Your Local SEO Checklist for 2024 and Beyond

Even though local SEO isn’t a new thing, it has evolved in 2024 and continues to play a significant role in the success of local businesses. Almost a third of people search for local businesses online daily. At the same time, half of all searches are focused on finding relevant local information. 

In other words, this shows you how important local SEO is and that businesses can utilize these trends to drive relevant website traffic and convert customers. But you must keep up with the trends and make the right moves. 

We’ve created a helpful local SEO checklist for 2024 and the future. 

Ultra-specific local targeting 

The local SEO competition is growing, so organizations should focus on ultra-specific local targeting to get the best results possible. The advancement of marketing tools and local rank tracking has allowed businesses to compare their standings against the competition, analyze customers, and adjust strategies to target specific areas and customers. 

“In some situations, this might mean focusing on areas like smaller city blocks or commercial districts. So, instead of focusing on a major metro area like here in Philly, real performers will help you focus on the main shopping districts that also include Midtown Village, Jewelers’ Row District, Market East Neighborhood,” says SEOBrand.net, an SEO in Philadelphia

Establish a strong starting point with your website 

One of the common mistakes people make in 2024 is investing heavily in local SEO without creating a solid website that can act as a foundation to build. Your site needs to meet all the crucial SEO practices if you want your optimization methods to give you the desired results. 

Your website should: 

• Have a responsive and mobile-friendly design with the proper optimization techniques. 
• Be fast and open pages quickly. It’s a crucial ranking factor that’s often overlooked. 
• Include many internal and external links relevant to the information on your site. 
• Have the right URL structure that makes it easy for crawlers and search engines to go through your pages. 

Google Maps & Apple Maps 

Since Apple Business Connect’s launch, companies have been able to optimize their local SEO using Apple Maps. Even though Apple Maps is nowhere near Google Maps, marketers and companies should take advantage of the low use and get to the right locations. 

iOS users will use Apple Maps in the future, especially now that Apple Business Connect is available. Still, this doesn’t mean that it will ever be able to win Google Maps, but you shouldn’t overlook it. Set up your Google Business Profile and Apple Business Connect to ensure the best results. 

Use standardized format of code and structured data 

Your site’s backend is essential for communicating the right messages with Google. Even if you send the right SEO “signals” to Google, you won’t get the desired results if your website information isn’t communicated properly. 

Set up your Schema markup properly and add local business structured data to your site so you can easily convey all essential information to Google, including reviews, business offers, open hours, addresses, etc. 

Implement local voice search optimization 

The growth of voice-enabled devices is opening up new opportunities for local SEO. Mobile devices should be your priority, but this should also include voice search optimization. Many businesses will adapt their content in 2024 to match the conversational tone of voice searches. 

In other words, they’re looking to produce content that will help them get ranked for voice searches. It’s also a relatively uncompetitive niche within local SEO, and you should look to get in on the action as soon as possible. 

Local SEO and social media 

Social media is an important factor in everyone’s lives. Even though it might not seem related to SEO, search engines pay great importance to social media when determining local rankings. Even though Google doesn’t use social networks as a factor for ranking businesses, all other search engines do, including Pinterest, which has become a search engine in its own right. 

Simply put, your local SEO and social media strategies should be aligned, meaning you must use the same addresses, keywords, reviews, and content. 

Conclusion 

In the end, remember to keep your local listings and profiles consistent. Allow customers to give and share reviews so that you can spread your presence online and build a reputation. If customers say good things about your business, Google can’t ignore you. Good luck!