Brick and mortar businesses can boost foot traffic and online visibility with focused SEO tactics. The most important moves for physical-store owners are local optimization, unique and trustworthy content, schema markup, and high-quality backlinks. Avoid black-hat shortcuts, since Google penalizes them.
Why local SEO matters for brick and mortar stores
For brick and mortar businesses, optimizing for local markets is especially important. You want to make yourself accessible to local customers and build high-quality backlinks. Content must be unique, informative, and trustworthy, and it should be adapted for local audiences.
How search engines rank your site
Search engines use algorithms to determine which websites are most relevant. They use a mix of signals and user history to determine which sites and pages have the best results. Search engine optimization techniques can help your content perform better by incorporating strong organic SEO, useful long-form content, back-end metadata, and webmaster keys.
The result of a good SEO campaign is that your website will be placed ahead of competitors’ websites in search results. A well-positioned website will gain more customers and sales. Because Google has an algorithm that focuses on user experience, you should optimize your site accordingly.
Make your site easy to crawl
In addition to optimizing the site for search engines, you should make your site easier to crawl. Using a WordPress plugin or an online XML sitemap generator will help you with this. Google’s Sitemaps program helps website owners submit sitemaps and monitor index status. Optimizely is an excellent tool to use in the process. It makes the process of testing and adjusting your site straightforward, and its visual editor makes changing content easy.
Avoid keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing, or “keyword spam,” is a common problem. Not only is it a form of search engine spam, it can make your content unreadable. Search engine algorithms check content across the web, including metadata, description, and alt attribute text. They also monitor incorrect or bloated alt attribute text and too many keywords without any relevance to the content. You can avoid this by reading SEO guides carefully.
Use schema and on-page optimization
Apart from using keyword-rich content, you should also consider using schema and keywords. These two SEO practices will improve your website’s visibility on search engines and increase traffic to your site. You should also use on-page optimization techniques, such as making sure key pages are linked to and using relevant anchor text.
Convert traffic into customers
These SEO techniques will boost your website’s search engine rankings, but without converting traffic to customers, your online business is not going to grow. A lot of web traffic can only help you if you can convert those visitors into customers. This can be done through conversion rate optimization.
Hire experienced SEO help
You can hire SEO experts to optimize your website. SEO experts have a wealth of experience in the field, and they can help you advertise your company and expand its online footprint. While SEO training can turn novices into “seo ninjas,” it is time-consuming and often out-of-date. A small investment in an agency that knows what it is doing can pay dividends in the long run.
FAQ
What is the most important SEO tip for brick and mortar businesses?
Optimizing for local markets. Content should be unique, informative, trustworthy, and adapted for local audiences so nearby customers can find the business online.
Should brick and mortar businesses use keyword stuffing?
No. Keyword stuffing is a form of search engine spam that makes content unreadable. Search engine algorithms flag stuffed metadata, descriptions, and alt attribute text, so it should be avoided.
Is it better to hire an SEO agency or train in-house?
Training is time-consuming and often out-of-date. Hiring an experienced agency that knows what it is doing is a small investment that can pay dividends in the long run.
