Common SEO Mistakes by Local Businesses and How to Avoid Them
With more local businesses set to establish their brand in the digital world, you can expect a rise in competition, especially for that top spot in search engines. But for local businesses, we highly recommend a location-specific approach called local SEO. If you already have a local SEO strategy in place, ensure your strategy is airtight by avoiding these common SEO mistakes.
Ignoring Local SEO
Did you know that in 2024, only 42% of local businesses in Australia are optimised for local SEO? This means that most businesses are still ignoring the biggest source of organic traffic they can get from local search results.
A big mistake many local businesses make is doing general SEO to target users worldwide or in their country. But, if you’re catering to local clients, your priority should be to gain traction among potential consumers within your area or vicinity.
Local SEO is not easier than doing general SEO. While yes, you’re targeting a smaller area and dealing with fewer competitors, there are still easily avoidable mistakes that you can make to prevent your business from ranking in the local search.
Incomplete Google Business Profile
The first mistake you can make as a local business is not completing your Google Business Profile. About 55% of Australian businesses still haven’t claimed their Google Business Profile listing; in return, they’re missing out on the opportunity to interact with their customers and audience.
When creating your GBP, you want to ensure you’re putting all the information about your business in as much detail as possible. This includes:
- Business name, type, and category
- Address
- Phone number
- Website
- All areas you serve in
- Operating hours
- Products and services
- “From the business” description
Inconsistent NAP Information
Inconsistent NAP information can negatively impact your website’s ranking in local searches. Before Google can rank your website, it needs to make sure that your business is what you say it is. Using inconsistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) data can ruin your credibility with Google. Say you relocated somewhere permanently and forgot to change your business address on your GBP while your website has your current address. Or you input one wrong digit in your phone number. These inconsistencies can put your business in a bad spot with search engines and essentially put your position in Google Search down the drain.
Disregarding Reviews
Reviews are fundamental in improving customer engagement and experience. According to local SEO statistics, almost 64% of people check the reviews before visiting a business site.
Additionally, Google always looks for reputable brands that provide high-quality services and products to put on the top search pages. That’s why it’s important to encourage your satisfied customers to leave a review to build your brand’s trust and credibility with potential customers and Google.
Write well-thought-out responses to positive and negative reviews. People are more likely to engage with and recognise businesses that take the time to respond to reviews because they show honesty, authenticity, and commitment to customers.
Not Optimising Images
Poorly optimised images can slow your website’s speed and affect its core vitals. People’s patience is not much these days; they can only wait a few seconds before going back and clicking on another website to get the answers they’re looking for.
Failure to optimise your images can result in significant traffic loss. Some bad practices include uploading uncompressed images, not including the main keyword in the alt text, and poor URL structure.
Plenty of free image optimisation tools on the web can do the work for you. It’s one less problem you won’t have to spend much time on.
The Website is Not Mobile-Friendly
In Australia, 42% of the internet traffic came from mobile phones. If you haven’t optimised your website to be mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a big chunk of potential local traffic. Google is prioritising mobile-optimised websites for indexing and ranking. Here are the best practices for mobile optimisation:
- Choose a responsive design that can automatically adapt the layout to fit any screen
- Compress images to reduce file size and optimise website loading speed
- Eliminate pop-ups that cover the entire screen
- Use fonts that are easier to read on smaller devices
- Ensure your buttons and menus are easy to navigate by touch
Not Using Local Keywords
Localising your content by implementing local keywords is necessary to rank your web pages on the local search. You want to include your area at the end of your keywords. For example, the keyword “high protein dog food” should be “high protein dog food in Hobart.” This practice will allow you to appear in search queries that people in your area are searching for. Include location-specific keywords in your headings, content, meta tags, and Google Business Profile to improve your position in the local SERPs.
Conclusion
Now that you have an overview of the common SEO mistakes and how to avoid them, it’s time to strategise your next move. Create a website audit, identify existing issues, address your business’ pain points, and use the solutions above to correct your SEO mistakes. Or, if you don’t have time, hire our SEO professionals from Tailored SEO’s Hobart Team! Our team at Hobart specialises in helping local businesses up their website game by introducing an SEO strategy that addresses your business needs and the results you want to get. Contact us here.