The average person only stays on a website for about ten seconds. If they aren’t impressed within this time frame, they click away and move on to the next site. This could be one reason why you’re not getting many hits.

The other reason could be that potential clients can’t find you. Most users don’t move on past the first page of Google. That means you need to rank high.

The problem is that you need to views to rank. As you can see, it’s an endless circle.

To optimize your website, there are a few local SEO mistakes that you’ll have to avoid. Check out this guide to learn what you should and shouldn’t do.

1. You Haven’t Created a Google Business Profile

Let’s say someone Googles convenience stores near me. They’ll get a list of stores along with contact information that they can use to reach out. This contact information doesn’t come from the store’s website.

It comes from their Google business profile. If you haven’t set one up yet, you should get on it. You won’t have to pay any money to create your profile and it only takes a few minutes to complete.

It is crucial that you finish the final step of the setup process by verifying your listing. If you don’t, someone might be able to make edits to your profile.

If you don’t remember if you’ve made a Google listing page or not, you’ll need to check using an online tool. Google doesn’t take kindly to duplicate content.

It will hurt your ranking if you have more than one page floating around out there. Contact customer service to get rid of any duplicate pages.

2. You’re Not Using the Right Keywords

One of the most common local SEO mistakes is using bad keywords. As the name suggests, these are words and phrases that people type in to search for relevant content.

Choosing words can be a little tricky. It’s not a bad idea to hire go florida seo or another company to get their advice on the matter. There are also websites and tools that will tell you where a word ranks as far as difficulty and search volume goes.

3. No Local Keywords

Speaking of keywords, you need to throw some local ones into the mix. That will allow you to attract a targeted market. For example, you have a bookstore located in Augusta GA.

If you don’t use keywords that contain this location, you might grab book lovers from Australia, France, and other corners of the world. Unless you have an e-commerce store, grabbing an audience in these areas won’t help your sales much.

4. Missing Contact Info

Google displays the contact information that’s on your business page. This being said, the algorithm likes to be thorough so it will cross-reference your profile with your website.

To keep everything moving smoothly, you need to make sure your contact info is accurate on both.

5. Your Content is Boring and Irrelevant

Any 2021 local SEO guide will tell you that you need to make sure your content is relevant and interesting. If your target audience gains nothing from the content that you post, your rank will take a hit.

You also have to post regular content. If someone sees that your last post was half a year ago, they may get the misconception that you’re no longer in business.

If you have some issues with this, the best thing you can do is hire a writer to take care of your content creation. This way, you can focus on other aspects of your business.

6. You Need Customer Reviews

Most people look up reviews before they decide to hire a company or buy their products. If someone looks up your business and doesn’t see any, you may look sketchy to them.

The problem is getting reviews. The easiest way to go about it is to email customers and ask them to fill out a survey. Include a link with a list of instructions for them to go by.

It may take some time for you to rack up good reviews this way, but it will be worth it in the end.

7. Ignoring Your Social Media

You can’t have a good SEO strategy without making use of your social media page. You can use it to link to blog posts on your website and run contests. You can advertise your promotions and reach out to your target audience.

Having an account makes you look credible to Google and will increase your rankings. Choose a social media platform that most of your target audience uses.

You want to focus on posting quality content to one or two accounts instead of spreading it out to a bunch of different ones.

8. You Haven’t Opted for Mobile

Most people use their phones to browse the web. That means if you haven’t optimized your site for mobile use, you’re seriously missing out.

It should load quickly and be easy to navigate through. Be sure that you’re optimizing your website to work on phones, not making two different websites. If you do that, you’ll get flagged for using duplicate content.

Local SEO Mistakes Your Company Should Stay Away From

Without a good local SEO strategy, your website won’t rank high enough in Google for your business to get anywhere. There are several mistakes that one can make when trying to optimize their website.

Do your best to avoid them yourself or hire a company that can do the work for you. Creating a website is only one part of running a business. Check out our blog daily for more tips that will help you get your name out there.