Your Guide to Perfecting Your Local SEO in Dubai
Does your business need a boost in the search engines? Are you working on local search engine optimization (SEO), but aren’t getting the results you want?
SEO is a multi-faceted, multi-layered strategy that requires a strategic approach from multiple angles. You want to start with a foundation of on-page optimization, but chances are, if your SEO strategy is basic, you’re not doing enough.
To achieve high levels of success, you need a local SEO campaign that includes basic SEO practices specially tailored to reach a local audience.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is when you narrow down your target audience to a location, usually the city where your business operates. If you have business locations outside of Dubai, you’ll want to create a separate campaign for each location.
If you’re struggling to rank your Dubai business in the search engines, here’s how to leverage local SEO to rank higher and get the traffic you want.
Place a heavy focus on local SEO in Dubai
Prioritize local SEO rather than making it just another facet of your optimization strategy.
When you’re trying to rank your website for a business in Dubai, you need to focus heavily on local SEO. Unless your business operates entirely online, local SEO will bring you a large portion of your traffic.
SEO experts from Chain Reaction emphasize the importance of on-site local keyword optimization as well as creating content optimized for local search.
Local SEO begins with local keywords
The way it works is pretty straightforward. Rather than targeting broad, general keywords and phrases, you’ll target keywords and phrases that speak specifically to consumers in Dubai.
For example, you’ll publish content with titles and copy that includes location-specific keywords. For instance, if you’re operating a vegan restaurant, you might have an article titled: We’ve Got the Best Vegan Burgers in Dubai.
With a localized title and related content, you’ll rank for the general keywords (vegan and burgers), but your webpages will be served specifically to people in Dubai.
Optimize your local SEO search signals
The ranking signals for local SEO include all the basics, plus a few signals specific to local keywords and phrases. To optimize your strategy, make sure you cover these 25 local ranking signals published by Search Engine Journal. These ranking signals include:
· Optimizing your Google My Business listing. Google displays a section of business listings above the search results. People see these listings first. If you don’t have a Google My Business listing, you’re missing out on search traffic.
· Optimizing your Bing Places for Business listing. Just like Google, Bing has a business listing feature. If you’re wondering if anyone uses Bing, the answer is yes. According to Statista, Bing handles around 12 billion search requests each month.
· Claim your directory listings on sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, the BBB, and Glassdoor. These listings will exist whether or not you claim them. It’s better to claim them all so you can optimize them for local search.
· Having a plan to generate positive online reviews and resolve negative reviews. Positive and negative reviews can impact your search rankings.
· Making your site mobile-friendly for Google’s mobile first index. In 2017, Google started prioritizing mobile-friendly webpages in search results. Today, your site must be mobile-friendly to some degree to get indexed in Google. However, optimized sites will get higher rankings.
· Optimizing your content and PPC ads for local keywords and phrases. Keyword optimization is the backbone of local SEO. However, you also want to target keywords and phrases that are related to your location. This will give search engines a better idea of where you are located and will increase your relevance in the search engines.
For example, wherever appropriate, talk about local attractions, venues, restaurants, and other landmarks in your area. This will tell the search engines, via their latent semantic indexing (LSI) algorithm, that your content is relevant to users in the area.
· Generating high-quality backlinks. Backlinks are important for local SEO. Along with getting backlinks from standard sources, try to get as many local backlinks as possible. You want your website to be associated with other sites in your area.
· Optimizing your contact information on every webpage. Your contact information should be displayed in the header and footer of every page on your website. Don’t make people click a ‘contact’ link to get your address or phone number.
Overwhelmed? Hire an SEO agency
Local SEO can be daunting if you don’t have the time or energy to figure it all out. If you’re ready to take advantage of local SEO, you don’t have to do it alone. Connect with an SEO company in Dubai to get started with a local SEO campaign.
