With the right local SEO content strategy, you can position yourself to dominate the local search results and improve your local customer win opportunities. Currently, we are experiencing a digital paradigm shift, where customers rely more on online information.
As per a published Brightlocal Survey, 81% of customers use Google to evaluate local business information. Another research report by the Content Marketing Institute shows that 88% of content marketers believe content helped them create brand awareness in 2021.
More than ever before, content marketing is pivotal for creating an optimized local SEO presence and building credibility in your market. It provides an important avenue for customers to educate themselves and evaluate the authenticity of your local business.
But the question remains: how can you create and execute a content strategy to cornerstone success for your local business.
What does a local SEO content strategy look like anyway? Let’s find out:
What is a Local SEO Content Strategy?
A local SEO content strategy is meant to attract regional prospects by creating and optimizing both text and audio/visual content.
The goal of content marketing is not only to promote your business. It is also about helping local buyers instantly find the information they seek about your niche and offering.
What happens when you become a reliable source of information? Readers will crave more content, share it with others to expand your visibility, and build a positive impression of your brand.
Local SEO content marketing certainly has its challenges. But tackling those issues are worth it.
With a solid local SEO content strategy, you’ll be able to engage with and learn about your audience far easier than marketing teams in huge corporations and enterprises.
Strong relationships like this can reward you with a significant advantage. But it only works when you are able to create engaging content that is authoritative, visible, and reachable.
However, creating such personalized content requires a solid strategy in place. Let’s find out how you can create one:
How to Create and Execute a Personalized Local SEO Content Strategy to Win Customers
1. Identify the Local Content Channels Customer Use
The first step is to identify the channels local customers use to find different forms of content.
Is it SEO, social media, blogs, video channels, emails, print media, or something else entirely?
Content marketing channels are places to publish your content so that users can find it and engage with it effortlessly.
You may find it hard to identify the right channels for your own business. In that scenario, try to experiment with your content creation.
You can create a diverse mix of quality content and distribute them across the channels you do find, noting how each format, media type, and topics perform.
If you track your results well, you’ll be able to identify what channels get you more traffic, engagement, and leads from local areas.
2. Define Channel-Specific Content to Target
The experiment mentioned above requires you to create content that is relevant and specific to each content channel.
By defining channel-specific content, you will be able to better reach your key target audience(s).
Content channels can be divided into three categories: owned, earned, and paid.
- Owned channels are where distribution cost is either zero or negligible. For instance, your website, blog, or social media platforms.
- Earned content channels refer to the content shared by third parties on your behalf. For instance, guest posting on local publications or someone tweeting about your blog.
- Paid content channels include digital/PPC ads where you pay for each engagement your customer has with your content.
3. Make a List of Local Keywords
Regardless of what channels you choose for attracting customers, you will want to identify local keywords. These keywords are vital to boosting the visibility of your content.
This of these as the most important search terms that your local prospects will use to find relevant content, information, services, and products.
The first step is to start preparing a list of content notions, and then research keywords that go along with them. For the same, you can use Google Keyword Planner, Keyword.io, Ahrefs, Moz, or any keyword research tool you prefer.
Once you get your hands on the local keywords, find the best places to include them and optimize your content during the creation stage.
Remember that your local keywords should fit naturally within your content. Never force in keywords just to include them without a good reason.
4. Localize Your Web Content
While you are researching keywords, also prepare a list of local search terms customers use to find services you offer. This is a key step in optimizing your website for what customers are seeking.
You can use the same tools mentioned above to find suitable location-specific keywords for this purpose.
With this in hand, you can develop a website with on page optimization that focuses on local SEO.
For example, here are some relevant terms prospects may use to find a family law business:
- Family lawyer in Austin
- Best divorce attorney in Texas
- Property division attorney in Dallas
5. Write Blogs to Target Local Audiences
One of the best Local SEO content strategies is to write relevant, value-added, and interactive content in the form of blog posts.
Well-executed blogs are known for their high customer pulling potential. The biggest challenge marketers face with blog content is how to cover topics that will be most likely to resonate with the target audience.
With blogs, you can showcase your expertise, cover local events or trends relevant to your niche, and offer local business updates to draw readers in. Of course, this will only work if you include frequent mentions of your local city or market.
Pro Tip: Consider publishing blog listicles on the “Top X” or “Best X products” for your local industry. Your audience is likely to find this type of content highly interesting, educational, and engaging.
6. Guest Post on Local Publisher Websites
While we are on the subject of writing blog content, you should also consider guest blogging on local publisher websites.
It’s an effective tactic that any content marketing consultant and many SEO experts will recommend.
By executing a local SEO content strategy, you can drive a massive amount of local traffic and leads for your business.
Search for local publishers, media houses, and niche bloggers that publish relevant content about your industry.
Then, create an outreach strategy to not only expand your readership, but also to get links or mentions of your business. This is sure to improve your local business SEO.
7. Cover Local Events and Activities
Certain local events and activities create a massive buzz around your local community. Even better, a lot of people will be searching for content relevant to those events.
This offers you an opportunity to get in front of a huge audience and with your content.
You can even become a sponsor of key events. This has the potential to earn you a mention from their official website as a branding partner.
With this mention, and hopefully an accompanying backlink, you’ll enjoy enhanced awareness of your business. And ideally, more traffic and leads.
Thus, keep an eye on activities like sporting events, networking events, local ceremonies, etc. Take advantage of these opportunities to get yourself in front of more local prospects.
Conclusion
Content marketing can take your local SEO game to the next level. The only thing to keep in mind is to be consistent with your content creation and distribution efforts.
If executed correctly, a local SEO content strategy can take your local traffic and lead generation a notch higher.
A strong, localized content strategy that provides significant value for readers will always help you win customers over.
So follow the guidelines above for a solid local SEO content strategy. With this in hand, you’ll boost brand awareness, enhance your reputation, and drive more business within your local target audience.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions stated in this post are that of the author, and Return On Now may or may not agree with any or all of the commentary.
This guest post brought to you courtesy of Return On Now, Professional Austin SEO and PPC Services Company.
Hazel Raoult
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- How to Create and Execute a Local SEO Content Strategy - August 9, 2022
