How to Learn Local SEO: Skills, Reading and Courses

How to Learn Local SEO: Skills, Reading and Courses

by

MY NUMBER 1 RECOMMENDATION TO CREATE FULL TIME INCOME ONLINE: CLICK HERE

Local SEO is a smart skill set to master, especially if you have a local business.

All local businesses – from law firms to restaurants to retail stores and beauty salons – can benefit from local SEO.

Why? Because Google is one of the best platforms people use to find local businesses.

Whether you’re doing local SEO for yourself or for someone else, here are some easy and free ways to learn local SEO from scratch.

Learn Local SEO as a Beginner

The following steps are just the beginning when it comes to learning local SEO, but it’s always best to start with the basics.

These are the building blocks from which you will learn and improve your local SEO skills.

Then it’s mostly a matter of practice, experience and patience.

1. Start with a website

Your website is the primary testing ground for your local SEO strategy.

Some strategists even start with a basic “burner” site that they can afford to “hack” to initially test their SEO skills.

Whether you have WordPress, Squarespace, or any other CMS (content management system), you should be able to start optimizing your website for SEO Best Practices.

These best practices include:

  • Optimizing your website content with local and non-local keywords.
  • The writing is unique title tags, meta descriptions and page content.
  • Optimizing your site speed and mobile experience.
  • Traffic tracking with analytical tools.
  • Optimization picture sizes and image alt text.
  • Adding internal links to the relevant content.
  • Publication of new, attractive content.
  • Scan for and fixing technical SEO questions.

2. Learn SEO tools

Most SEO tools can be used for local and “regular” SEO because they quantify how many users are searching for a specific keyword, how much traffic a website gets, and other metrics that apply to most websites.

The usual SEO tools like Semrush or Ahrefs can help you research keywords and competitors, analyze backlinks and optimize your content.

Learning these SEO tools is one of the best things you can do when you start learning local SEO.

Most tools have their own guides and even courses – keep an eye out for these so you can learn how to use SEO tools straight from the source.

3. Optimize your content

SEO tools will help you discover the keywords that users are searching for to find sites like yours.

Once you learn how to use these tools—and then find keywords based on search volume, competition, and relevance—you can start optimizing your content.

Optimizing your content means identifying a target keyword for a page or post, using that keyword and related keywords throughout your content, and writing content that fulfills what users are looking for.

This applies to both local and non-local businesses.

4. Try your hand at off-site SEO

“Off-site” SEO refers to all SEO activities that take place outside of your website.

Most often it is about link building, directory, PR and the like.

Once your website is optimized to nine, you should aim to increase the site’s trust factor with valuable backlinks.

This can be done by marketing valuable content to other businesses, reaching out to blogs, running PR campaigns, submitting your business information to directories and more.

Offsite SEO is very important for local businessesso you will learn more about it in the following resources and courses.

Recommended skills

There are a few skills that every business owner or strategist should strive for when it comes to learning local SEO.

Some are practical and some are “softer” skills that make local SEO easier and more enjoyable.

Creativity

Even with all the tactical SEO tools and tricks you will come across, you will eventually learn that creativity is very important.

Many business owners will learn the basics, but creative problem solving is paramount.

You will need creativity to:

  • Discover new sets of keywords aim.
  • Invent attractive content ideas.
  • Make it up creative strategies for making connections.
  • Take advantage of partnerships and relationships to improve your SEO.
  • Optimize your content for conversionsnot just clicks.
  • Reach more users with content marketing.
  • Overcome SEO challenges easily.

Don’t underestimate the value of creativity and problem solving!

Patience

You may have heard that SEO is a long game.

This is often true.

SEO can take some time to produce results, especially if you are operating in a competitive market.

This is where patience comes in handy.

Know that your hard work may not pay off right away.

And know that this is normal.

Much of what you do in SEO will lay a solid foundation that will pay off later. It may be invisible at first, but doing things the right way (not taking shortcuts) will eventually lead to your success.

Google Search Console and Google Analytics are great free tools to track your progress.

Set a benchmark when you first start and then see how much your site grows over time – celebrate even the small wins!

Content marketing

In SEO, “Content is King.”

Content is what users read when they land on your website.

This is what users interact with on social media.

It is the text or video that ultimately convinces the customer to buy from you.

Content marketing skills such as email marketing, social media content, video marketing and blogging can help drive results for your website.

You will be better suited to create great content and more views on more platforms.

In this case, knowledge of content marketing will serve you well.

Website development

While web development is not a “must have” skill for SEO, it is certainly useful.

People with at least a little web development experience may find website optimization and the use of technical SEO fixes easier.

Consider taking a basic web development course or reading online guides on website management.

At the very least, you will learn the general terms that apply to a website and SEO.

In addition, you might learn something about coding, technical implementation, mobile development and more advanced skills.

Data and analytics

Every strategist and business owner should learn the basics of data and analytics.

For most, this means being able to interpret data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

Some of the most common measurements you should know are:

  • Impressions.
  • Clicks.
  • Search/keyword position.
  • Conversion rate.
  • Users.
  • Views.
  • Bounce rate.
  • Organic traffic.
  • Direct traffic.
  • Referral traffic.

Knowing them—and how to find them in your analytics tool of choice—will help you track the success of your SEO and marketing efforts.

Online reading

Want to learn local SEO for free?

Fortunately, there are tons of online resources available to beginners. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites!

SEO courses

There are many, many SEO courses available. However, not all courses are created equal. Here we share some of the best local SEO courses – all free!

Local SEO Resources

Having worked primarily with law firms, local SEO is near and dear to my heart.

That’s why I often write about it in Search Engine Journal!

Here are some additional local SEO resources, straight from my SEJ column:

Learn local SEO from the best

Many online guides, courses and webinars teach local SEO from the ground up. But the real magic of local SEO is in the hands-on experience.

That’s why I say “learning from the best” means learning from your own experiences, mistakes, trials and strategies.

The best way to learn what works for your site is to try different tactics, track the results, and adjust your strategy based on your knowledge.

This is where the skills of creativity and patience come into play.

Your own creativity will inspire your strategy, and patience will ensure you’re invested in the results. They will pay off!

More resources:

Featured image: Ground Picture/Shutterstock

MY NUMBER 1 RECOMMENDATION TO CREATE FULL TIME INCOME ONLINE: CLICK HERE

Leave a Comment

error: Content is protected !!