Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about getting you to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant queries.
In other words, when people are actively looking for what you offer, great SEO means they’ll find you instead of your competitors.
Local SEO is SEO that’s tailored to attract local clients. It’s perfect for businesses that only serve customers within a particular region – in this case, Edmonton. That means intentionally reaching out to people in various neighbourhoods around Edmonton, as well as those in nearby cities like Fort Saskatchewan and Leduc. You can tailor the local region you’re targeting by using the right keywords.
We’re going to give you 10 easy, actionable, free tips that will boost your local SEO. Ready? Let’s go!
#1: Set Up Your Google My Business (GMB)
GMB is absolutely essential to all of your local SEO and online marketing efforts. It’s Google’s business directory, and GMB results include pictures, your location on Google Maps, your hours of operation, and much more.
We’ve created a comprehensive guide to Google My Business in Edmonton – check it out. Here’s where you can set up your GMB.
#2: Create and Correct Citations
Name, address, and phone number (NAP) citations help search engines confirm the most essential details about your business. When your NAP citations differ from site to site, it hurts your rank. Search engines are providing this information to Edmontonians, and if they get it wrong, their users will be disappointed in both you and the search engine.
We have a guide to Candian NAP citations. For easy wins right now, you should add your business to Yellow Pages, and make sure all of your information is accurate on platforms like Yelp and Facebook.
#3: Do Keyword Research
Queries on search engines are the core of SEO. For local SEO in Edmonton, you’re going to want to target keywords that are both industry and location-specific.
Imagine you’re an accountant in Strathcona. You might want to rank for terms like “tax preparation Strathcona” or “tax accountant Edmonton”. To find out what terms you want to rank for, use keyword research tools. Moz has an excellent keyword research tool for you to start with. Most of these tools are freemium – you want keywords with a high number of searches, but low difficulty.
#4: See What Kinds of Content Are Ranking
Once you’ve found what keywords or phrases you want to rank for, search for those terms and see what comes up. It’s a good idea to take cues from the content you see – if video content is ranking well, make a video! Long-form content doing well? Make a long-form article! Basically, make the same kind of content that’s ranking, but do it better.
#5: Blog About Your Keywords
Back in the day, less-than-scrupulous webmasters would just stuff pages full of keywords. Today, that’s a very bad idea.
Instead, think of things specific to Edmontonians, relate them to your keywords, and write about them. Our tax accountant, for example, could blog about the recently revised Alberta Child and Family Benefit, and use the key phrase “Edmonton tax accountant” in that blog.
#6: Create Location Pages
Location pages are extremely useful for local SEO. The basic premise is that people who live in Leduc and St. Albert may very well want to use your services – so might people in various neighbourhoods around Edmonton.
When you make location pages for each of these cities and neighbourhoods, people making searches for things like “tax accountant near me” or “bookkeeping in Pleasantview” will find the page you made for the location they’re in or near.
These types of pages work best when you have multiple locations or you deliver to or serve multiple locations.
#7: Get Links
Now that you’ve created high-quality content, you’ll want other websites to link to that content. The more well-respected websites link to you, the better your SEO will be. You can use an authority checker to know how well-respected a site is.
You’ll want to stick to sites that have high authority, a low spam score, and are location or industry-specific. Getting a link from a site like the Edmonton Journal is more or less the holy grail of authority links.
#8: Get Social
You should already be posting on Instagram and Facebook regularly. Now that you’ve got excellent content, link to it on your social media pages.
It’s worth it to make a post every day – don’t be too spammy with your posts, though. Clogging your followers’ feeds may convince them to unfollow you – the opposite of what we’re going for.
#9: Speed Up Your Site, Make it Responsive
This is kind of a two-for-one deal – that’s the kind of value we’re looking to provide. You need to make your site responsive – that is to say, you need it to load differently based on what device is being used. You can read Google’s Responsive Web Design brief to learn more.
You’ll also want your site to load quickly no matter which device is being used. Again, Google comes through, this time with PageSpeed Insights. Lots of technical jargon in there, so if you don’t understand it, talk to your webmaster.
#10: Get Rich Results
One last technical tip for you – use structured data to get Rich Results.
Rich Results are more visually enticing, and offer more information to Google users. Structured Data allow you to get Rich Results. This is something you can do without a webmaster – use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to get the code you need.
Do all of this, and you’ll be doing more than most businesses in Edmonton. A boost to your Edmonton SEO means a boost in leads, so get ready to make more sales!
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