Local Search Engine Optimization for Manufacturing Businesses
This is part three in our series: Marketing Your Manufacturing Business Online Effectively
Searches for products and services “near me” has increased dramatically over the last few years. According to Google, local intent searches lead to a purchase more quickly.
Certainly, SEO is a part of your marketing strategy for your manufacturing business. As we have already seen in part one of our series, Social Media for your Manufacturing Business, many of the social media channels that you should be using to market your business will improve your SEO. Adding Local SEO to your strategy will help other companies and customers looking for products and services “near me” find your manufacturing company. Google takes all the information from the ever-increasing local signals, and it uses it to create a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) that will show all relevant information to that specific local area.
How Can Manufacturing Companies Improve Local SEO?
Customize Website Information to your Location: Adding regional keywords to a page heading and adding your company’s physical address will improve Local SEO and personalize your company’s website.
Google my Business: This is a free service that should be used by every company as part of their marketing strategy. A business profile lets you connect with customers across Google Search and Maps as well as manage all your business information. Registering your manufacturing business on Google Maps will increase its visibility and improve your rankings on Google. When local businesses and customers search for your products or services, you want your company to show up right below the map!
Google Ads: Having your add appear on Google while a relevant customer is searching for products and services your company offers, can direct local customers to both your website and your physical location.
Local Citations: Make sure you have the correct name, address and phone of your company on local listings. Even small discrepancies can mess with your Google rankings, so be consistent across all local directories like Yellowpages.com, Manta.com and any blogs, newspaper sites, networking groups like BNI and meetups, or event listings where your company information is cited. Since Google loves consistency, doing this will help elevate your search rankings.
Reviews: Reviews show searchers what other like-minded people think about your business. Reviews can influence a searcher to make a buying decision quickly. The appeal of reading a business’s Facebook page review is that the opinion on a company or the products they manufacture is coming from people you know. Since Google adds up the number and quality of reviews as a factor in determining your local search ranking, having reviews on Google My Business, Yelp, Citysearch, Merchant Circle, and Facebook are critical for your business.
Links: Another component in the Google search algorithm is having links to your site from trusted, well-established sites like the chamber of commerce and local networking groups. Joining groups like the Chamber of Commerce, Local BNI groups, or sponsoring a meetup.com group will get you a link from a membership directory or from an event page you are hosting.
It takes a lot of management and patience to stay on top of SEO, especially as the rules are constantly changing with every Google algorithm update. However, there is a lot of Local SEO to tap into to improve your visibility online and increase sales for your manufacturing company.
This post is the third in our series of 6 posts dedicated to marketing your manufacturing business online, feel free to navigate through all of these posts:
2. Social Media for your Manufacturing Business
3. Local Search Engine Optimization for your Manufacturing Business
4. Email Marketing for your Manufacturing Business