposes.

So I will select the Tampines branch.

Now, right at the bottom you can control

all the information that are displayed here.

So for example I've displayed the company name.

So if I want to remove this, I can just toggle this off.

In Singapore, we do not have state so I'll toggle this off and if you do not want

to show the country and your address we can toggle this off.

But this is important for the address

of my country. And if you do not want to show the logo.

Now, even if you do not show all the information, the schema data you have

entered on this page are still added to the page in the background.

If you view the page source.

Now say, for example, I do not show the primary number and I save this page.

If I view the page source,

the information is still added to the schema data,

but I don't see any harm displaying this.

In fact, we need this information.

The Location Business block is a very easy way to display the business information

onto any pages, but if you don't like the design, you can always add this block

on top of other design blocks to make the page unique and interesting.

I'm just showing you a simple way to add schema information for your local business

and display them easily on any pages of your website.

Now let's select another type.

I won't be talking about opening hours because it is straightforward.

Now let's Select Map.

The map will only appear if you have

created a Google Maps API key and I've added the API key to the local SEO setting

as I've shown you earlier, and also you have added the GEO

coordinates to the schema data of this page.

Let me put the live page side by side so

we can see the changes as we play with the settings.

There are four different types of maps.

If you select roadmap,

the map will look like this.

For hybrid,

it will look like this,

the satellite will look like this

and the terrain

will look like this.

Personally, I prefer either the terrain or roadmap.

You can control the size of the map.

Let's say the map width is 80%.

This will control the width here,

80% will make the map smaller and I want the height of a map to be bigger.

Say 500 pixels.

As I update the page and refresh the page, you can see the placeholder like this

and it is not zoomed in because of this setting.

Right now it is zoomed out so it will not use the entire placeholder.

Now, for the show category filter.

If your business has a lot of locations

and in each location you provide many different types of products or services.

You can categorize your locations based on the products and services.

You can add the categories at the locations custom post type over

here. It could be location categories for you.

For me, I've changed everything to branch and that's what you're seeing here.

So if you have added the location

categories you can organize the location to different categories.

But for this case we don't actually need to categorize the locations because all

services across different branches are the same and we only have three locations.

Now as for the Zoom level,

if it is at negative one, there is no reason to add the map.

Honestly, let's put it at ten.

It looks much better and personally I like

the Zoom level to be above 15 and here's how it looks like.

Here are the other settings for the map.

If you allow Zoom on the map, you will see the plus and minus icon.

If you allow Zoom by scroll,

the user can Zoom into the map by finger or mouse activity.

Allow dragging. Is this for marker clustering unless you

have locations or branches very close to each other.

If you enable this option on a Zoom out

map, it will show the number of branches around that location.

For the Show Info window,

if enabled, when you click on the marker, the business information will show.

The address settings here will control what is shown on the info window.

So for example, I do not want to show the email address.

Let me remove this,

and you will see the email address gone.

So that's how this works.

And finally for the store locator.

If you want to allow your customers

to search for your other locations, for example, I'll search for Bedok.

That's how we pronounce it and the area

coverage, I'll put it as 1 km and I search for it.

I will not find any of my stores.

However, if the area coverage is 5 km, the company's branch will display.

If you have many branches like for example, I put this as 40 km and right

now it will show all the branches of my business.

If you have many branches,

you can control the maximum number of locations to display.

And if you want to hide the radius option

from your customers, you can toggle this off

and the radius option will be removed. And then, you can control the default

radius for the search because since now the user does not have control over

the radius, you can set it at 10 km or maybe five.

If you have location categories, there will be a drop down like this

and if a user couldn't find their desired

location, you can show the nearest location.

For example, if I search for Changi,

we do not have a Changi branch, so the nearest location will be displayed.

All the rest of the address settings

control what is displayed on the search results.

That's all the basic settings you need to know when you create a new location.

Now let me go through my other location pages one more time, but let's recap.

For every new location you have for your

business, you want to create a new location on your website.

You want to optimize the title of the location for a local search term

and you want to add relevant schema information about your location

and then you want to display the information on your page.

This is the process you have to go through

on your WordPress website whenever you open up a new location for your business.

Now, before I show you how to set up Google business profile for multiple

locations, let's talk about some other settings we have missed.

Now under your Local SEO settings, there is this "Show Route label".

If you have utilized the Store Locator

block under the Local Business block I've mentioned earlier and you toggle

the Show Map settings together with the Show Route Planner, on the Live page.

If a search is done, you will see this "My Route" link where it

will show you how to get to your store based on your current location.

And if you want to change this label, you can do so either on the block editor

itself or under the Global Local SEO settings.

For example,

"How to reach us". As you save changes and you visit the Live page,

the label will be changed to this, and this

works hand in hand with the "Detect Location" feature which you

can find under your Local SEO settings as well.

Over here. If this is toggled "on" on your Live page

before any searches conducted, your customers can click on this

"Detect Location" link and the browser will ask for permission to track your location.

If your customer selects "Allow", Google Maps will detect exactly where your

customer is and the search parameter will be based on the location detected.

To get these two features to work, you need to enable the GEO Coding API

and the Directions API in your Google Maps platform.

Small little things like this creates

a big impact towards your customers experience.

Now, as for this, all locations are part of the same organization.

It will add a parent organization schema data to all the location pages showing

that this location page is under the same parent organization.

It makes total sense to have this on when

you have multiple locations, but it really depends on your use case.

As for this "Enhanced search" feature,

depending on the WordPress theme that you use, whenever there is a site wide search

conducted where our store location will be displayed, you will have the business

location data added below the excerpt of the Location page.

Some themes will only show the location page excerpt without the location data.

Another cool feature to have is this "Show Open Now" label.

What this will do is if your customer has landed on one of your location pages

and right beside the day of the page visit, they will see this Open Now label.

I'm pretty sure customers who are

interested in visiting your store would want to know if you are open right now.

So to have this crucial information displayed,

when you use the local business block, you can either select the "Address" or

"Opening Hours" type and you have to toggle this "Show Opening Hours" option and you

will see the option right below it. Toggle this on and you will see the label.

You can change this label to whatever you want.

For example, "We are open right now", and as we update the page,

that's how it will look like.

If you are using the Elementor or

the Classic editor whatever that we have shared with you regarding

the Local Business block settings can be applied and displayed as well.

Let's talk about Elementor first.

By default, Elementor is not activated

on the location pages, so you need to go to Elementor settings

and activate Elementor on the Local post type.

In my case it is branch as I've changed the label of the post type.

As you save changes and you go to either one of the location pages,

you will see the option to edit the page with Elementor.

Now to add local SEO schema data

to the page on Elementor, as we have done so earlier on the Block

editor, select "SEO" and "Schema" and you will see the Local Business schema here.

All the information and details are

the same, but if you want to display the information, it is unlike the block

editor where you can just adjust the settings with Elementor.

You need to work with shortcodes.

Add a shortcode module to the page

and you want to go to "SEO" and "Schema".

Under the Local Business schema, you want to copy this shortcode over to the page.

Remember, we have four types of display

the Address, Opening Hours, map and Store locator.

But let's say in this example I'll use the address type as for locations.

To display the schema information on this

location page, you want to check the post ID right at the top.

This number is dedicated for your location page and then depending on what attributes

you want to display, you can turn it on or off.

By default, some information like

the company name, the logo address and so on will be displayed.

If for example, I want to hide the company name, let's go to this page.

Search for company name right here.

Let's copy this attribute name.

Head over to your Elementor editor. Over on your shortcode,

we want to paste the attribute name here and equals blank.

As you hit Apply and Update,

your company name will be gone.

The same goes for your logo.

If you want to hide the logo,

place the attribute name here equals blank.

Apply and update the logo will be gone.

Now what if I want to add the opening hours?

The attribute name is right here.

Let's copy this.

Go to the shortcode, add the attribute name equals 'True'

as we apply

and update

the opening hours will be displayed.

The same goes for your classic editor.

If you want to add local SEO schema data

right at the bottom you will see Rank Math SEO module.

Select Schema and you will see the Local Business schema.

All the information and data are the same

as well, and to add a shortcode, copy this shortcode and paste the shortcode here.

Let's select the address type and update.

As a review post,

all the information will be added as well.

And similar to Elementor.

Whatever you want to display or hide,

all you need is just to know the attribute names.

Now there is one more last thing before we

go to the Google Business Profile, I want to share with you our Local Sitemap

that will help search engines know about your business locations.

There are millions of new websites and pages surfacing the web every single day.

And today, in this video, we have added three new pages.

So how will search engines know that our pages exist?

One method is through a sitemap.

I don't want to go too in-depth into sitemaps because we have a dedicated

video for that which is popping up at the top right.

I've left a link in the description as

well. As long as the schema structured data,

the sitemap, and the local SEO knowledge

graphs are toggled on, on the sitemap settings under "Local Sitemap".

If you toggle this KML file on which means Keyhole Markup Language,

all the GEO locations will be added

to the Local sitemap together with the name, address and phone number.

The NAP.

If you want to know how to submit this sitemap to Google so that they will take

notice of your new location pages, check out the video I've mentioned.

The link is in the description.

I'm pretty sure it is quite comprehensive.

And finally, let's set up multiple locations on your Google Business Profile.

Once you're logged into your

Google Business Profile Manager, remember this is your main branch,

so you want to change the name of your business to, for example,

"Jack's Locksmith Orchard Branch" just to be consistent with your location page.

And your main branch now has a new URL.

So on your website, copy the Branch URL or Location URL.

Click on Edit and you want to paste the new URL here.

Let's click Apply.

Next, to add new locations, go to businesses.

On the left panel you want to click on "Add Business".

If you have a lot of branches or locations

to add, you may want to select import businesses and download their templates so

that it's easier for you to add multiple locations.

But for my case, there are only two other

branches, so I'll add each location manually.

We'll start with the Tampines branch.

The name of the business needs to match the name on the location page.

You can go through the same process again as we have done with a single location,

but over at the areas you serve,

it is best that you select the exact areas where this new branch will serve.

For example, in the east of Singapore we have Bedok Tampines, Pasir Ris,

or whatever.

Be as accurate as possible.

Time to study your map.

Add the contact information of your branch

manager as you have included in the website.

This will be the Tampines page URL

that we have created and you will do the same verification.

Add your business hours for that branch.

Add a business description for your branch

and if your branch is new, you may not have images taken

in the branch, but you can add images of your existing business later on.

When your branch is more established,

you can add more branch specific images or videos to it

and we are done.

A new location is now added to your Google Business profile.

You can repeat the same steps for more branches,

but the information you need to update on your website is the service areas.

You can copy all this information

and paste it on your location schema

and we are done.

That's how you set up multiple locations

on both your website and Google Business Profile.

Now here comes the interesting part.

I will share with you all the local SEO tips to help you get results much faster.

The first tip I have for you is to know

what your customers or potential customers are searching for.

You can use a tool like Ahrefs Keyword Generator.

The link is in the description.

Select your country to discover local

searches and type in for example your services.

Give it a while and it will suggest a list

of local keywords that are related to your service or product.

From there you can see the number of local searches every single month.

About 1.9K people in Singapore are

searching for "locksmith near me" every month.

150 searches are for "24 hours

locksmith" every month.

"Locksmith for Letterbox" has 70 searches every month.

People in Yishun which is a town in the north are searching for locksmith.

So from this example, do you want to rank for all these keywords?

If yes, let's go to tip number two

which is to create content that serves the intent of the keywords.

So for our example, we want our content to rank for "24 hours

locksmith", "Locksmith for Letterbox". You

don't have to create separate pages to target each of the search query.

In our example we have a couple

of location pages with the locksmith keyword and since these pages are kind

of like service pages, you want to utilize them to target

the keywords on those pages you can add content.

For example, if you are living in

Tampines and you found yourself locked out of your

house or office, no matter

how early or late you are in distress,

fear not, we are a 24 hours locksmith

that will get any doors open for you legitimately.

Even if you need a locksmith for Letterbox

at 07:00 a.m. We will be there for you.

So, on this page you are targeting two keywords.

If you find more relevant keywords that are related to the locksmith service,

do not keyword stuff, but think about how you can naturally add

those keywords into the article or the location page or service page.

Maybe you can add real customer

testimonials or reviews that include certain keywords.

The key is to have a page that provides value to your customers.

Value could include how long it takes for you to reach their location,

the best contact person in that location

as long as you can add content that will help solve your customers problem.

You will rank for those keywords naturally.

That goes into tip number three, which is to avoid duplicate content.

If we use this paragraph we have just

created and paste it over to our other service location pages.

Maybe we changed from Tampines to Jurong.

We might be flagged with duplicate content or thin content.

So to avoid that, the way I think we can elevate the value of your service pages is

to add the same information such as the ones we have added earlier.

So instead of all these locations

from the east, we can add all the names of the towns, for example Boon Lay

which is a location in the West, Clementi, Pasir Panjang, and etc.

The timings here will depend on how fast your service staff can reach those areas,

and you can change the contact person and information as well.

So on all your other service pages, all the towns and timings will be different.

You can maybe style this up to make it look nicer.

The contact information and person will be

different, so you will not be flagged for duplicate or thin content.

Maybe you can add the faces of your service staff or your branch manager.

This will leave a personal touch and all the images will be different because you

have different staff serving different branches.

Tip number Four. Locksmith is not the only service that you provide right?

I'm pretty sure your business provides more than one service.

So for every service and location you want

to have a separate page, each targeting different local search terms.

For example, I have another service which is to sell digital locks.

Since I have three branches

and the service is available for all branches, I will add three new location

pages with the page title "Jack's Locksmith" which is the name of my business.

And then "best digital lock showroom

in Jurong", or Orchard, or Tampines. People who are looking to buy

a digital lock will not be searching for the keyword

"install digital lock", so I wouldn't add that keyword

"install digital Lock". You got to understand what your customers are searching for.

They will most likely want to visit your store before purchasing the lock.

It really depends on your usual customer journey.

Most of the time, customers in Singapore,

like myself, would not buy a digital lock unless I can touch and feel it.

So, therefore the keyword I'm targeting is this,

together with the location and within the location pages, you want to do a write

up that includes all the targeted search terms we have discussed earlier.

That's how you should create location pages for different services and in each

of the page you want to target different search terms.

Tip Five is to reply to all your customer reviews, be it positive or negative.

Show some class here. If you receive a super negative feedback.

Hey, your food is yucky.

Your service staffs are rude. I have to wait forever to get your food.

Try to soften the mood by trying to understand the problem

from the customer's point of view, and you want to offer an incentive to give

you and your business another chance to serve that customer better.

Do not fall into the trap and take it personally.

A negative feedback followed by a negative

reply will only bring bad reputation for your business.

Tip six is to add images and videos

whenever possible to your Google business profile.

Before any new customers engage with your business, they will likely consume

the reviews, images, videos and everything that is available.

It creates trust and customers are more comfortable engaging with your business.

Tip seven is to engage influencers, bloggers, magazines or whatever to mention

your business and have them link back to your website.

The more backlinks you receive,

the more trustworthy your website is, the more likely the content of your

website will rank higher on local search terms.

Don't pay for low quality backlinks.

Tip eight is to utilize Bing Places for business.

Although Google is a giant when it comes to local searches,

Bing is still significant enough to bring leads and customers.

It only takes a little bit of your time

to set it up and it can benefit you for a long term, so why not?

This is the link to set up your business for Bing Places.

I've left the same link in the description.

Tip nine is to claim your business

on online directories and review sites such as Yellow Pages, Yelp, Apple

Maps, Foursquare, Glass Door, and the thing is, remember all your Names,

Addresses and Phone numbers need to be consistent across all platforms.

Tip ten is to encourage your happy

customers to add a review, specifying the location where they receive your service.

The more positive reviews that come with location specific keywords,

the higher chance your content will rank for those local search terms.

Tip eleven is to add internal links to your service pages.

For example, on the Tampines service page you can add something like "Before you engage

us, maybe you want to try

and unlock the door without a key.

If you really can't solve the problem,

we will be glad to assist you on the keyword."

Unlock the door without a key you can

create a content that walks people through how to perform the tasks on their own

and you want to add an internal link to that page.

Sounds like you don't want the business, but honestly, most of the time, this builds

more trust because you are giving people options.

Instead of saying you need to engage

my services, I'm empowering you with the knowledge

and if you can't fix it on your own, let the master help.

This is more engaging for the customer

and most of the time customers will leave it to the professionals to do the job.

This will allow you to have an internal link as well as it builds trust.

I have just one more final tip to share

which is to be social. Having a Facebook page, a TikTok account,

a YouTube channel, be on Twitter, Instagram and if you're not exactly

a content creator, maybe you can hire someone to create

the content for you and post it across all the channels.

The content will be related to your

business and you are helping your customers to solve their problems.

And who knows if people love your content and they have a website they may link back

to you and it improves your authority in the business niche or business category

which will eventually lead to a higher ranking on the local search terms.

So that's all you need to know about local

SEO and I hope this is comprehensive enough so that you don't need to hire

a local SEO expert to set things up for you.

If you find value in this video, just do it.

It wouldn't hurt. Anyway,

do leave a comment down below if you need

help we will do our best to assist you and don't forget to subscribe to our

channel for more SEO and business knowledge.

We provide a lot of useful information every week all because we care about your

business so check in with us every now and then.

This is Jack from Rank Math I'll see you in the next video.