Local SEO guide for 2015

There has been many changes to SEO over the past few years. The days of getting hundreds or thousands of low value links in a matter of a couple weeks are over. What works today in 2015 for Local SEO? Here are a few things you can do to rank well in the search engines for your city.

1. On-Page SEO. Often overlooked or claimed be to completed already.
Make sure everything on-page has been done. Like Meta keywords, Meta titles, Meta description, H1/H2, Keywords, Image optimization, Page loading speed, Mobile responsive, NAP, etc. Content also needs to mention the city/cities your targeting.

2. Create a Google + Page (My Business)
Complete as much as possible. NAP (Name, Address, Phone number)
Add images, business hours, payments accepted, description of business, business category.
Get reviews (5 is key), they play a big factor in ranking in the 7 pack (Google Maps).
Verify your page when you receive code via postcard in the mail.

3. Create as many Citations as you can. Yelp, Angie's List, FB, YP, Local.com, Superpages, etc
Make sure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) are the same on EVERY citation you create, this is very important. Ex. if you put "1234 Some Road" on your G + Page then don't use "1234 Some Rd" on any citations.
These sites will sometimes out rank your site for a given keyword.

4. Get a few backlinks from high PR, DA, PA, CF, TF sites as usual.

Depending on how much competition you have in your city, how many citations you create, with a few good links, you should be on the first page of Google for your city in no time.

*As you can see nowhere do you see any mention about low quality links like general directories, web 2.0, tiered linking, article directories, bookmarks, blog comments, forum sigs/links. This is 2015 and Google has gotten smart over the past few years. These kind of PR0, new page, no authority links will do nothing but get you penalized sooner or later.*

 

I don't think no.3 can be applied to all online businesses.
Anyway, how about businesses which have different addresses/branches?
Should it be listed separately??

 

Local (hence the name) SEO is more for businesses that have a physical location like brick and mortar or deals with customers in-person locally. If you're selling solely online then regular SEO is probably the way to go.
Yes there's steps to follow if you multiple locations.

 

This 2015 is an important year. We should focus more on our weblog fans and audience. This means replying to their comments, having a chat so you can interact on the fly, listening to their suggestions and improve our website.