11 SEO Tips To Increase Local Chicago Business Traffic

When aiming to increase business and website traffic, you have so many options that it can feel overwhelming to learn which ones will work best for your business. Ever wondered how a Chicago local SEO agency does it? Here are eleven of the best SEO tips you can try for yourself.

1. Create a contact page.
2. Add an interactive map.
3. Sign up for directories.
4. Claim your GMB profile.
5. Display user reviews.
6. Create an appealing and informative landing page.
7. Get on social media apps.
8. Use a mobile-first design.
9. Use schema markups.
10. Publish local content.
11. Collect local backlinks.

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

Let’s go!

Watch this video to learn about the Digital Authority Partners approach to local SEO!

1. Create a Contact Page

The bare minimum to have on your website for local SEO is a separate and dedicated contact page for your business. It should have your name, address, and phone number (NAP) in a prominent location and a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA) button to go with it.

It does not have to be thin (meaning bare or superficial). Fill it with useful information to help customers.  For example, you can post operating hours, a basic description of services or type of product offered. If you have a frequently asked questions (FAQs) page or discussion forum, you can link it here.

2. Add an Interactive Map

A NAP citation on your website (e.g., your contact page) benefits from optimizations that make it easy to find your business. One of the most basic optimizations is to keep your NAP consistent across every mention on and off your website. This allows search engines to verify your business’s authenticity.

The other is to improve NAP citations with a map, especially an interactive one that customers can click and easily use to navigate. It might seem like a small and insignificant addition, but people appreciate the improved customer experience (CX) for online searches that it brings.

3. Sign Up for Directories

If you want more online and foot traffic for your business, you must get your name out there. One of the cheapest and easiest ways to achieve that is by registering your business in online directories. The Real Yellow Pages, Yelp, and Nextdoor are some of the best places to appear.

Depending on your business, you can modify your approach to include the leading local counterparts to popular platforms on your list. Find out what services local customers search for and register your business in those directories. Just make sure you keep your NAP consistent for every directory on which you register.

4. Claim Your GMB Profile

Although Google My Business (GMB) is an example of a local directory, it deserves a separate mention because it ties directly to Google. Claiming or creating a GMB profile allows you to use Google’s advanced local search algorithms and gain visibility at zero cost.

Your Chicago business benefits from local SEO because a verified GMB profile lets you reach audiences through Google Maps and improves your rank in local searches. Google uses NAP to measure proximity to searchers, and a GMB profile strengthens Google’s ability to do that accurately.

5. Display User Reviews

Getting and displaying reviews is a good overall local business strategy. People are always searching for new experiences, despite the widespread availability of corporate competitors. A local Chicago coffee shop can even contend with giants such as Starbucks with the right strategy.

This is where user reviews are an immense help. Since your business is not as established or well-known as that of large competitors, people have some justified reservations about experience and quality. You can ease these worries by encouraging customers to leave honest reviews and share them. Make sure to promptly address the points made in any negative reviews posted.

6. Create an Appealing and Informative Landing Page

A landing page has a singular purpose: to draw a conversion action from a potential lead or customer. That could be anything from getting a phone call to purchasing something to setting up an appointment. It depends on what you consider a beneficial act for your business.

A landing page works well for local SEO because the page itself is not limited to a CTA button. That space is for you to introduce your small business, product, or service and tell people why you solve their problems. It is your website’s elevator pitch. 

7. Get on Social Media Apps

Local and small businesses have to get creative if they want to keep up with their target market, and no strategy does that better than creating social media accounts. Pick only the ones that work best for your business, of course. For instance, LinkedIn is for B2B businesses.

Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are all excellent choices for all types of small businesses in general, though. Beyond extending your reach to millions of potential customers, social media platforms and online directories give you more opportunities to post NAPs and interact with users.

8. Use Mobile-First Design

Exemplary local SEO, particularly local search, coincides with many aspects of good technical SEO. For example, both benefit from applying a mobile-first design strategy that gives CX priority to and optimization for mobile usage. Google cares about this, and so should you.

The mobile-first design gives another instant boost to local SEO, which in turn helps you rank higher on results pages, leading to more traffic. Voice search is one critical feature, along with voice recognition in general, that grants your website outstanding CX through hands-free usability.

9. Use Schema Markups

Context is necessary to win more traffic through better local SEO. You can achieve that by using schema markup or structured data. It works through HTML tags to describe your content in greater detail for search engines to gain a better understanding of it.

This makes associations between concepts and organizations so that search engines can look back on their knowledge base and return better results when someone makes a related search. This one is tricky to work with, so consider hiring a local Chicago SEO agency for some help, if necessary.

10. Publish Local Content

This one is fairly straightforward; talk about issues that matter to local customers, like events around your area, and problems that your business can solve to get on people’s radar. To show up in local searches, strengthen the association and keep content related to your area of operation.

Moreover, local content, especially anything about problems customers face, gives you plenty of opportunities to show experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) as a seller or service provider. Google, in particular, appreciates content that exhibits these quality ratings.

11. Collect Local Backlinks

Local content is a great strategy for boosting traffic, but getting locals to write content about you works even better. Why is that? E-E-A-T measures how trusted you are among users and experts alike, so building your backlink profile is essential to increasing local traffic.

Ideally, you want these backlinks to come from trusted sources within your community, such as the local news or groups that serve or work with your target market or are in some way related to it. If you succeed in getting backlinks, remember to check if they got your NAP correct, or it could hurt your ranking.

Summing Up

If you want to increase traffic to your website, take tips from a Chicago local SEO agency. Create a contact page and build a consistent NAP across your digital presence. Claiming your business profiles on directories is another great way to expand your reach and get more people to your website and location. 

Need help in attracting more traffic to your Chicago business? Contact Digital Authority Partners to learn how we can help.