Great Local SEO: A Basic Guide for Oklahoma City Businesses

Doing Oklahoma City SEO the right way takes time and calls for a variety of different tactics and strategies to be effective. Local SEO is one of the critical components that a small business owner should include in their digital strategy, although local SEO comprises many parts.

Here are what you should know about local Oklahoma City SEO to help your business get ahead:

• Why Oklahoma businesses need local SEO
• Five features that make a good local strategy
• Three local SEO tactics to apply immediately

There’s a lot to discuss, so get ready to take notes.

Let’s go!

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Connecting Oklahoma City Businesses and Local SEO

If your Oklahoma City business has an active online presence, you might have heard of a few trends taking over SEO, such as zero-click search. Google Maps is a prime example of this phenomenon because it allows users to start and end a search without moving to a different website.

Google aims to be a one-stop shop for search, but that does not mean you have no chance of getting organic clicks anymore. The answer is to invest in new SEO strategies that raise your value in the eyes of your target market. Local SEO is one of the best methods to consider.

With local SEO, you enhance your ability to draw organic clicks and engagement from users by tailoring your website to the needs of a target location. For example, an Oklahoma City business that sells new aviation equipment can get web traffic by creating content about innovations in aviation research and development.

5 Features of a Great Local SEO Strategy

Local strategies have a significant role to play in Oklahoma City SEO, but not just any should do for you. Think of it this way: if you invest in high-quality SEO from the start, you reduce the chances of costly errors getting in the way. Here are five features of the best local SEO strategies.

     1. Constant Social Media Engagement

Local SEO goes beyond your website and search results to grow brand awareness among your target market. A good local SEO strategy includes social media. A social media app is one of the primary ways a local business can keep in touch with its customers and generate leads.

Which social media platform works best for your app depends on who makes up your target market and the goals you want to achieve. For example, LinkedIn is the best for business-to-business (B2B) lead generation, making it great for the aviation business in the example above.

     2. Well-Managed Local Listing Profiles

Social media is not the only off-page strategy in local SEO that helps grow your business's traffic. Appearing in local listings and directories is another way to boost visibility online. It is important to regularly review your Google My Business (GMB) profile and all other contact information in online directories to make sure it stays consistent with the information on your website–a detail that is part of great Oklahoma City SEO.

Your social media pages and business profiles are extensions of your website, giving you more liberty in where and how you post content. You can actively use them in your citation and backlink strategy by sharing your top content with the best draws.

     3. Geographical Relevance and Value

Local SEO makes your website, content, and business more relevant to your target market. In other words, when you choose where to execute your local strategy, pick neighborhoods that make the most sense for your business. You can even target adjacent cities that are close by.

The issue is that every city you target has to receive a dedicated SEO strategy to best serve the people there. That means creating content relevant to their daily lives and maintaining a clear focus on how you provide solutions to their problems and strategize through the lens of that perspective.

     4. Good Citation and Backlink Building

Like other types of SEO, local SEO also relies on boosts from external sources to keep you and your content relevant in search results. These come in the form of citations and backlinks. The former you get from social media and listings; the latter comes from providing value.

High-quality content is crucial for any local SEO strategy. When people find your content valuable enough to reference elsewhere, they tell Google and other search engines that it has value within the context of a given subject (e.g., challenges that aviation firms in the Oklahoma City area are facing).

     5. Smart Review Management Method

Your online presence (website, social media, listings, etc.) is a way to passively raise brand awareness and actively connect with customers. That means you can use them to share information people want to know (e.g., store hours) but also receive and respond to comments.

However, that comes with the responsibility (to your business and customers) to monitor comments and reply appropriately, in public and without delay, to less-than-happy clients. Keeping your tone and message in line with the brand identity you have built is also important for scoring even better local SEO points.

3 Local SEO Tactics You Can Apply Now

The rise of zero-click search might pose a problem for local Oklahoma City businesses, but it is possible to work around it. Here are three local SEO tactics you can start now that get results.

1. Content is still vital to search, even with zero-click results, because Google still draws its answers from websites. It is simply a matter of optimizing your style and other on-page elements. Aim to become one of Google’s many featured snippets to leverage zero-click.

2. Set up a few social media accounts and profiles on big platforms. If you want to benefit from appearing on Google Maps, GMB is necessary. Just limit the number of profiles to the amount you can reasonably manage for your business.

3. Partner with local businesses to double your reach. You do not have to do local SEO alone when many similar businesses exist in your industry. For example, a store specializing in party goods can partner with local talent and entertainers in their SEO.

Summing Up

Oklahoma City businesses need great local SEO to keep their websites at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) and enhance their ability to draw traffic. Simple strategies, including an effective social media plan, are easy to assemble, especially with help from local SEO agencies.

Need help assembling a local SEO strategy for your Oklahoma City business? Contact Digital Authority Partners to learn how we can help.