What does local SEO mean and why does it matter? Well if you want to boost your online presence and get your business noticed through local searches, then it matters the SEO strategies that you implement. Local SEO mainly focuses on optimizing searches for Google users.
You’ll also notice that most searches, especially those originating from mobile users will be related to a person’s location. Failure to improve your online presence locally means that you are literally losing out on traffic, conversions, ROI, and profit.
Thankfully, below is a complete guide on the best site structure for local SEO.
Types of Website Structures
When creating a website, you first need to understand its importance and the value it’s going to add to your business. How well the pages on your site relate with each other is what makes a site’s structure, which is also a key determinant of your visitors’ experience. Below are two types of website structures commonly used today:
1. Sequential Model
This type of site structure is often used in onboarding processes and when helping users create new accounts. It’s also a great structure to consider when creating an e-commerce site.
2. Hierarchical Model
This is the most widely used website structure. It’s a great option to go with, especially if your site will contain large amounts of data.
If you ask the online marketing gurus, a renowned SEO agency in Sydney, they’d agree that the hierarchical model is also a great structure to help you be found ‘locally’, win more traffic, and inch closer to your revenue goals.
The homepage basically acts as the primary page with subpages and top-level pages branching from it.
And whichever site structure you choose, you stand better chances of performing well in local search if you work with a reputable local SEO and web development agency.
Ways to Enhance Site Structure
A well-laid-out structure can greatly help to improve UX (User Experience). A majority of online users will less likely return to your site after a bad experience. It’s of the utmost importance that you create a site that’s easy to navigate.
Various SEO strategies can be utilized to give your users a seamless experience with your website. These include:
1. Reduce Navigation Clicks
An SEO-friendly site should be easy to navigate. If your main aim is to attract more searches locally, then you need to ensure that users find whatever they are looking for with as few clicks as possible.
This makes it important to carefully plan your website navigation when designing your site to attract local searches. Make it your goal to help users find the most important content of your site with ease.
2. Using the Right Keywords
Using the right keywords will be the foundation to satisfying the needs of those searching for content. Online users will use keywords ranging from short-tailed phrases to complex long-tailed phrases.
To make it easier, you might consider utilizing keyword research tools that offer insights on how to improve traffic, encourage local search, and provide you with extensive data.
3. Design Your Site with Mobile Users in Mind
More and more users are visiting websites using their mobile devices. To ensure that your site can be accessed across all platforms, you need to optimize it for mobile users. There are various ways to make your site mobile-friendly without affecting its functionality on PCs.
For instance, prioritize creating a scalable layout that responds quickly based on screen resolution, scale your images and icons, and compress your file sizes.
While focusing on UX, the site’s design, the fonts you choose, and the content uploaded should all make the lives of mobile users easy.
Creating a website can be an easy task, especially considering today’s advances in IT and AI tools. However, ensuring that your site is optimized to satisfy your target users’ needs might require putting in a lot of work. The best move will probably be to enlist an SEO agency that has all the resources and skills it takes to make your site’s structure beneficial for local SEO.