You may think that SEO and location don’t have a lot in common but the truth is, they should always go together. Search Engine Optimization is the process of ranking your website and how people search for what you are offering. In many cases people just search for a generic term like “restaurants”. In many cases it will bring up popular food places, but is that really how people find a place to eat? Yes and No.
Think about how you usually search for something when you need it. If you want something near you, usually you search for “restaurants near me”. This will usually give you places nearby that you can go to for a bite to eat. Another way that you can search for something is by adding the city, state, or area that you want to eat. T22 Media is based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. So if I were to look for something in a search query I would search for “Restaurants near Grand Rapids”. This would give me a selection in exactly the area I am looking.
That is why it is important to make sure you have your location on your website. You can do this in several ways. You can include it in your “About Your Company” Section. You can also do an entire web page dedicated to this by including your address, a map for directions, and any local nicknames or landmarks nearby that people might include in their search. For Example, Grand Rapids has some pretty popular areas Like Calder Plaza or Rosa Parks Circle. People may be attending festivals or events and would like to know what is near these places, so they can search for “Food near Calder Plaza” and find some results. So if you have any landmarks that people would know near your business make sure to include them in your directions or on your site in some capacity.
Nicknames are also a way that people can search for things. Grand Rapids has a few nicknames like “Furniture City” since it is home to some of the largest furniture manufacturers in the country. It also goes by “Beer City, U.S.A.” because of the quality and quantity of craft breweries in the area. These nicknames may not seem like a big deal but if you are going on a business trip for a furniture company you may search “Things to do in Furniture City”. The same can be said of tourists looking to find things to do in “Beer City” as voted on by a poll in 2013 from USA Today.
The bottom line is that location is important to your SEO success. You don’t want to leave out any possibilities if they help improve your websites search results. You can add them in over different pages of your website or you can even do it in a blog, kind of like I just did. In any case, if you have any questions about how to include these kinds of things then don’t hesitate to contact us here at T22 Media located in Grand Rapids, MI.