8 Challenges of Local SEO (and How to Solve Them)

While immoderate section SEO challenges specifically plague stores with carnal locations, others plague work providers without a carnal beingness successful the locations they privation for hunt visibility.

This is simply a immense occupation erstwhile it comes to earning integrated hunt traffic. According to Search Engine Journal, the section representation battalion shows up 30% of the time and those links receive much than 70% of integrated hunt traffic.

Local Challenges for Brick-and-Mortar Stores

#1. Maintaining Your Google Business Profile

You don’t ain the contented that’s successful your Google Business Profile. Actually, Google tin alteration your Business Profile information, formerly known arsenic Google My Business, astatine immoderate time.

That includes your superior category, description, hours, location, telephone number, and website URL.

And so, maintaining your section beingness aft it’s established is hugely important.

TIP: Google is perpetually adding caller categories and attributes. There is simply a important first-mover vantage for long-tail searches for the brands who respond rapidly to caller find opportunity.

SEO Tech to Maintain Your Google Business Profile

#2. Verifying Multiple Stores successful the Same Location

Some locations person aggregate businesses operating wrong of them.

Take Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins arsenic an example. Both are abstracted businesses, but some run retired of the aforesaid building.

This tin marque it tricky to get each the businesses verified connected Google Business Profile, due to the fact that Google whitethorn accidental the determination is already taken.

Verifying Multiple Stores astatine One Location

One solution present is the “store wrong a store” model, wherever you tin item that 1 store lives wrong the other. That attack lets each fertile successful the section pack.  

Google continues to germinate to amended successful this country — arsenic agelong arsenic you provender them the close information. Another illustration is car dealerships: "Thompson Ford" and “Thompson Hyundai" tin person chiseled listings.

Similarly, it's astir apt hurting your rankings and hunt visibility if you person the other occupation and person aggregate duplicate listings. In this case, it’s a elemental fix: conscionable delete the extras.

#3. Creating Business Profile Posts astatine Scale

Creating posts for your concern illustration is simply a mode to enactment progressive and stock information, promotions, events, and peculiar offers with imaginable customers.

The situation we perceive from clients is the quality to bash this astatine standard and by location. Personal and section volition marque the difference. Overall, we spot precise fewer brands utilizing this maneuver and it is simply a immense opportunity.

Post Local Content connected Your Business Profile

Bottom-line, it’s worthy it to optimize your Business Profile and that includes leveraging the posts.

The mode to lick this astatine standard is to leverage a section SEO tool. You tin make posts astatine standard to enactment engaged with your customers and show your listings.

#4. Unoptimized Site Architecture

Usability remains important for each types of SEO, but section SEO has a peculiar constituent to beryllium alert of: the store locator.

We spot that astir businesses volition supply users with a hunt barroom to find locations. While this is adjuvant for users, hunt motor bots can’t travel a hunt bar.

Optimizing Your Site Architecture for Local

Instead, see a State > City > Location breadcrumb truthful that the bots tin navigate. 

If your website doesn’t person this and you aren’t capable to adhd easily, seoClarity includes an SEO execution platform, ClarityAutomate.

It lets you instrumentality breadcrumbs astatine standard crossed your pages. You tin propulsion definite elements from your leafage — similar the leafage rubric oregon header  — to automatically propulsion successful and usage arsenic the breadcrumb text.

This allows you to align your breadcrumbs with the leafage and instrumentality the changes successful conscionable a fewer clicks.

#5. Location-Specific Content

Similar to the Google Business Profile posts, determination should beryllium unsocial contented for each determination leafage connected your site.  

The landing pages for location-specific contented request to person a uniformed communicative with what you've uploaded to your Business Profile.

Recommended Reading: Win astatine Multi-Location SEO with these 5 Strategies

It’s not conscionable capable to upload the accusation to your profile. You really request to have the contented connected your site to beryllium it and provender the hunt motor with applicable information.

This is the matrimony betwixt your section contented with the attraction of the accusation successful the Knowledge Panel.

Plus, Google tin get circumstantial accusation and attributes from your website to show successful the representation listing, truthful supply each applicable information! These are elements similar reviews oregon a paper option.

(The accusation that Google pulls depends connected your concern type.)

Creating Location-Specific Pages

To recognize the details astir a circumstantial metropolis oregon adjacent vicinity good capable to make a location-specific landing page, utilize an AI contented optimizer like Content Fusion.

It provides insights astir a determination utilizing NLP and instrumentality learning to provender accusation astir that query removing the limb enactment of research, adjacent if you’re not personally acquainted with that location.

Here’s a Content Fusion investigation for the query “nob elevation hotel” — a edifice successful San Francisco.  

(Use AI insights to familiarize yourself with immoderate location.) 

#6. Updating Your NAP

Your name, address, and telephone fig (NAP) should ever beryllium up-to-date. Although, galore present notation to this arsenic NAP+W, with the "W" lasting for web URL.  

But, it’s important to verify that your NAP is close for where your customers expect it. Have this accusation successful spot for existent searchers, not the hunt motor algorithm.

There was a clip erstwhile having your citations updated successful each spot imaginable connected the net was important for the hunt engines, but this isn’t the lawsuit anymore.

Where to Keep Your NAP Updated

The superior determination you’ll privation to corroborate NAP accuracy is Google, but besides Apple, Bing, and Facebook Local.

Businesses don’t ever deliberation astir these different hunt engines!

Then determination are manufacture circumstantial niches, similar Yelp for restaurants, salons, and nonrecreational services, and TripAdvisor for hotels and tourer attractions.

You tin negociate citations with the close section SEO tool. We’ve compiled immoderate of the champion section SEO tools on the marketplace to assistance you with your search.

Recommended Reading: Local SEO Strategies: How to Boost Your Local Search Visibility
 

Local SEO Challenges Specific to Service Area Business

Some businesses are purely service-based, which means they person nary carnal storefront. Take a transportation work oregon nonrecreational services similar plumbing, for example.

#7. Securing a Google Business Profile with No Physical Location

For service-oriented businesses, it tin beryllium hard to gain hunt visibility, but it is inactive imaginable to unafraid a Google Business Profile.

(Tell Google that you’re a concern with nary carnal store erstwhile mounting up your Business Profile.)

The lone other hurdle to spell done is receiving a postcard to the specified code to beryllium the concern exists. That’s due to the fact that SABs origin the astir spam connected Google Maps.

Because of this, there’s much to spell done successful bid to go verified connected Google.

It’s a request to beryllium manually approved.

Manually Approving Your Google Business Profile

When you participate your code erstwhile creating your Business Profile for your SAB, Google volition message you a carnal postcard to verify the address. The code you participate won’t beryllium shared publicly, but it is utilized to verify authenticity.

The postcard volition see a pin oregon password that you’ll participate to implicit the Business Profile set-up. You’ll request to repetition this process if your work concern operates successful aggregate locations.  

#8. Creating Location Pages

Creating location-specific challenges tin necessitate a batch of probe if you’re not personally acquainted with the location.

After all, determination pages don’t conscionable use to carnal businesses — SABs tin besides payment from a location-specific leafage to code a peculiar market.

That means you tin beryllium creating determination pages for tens oregon hundreds of locations crossed the state (or world!).

Creating Location-Specific Pages

The bully quality is that you don’t person to beryllium an adept successful each marketplace successful bid to constitute astir it with authority.

Content Fusion teaches you astir the cardinal landmarks and events comparative to a peculiar location. This way, you tin constitute astir immoderate determination with authority.

(Learn astir a metropolis similar Seattle with capable expertise to constitute astir it with authority.)
   

Conclusion

Although section SEO comes with its ain challenges, determination are solutions to each roadblock. Rest assured knowing that you’ll beryllium capable to gain hunt visibility whether oregon not you tally a carnal store.

Plus, don’t hide the champion section SEO tools to assistance you get the occupation done right, including LocalClarity.