A guide to increasing your local visibility
Local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your online presence to reach more customers from nearby searches, especially Google Search and maps. It will help your business to show up when people search for services “near me” or in a specific town, like “restaurants in Chelmsford”. This includes optimising your website, Google Business Profile, local keywords and reviews to boost visibility for location-based queries.
In today’s blog we are going to focus on tips and tricks to make sure your Google Business Profile is optimised.
Core set up
Before diving in any further check that your core set-up is correct:
Claim and verify your profile
Ensure the business name, address and phone number is consistent with all other directories or platforms you are on
Visuals and branding
Like a majority of platforms Google Business Profiles benefit from having regular refreshed copy, so make a plan to regularly go back to profile and add new images or videos. Why not, set yourself a monthly calendar reminder, so you don’t forget.
To get started focus on curating a selection of high-quality photos that show your food, interior, staff and menu. If possible, add videos this could be anything from short clips of the food being prepared to ambience during service.
Use your logo and cover image to reinforce your brand identity. We would recommend keeping this aligned with your Facebook/Instagram presence for consistency.
Operational details
Keep opening hours accurate, including holiday hours and special events.
Enable reservations through integrated platforms or have a clear link to your reservation platform
Add your menu, making it easy for people to find out what food would be available.
Engagement and reviews
We know that it can be hard to split your reviews across different platforms, but it is worth encouraging people to leave reviews on Google, as well as TripAdvisor.
Our top tip is to reply to all reviews – thank positive ones and address negative ones with empathy and professionalism.
Answer FAQs
Use the FAQs section to your advantage. Include common queries such as parking, allergens, booking policies and opening times. FAQs are great for AI Overviews so our top tip here is to make your answers concise, human and make it clear what question is being answered. For example, “Our restaurant has its own car park….”
Frequently asked questions about SEO
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Local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your online presence to reach more customers from nearby searches, especially Google Search and maps. It will help your business to show up when people search for services “near me” or in a specific town, like “restaurants in Chelmsford”. This includes optimising your website, Google Business Profile, local keywords and reviews to boost visibility for location-based queries.
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There is some cross over between traditional SEO tactic and AIO tactics, but the key difference is that with SEO you are trying to influence the organic search engine ranking position (SERP) whereas AIO is trying to get your brand included in relevant AI summaries.
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AIO is about influencing google AI-powered summaries that appear at the top of search results.
