One thing is for sure – the SEO world is constantly evolving and changing. Google is updating its terms and performances, so some practices are not that valid anymore. However, some of these local SEO cases have still remained in some strategies, and are making a negative effect on the SEO. To be able to avoid these, you need to focus on two things. Firstly, you need to find out what are the best practices you can currently use to improve your rankings. And secondly, learn about what’s not a good use case for a local SEO, to be able to recognize your mistakes and correct them as soon as possible. This method will give the best results, as you will improve your SEO and remove all the obstacles.
Using too many keywords in GMB name
When building citations, it’s essential to write the right name of your business. However, many business owners add city or neighborhood names to it, to make sure the local search is narrowed down. However, Google says that’s it’s against the guidelines to use unnecessary keywords in your business name. It is important that your name reflects your real business name – the one that you put on the website, on the door of your office, etc. Unnecessary information is not allowed, as you have other fields to put this information in. Removing them from the name field is a safe way to avoid restrictions and other problems if Google recognizes your business name as ‘spammy’.
Remember: keyword stuffing is not welcomed anywhere on your website, too. Using too many related keywords in your content will decrease user experience, make the writing unnatural and spammy. There are other methods to increase Google rankings, and using a ton of keyword phrases is surely not one of them.
Adding a wrong address
Sometimes, in order to attract customers from another area, business owners will ad ineligible addresses to their GMB listing. This is unfortunately common practice and not a good use case for a local SEO. According to Google guidelines, the location should be your actual location, without adding any PO boxes, remote mailboxes, etc. Even though you might serve customers at their homes, you should have one central location added to the listing and your NAP. This will be more useful for your customers and also approved by Google.
Two businesses – one phone number?
Running two different businesses from home or other locations is a common practice. However, when creating GMB listings, these two or more businesses should have individual phone numbers, as well as websites. Apart from not being in accordance with Google guidelines, this practice also confuses the customers. Invest in creating unique phone numbers for each business, but also correcting and cleaning previously added citations.
Irregular content
The key to success when it comes to a successful SEO is original, high-quality, informative, and consistent content. For that reason, posting irregularly is not a good use case for a local SEO, and can hurt your rankings. When creating content for your website, make sure to focus on the quality of information, but also how often you post. This will ensure Google recognizes your constant activity and put your business’ name at the top of the result list. Furthermore, as you publish topic-related content constantly, customers will be sure you’re knowledgeable about the subject and trust you even more.
Not using internal linking properly
In order for people to recognize your skills and knowledge, you need to be sure of what you’re writing about. And one sure sign that you are believing what you say is promoting your own content through internal linking. Content that is related to an article should include some external links, but it’s also important to connect the topic to the existing pages on the website. This ensures readers find out more about the topic, and spend more time on the website.
However, another important point of not a good use case for a local SEO is focusing on your content only. Being too sure about yourself, and failing to invest in external linking is one of the main SEO mistakes. External links build your authority and help you build good relationships with other businesses.
Content theft – duplicate content
Like anywhere in life, using other people’s work as your own is not a good thing to do. In the same way, duplicated content is not a good use case for a local SEO, too. It’s okay to scrape information to build your own content, but copying the exact articles is surely something you should avoid.
Clickbait
Even though these are very often used on the internet, the clickbait technique is something to avoid when it comes to SEO content. In order to attract more people to open a page, some content creators make very attractive titles. These don’t reflect the information in the article and are misleading for readers. So, if you want to build authority and trust with your audience, be sure not to use such techniques.
To sum up…
… even though an SEO practice is under the ‘white hat’ label, it doesn’t mean it’s beneficial for your SEO. That’s why website owners should pay close attention to what’s not a good use case for a local SEO. This will lead to more efficient SEO strategies, that give long-term results. Therefore, if you recognize one of these methods in your own strategy, be sure to correct it and make your SEO good again.
