For a local marketing strategy to be effective, it must include both SEO and digital advertising elements. In this two-part blog series, we’ll cover some best practices on how to develop yours.

SEO - Local Search Best Practices

As Google continues to refine its search algorithms, the need for a location-specific digital strategy grows in importance. These are the basics of what you need to know to optimize your website for local search.

Google My Business

The first step in establishing a location-specific digital strategy is to claim your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Here you’ll categorize your business, upload photos, include a local phone number and address, add your hours, and get real reviews from your customers. According to research provided to G5 through its Premier Google Partnership, businesses with a complete GMB listing generate 7X more clicks and are 70% more likely to attract local visitors. 

Citations

Citations are instances where your business name, address, phone number, and website (NAPW) appear on other websites. Consistency is key here. Not only do they help to increase your presence on Google, they also instill confidence in consumers that you do what you say you do. Citations don’t need to be linked, as long as they reference your business NAP consistently in the same way.

On/Off-Page Optimization

On and off-page optimization carries a lot of weight in your local digital strategy. Adding a relevant city, neighborhood, and regional keywords to your on-page SEO strategy, including title tags, H1s, page URLs, content, and image ALT text all help your local search rankings. Your website should focus on keywords about your floor plan offerings, but also include relevant local terms to the cities your properties serve.

Off-page SEO involves improving search engine and user perception of your site’s popularity, relevance, trustworthiness, and authority. This can be accomplished by earning inbound links to your website from reputable sources like the local Chamber of Commerce. Off-page SEO also includes social media marketing, blogging, and influencer marketing.

Local Reviews

Local reviews directly impact local search ranking, which means you’ll want to encourage happy customers to share their experiences. Local reviews include more than just Google reviews — Yelp, Facebook, and Internet Listing Services also count. Make sure you claim your listing on review sites and respond to every review. High-quality, positive reviews improve your business visibility according to Google.

Localized Link Building

Local SEO relies more on links from other local websites that are relevant to your business than standard SEO campaigns. Localized link building involves acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. Search engines use links to discover new web pages and to help determine how well a page should rank in their results. Linking to another website effectively tells search engines that the linked site is a good resource, a vote of confidence for the brand.

For more information on developing your multifamily digital marketing strategy, subscribe to the G5 blog.

About the Author

Gwyneth Iredale is a Regional Sales Executive at G5, which combines expertise in real estate, technology, and smart digital marketing to deliver high-quality conversions.