Boost Your Local Visibility: 8 SEO Tweaks to Help Your Business Grow
When someone needs a service or product in your area (think beauty treatments, bakeries, local cafe,..), their first move is often a quick Google search. 87% of people use Google to evaluate and find local businesses. So if you’re business isn’t optimised and showing up in those local search results, you’re missing out on a significant number of potential customers.
You could have the most visually appealing website with a stunning branding and logo, but what’s the point if you can’t reach people to see it?
Luckily for you, a few straightforward SEO tweaks can significantly enhance your local visibility. In this post, we'll walk you through practical steps to ensure your business stands out in local searches.
1/ Use location names in your headings
Incorporate location names into your page titles and subtitles. This signals to search engines what your content is about and enhances your relevance in local search results.
Look at your main heading (usually H1) and subheadings (H2). These are editable text blocks that Google looks at first. So instead of saying “Fresh pastries every day,” go for something like: “Fresh pastries baked daily in Portsmouth.” It’s clearer for search engines and for people.
2/ Keyword variations
Use different forms of your location name throughout your text to increase findability. For example, don't just use "Southampton," but also phrases like "women's fashion Southampton," "top clothing stores for women in Southampton," or "shopping in Southampton."
3/ Meta descriptions
Your meta description is the short preview text that appears on Google when someone sees your page in search results.
Add location names to the descriptions that appear in search results. This shows potential customers that you're locally relevant and nearby.
4/ Alt Texts & Filenames
Alt text helps with SEO and makes your site more accessible. Instead of uploading “IMG00032.jpg”, rename your files and add a description that includes your location.
Instead of: IMG0032.jpg or coffee.jpg > use something like: oat-and-bean-croissant-coffee-southsea.jpg
Then add alt text like: “Flat white and butter croissant at Oat & Bean café in Southsea”
It’s simple, clear, and helps your content show up for searches like “coffee shop in Southsea” or “croissant café near me.
5/ Internal links
If your blog or other pages talk about your area, link them together. This builds what’s called internal linking, it’s great for SEO and helps your visitors find their way around. It tells Google that your pages are connected, which helps search engines understand your website better, boosts your rankings, and keeps visitors clicking through your content longer (which Google also loves).
Basically, it shows your website has a structure, and that’s pure gold in Google’s eyes.
Let’s say you’ve written a blog post called: “Our Favourite Cosy Corners in Southsea”
In your homepage or about section, you might write:
"We’re proud to be part of the Southsea community and we’ve even shared a few of our favourite hidden gems in this blog post." > then highlight “favourite hidden gems in this blog post” and link to that article.
6/ Open Graph data
When someone shares your page on Facebook or LinkedIn, the little preview they see comes from your Open Graph metadata. Adding your location into this info helps both people and algorithms understand where you are based - especially useful for local discovery via social shares!
7/ Use location-based categories
Your blogs or product collections should use categories that help Google understand what and where you are. Name your categories clearly, e.g. “Portsmouth Events,” “South Coast Markets,”…
8/ Set up or update your Google Business Profile
This is how you show up on Google Maps and in “near me” searches. If you haven’t done this, you’re missing a big opportunity.
Add your address, hours, website and description. Make sure it matches your website info!
Don’t underestimate the impact of local SEO optimisation! Implementing these strategies will lead to significant benefits:
You’ll start showing up for people who live near you
Google says 76% of people who search for a local business visit it within 24 hours
The more people see your name pop up, the more they remember you!
Better visibility = more eyes = more customers
You’ll stop wondering if you’re website is working and start knowing it is
If you need help implementing these strategies or if you’re ready to get serious about your SEO but don’t know where to start, drop us a message. We can offer you an SEO audit with a clear action plan or sit down and go through it all with you, step by step.
Disclaimer: It’s important to note that this is not a quick fix - SEO is an ongoing, long-term process and needs to regularly be updated and maintained.