Home Blog Local SEO Spring Cleaning 101: SEO, Content, and Technical Issues to Fix

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Spring has sprung, and there is no better time than now to revisit and revamp your local presence. Just as you’d deep clean your house or plant your garden for spring (and hopefully at least a few other times of the year), your SEO strategy needs routine maintenance too, and refreshing to yield long-term results. Your local SEO spring cleaning can start today, with the strategies shared during our recent webinar.

To help your business improve your local rankings, rise in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS), and start spring off right we assembled a panel of local marketing and Google Business Profile experts to discuss essential updates to make to your existing marketing campaigns, and sound SEO strategies.

During the webinar, our panel also discusses:

  • The current local search ranking factors driving listing views and conversions
  • Simple SEO fixes you may be overlooking in your current marketing strategy
  • Why you should resolve to make your “spring cleaning routine” a regular part of your SEO strategy

Our webinar panel included:

  • Amanda Tento, Google Business Profile Expert, and Educator
  • Lauren Etter, VP of Client Success at LSM digital marketing agency
  • Sherry Bonelli, SEO & Digital Marketer, and Google Business Profile Platinum Product Expert

Below, we will recap the top takeaways and strategies shared during the webinar. You can also watch the full webinar on-demand.

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SEO Efforts to Refresh

Google continues to promote creating a positive user experience with your customers. It then rewards brands who do so with improved rankings in the SERPs. Yet, there are often overlooked items that drag down natural search performance marketers neglect to address. In the last year alone, Google rolled out the Page Experience update which aims to reward brands in search performance results who provide a great on-page user experience. 

Amanda Tento Local SEO Spring Cleaning webinar quote

If you feel your business could use an SEO refresh, you’re not alone. In fact, 40% of our webinar audience said their SEO efforts could use a spring refresh. And 27%, said their content efforts specifically are the first effort they’re looking to refresh this spring.

Content Fixes

We asked our panel to share their top fixes, both short-term and long-term, they’d recommend businesses focus on improving the user experience, and boost their natural search performance in the process. Sherry recommends refreshing older website content and starting by targeting pages that are close to ranking high on Google. Determine how you can improve these pieces of content, such as adding new content types, such as videos, infographics, or audio. 

Sherry also recommends finding internal linking opportunities within current pieces of content. This, in turn, keeps visitors on your site longer and tells Google what pages are important to look at on your website.

Whether revamping old content or creating new content, Sherry reminds us that Google rewards great content, whether it’s old or new. Creating more content doesn’t necessarily translate to more web traffic. Keep track of where and when you’re ranking, for which search terms, and if you achieve any featured snippets on a consistent basis. As Sherry states, content needs to be looked at from a holistic standpoint.

Local SEO Spring Cleaning Webinar Quote Sherry BonelliTechnical SEO Fixes

Technical SEO elements can also positively and negatively impact a site’s search rankings. Lauren recommends for businesses look for broken links to start. Broken links or broken images negatively impact the user experience and create a negative perception of your brand. They can also cause a hurdle in the customer journey, which may lead to a lost opportunity.  

Lauren also shares that adding Schema on each of your landing pages. Schema, also known as structured data, helps Google discern what a user can expect to read on the page and what question you’ll be answering when someone is searching for your product or service. 

Tools to Improve SEO

Managing SEO at an individual location level and at scale can be difficult without the right tools to assist. We asked our panel to share the top tools they use for SEO. Here are a few they recommend.

Keywords Everywhere

As Amanda mentions, Keywords everywhere is an inexpensive browser add-on that can be installed on Chrome or Firefox. This browser extension shows monthly search volume, CPC, and competition data of keywords on multiple websites keyword to better understand what content to create and what keywords to focus on.

RankMath

RankMath is an SEO WordPress plugin that makes it easy for anyone to optimize their content and win rich snippets with built-in suggestions based on widely-accepted best practices

Google Analytics and Google Search Console 

Google Analytics and Google Search Console are two great free tools offered by Google. Google Analytics tracks and reports website traffic, and lets you measure your advertising ROI. Google Search Console measures your site’s Search traffic and performance and fixes issues dragging down your search rankings. 

Link Whisper

Link Whisper is a WordPress plugin that suggests and speeds up the process of internal links to improve search performance. Link Whisper starts suggesting relevant internal links when you start writing your article within the WordPress editor. 

MarketMuse

MarketMuse accelerates content research, creation, and the optimization process. It uses AI-powered content research, intelligence, and writing.

Keyword Strategy Optimization

Ongoing and consistent keyword optimization is another important component of SEO strategy. With the growing popularity of voice-activated devices, smart home hubs, and voice search, search terms have changed significantly. Instead of using a few keywords to look for your business, consumers may now be using long-tail keyword terms to try to find you.

Lauren recommends businesses revisit their keyword strategy annually at a minimum. An annual helps give your business insight into your rank for core keywords you want to rank for, how algorithm changes have impacted your search rankings and the type of content that is resonating with your audience.. 

Local Presence Efforts to Refresh

Aside from your SEO efforts, your local presence also extends to your local listings and online reputation. A recent study found that 76% of consumers look for a company’s online presence before visiting in-person, furthering the importance of having accurate data anywhere consumers can find you online. This extends beyond just your website, but your local listings and online review sites as well.

Amanda recommends businesses start by looking over their local listings at least quarterly to make sure everything is up to date. For single-location brands, it’s essential to learn how to manage your Google Business Profile in Google Search. Users and competitors have the ability to make edits directly to your business listing using the “Suggest an Edit” feature.

For multi-location brands using a local marketing partner, these edits can be found and rectified quickly. However, smaller businesses managing listings must be on the lookout for these edits often as they can highly impact you and your potential customers.

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Monitor Your Online Reputation Across Multiple Platforms

More and more people are using online reviews to make purchasing decisions, therefore what others are saying about you can essentially make or break your business. Google, Yelp, and Facebook likely are a few of the top sites you currently monitor reviews. However, customers are likely talking about your brand on other niche sites as well. 

As our panel shares, find the best review sites that are specific to your industry. What is good for one industry may not be a popular review site for another. Monitor your online reviews and what customers are saying about your business in as many places as possible.

Watch the full Local SEO Spring Cleaning Webinar now

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