How to get started with small business SEO at the local level – quickly and at ease?

If you guys are looking for a good starting point to get down with your local optimization strategy in small business SEO, now you all are finally in the right place. As below I’m going to outline the very basics of online business promotion in Google’s local SERPs for you to start moving on the right track – just from your day one with it. So, below let’s see what’s recommended to that point, first and foremost.

Small Business SEO Tips & Tricks to Get Started

Basic Website Considerations & Initial Steps

• Before anything else, start with creating a fully consistent NAP data, claiming/creating your own Google My Business page, and submitting your online endeavor to the leading local business listings, top local citations, and big data aggregators.
• Next, make sure to have unique landing, location, and main service/category pages, which should be fully customized to every single location served with your business. 
• Note, that if you're running a multi-targeted local project (i.e., that covers around ten separate location, I recommend using the website's footer to get all business addresses listed over there in a clean & concise manner. 
• Use Schema Markup to make things easier for Google search engine itself, particularly when it comes to the correct way of identifying your local business, and showing you to a potentially broader audience of undeveloped clients/buyers.

Creating High-Quality Local Content that Wins

No need to say that just like with "traditional" SEO, your small business website's SEO performance in Google's local SERPs is betting mainly on these two key ranking factors – high-quality on-page content and its link portfolio built organically. Considering both of them, here are the key elements for you to make your own winning local link building strategy and equally powerful approach to hyper-localized content:

• Avoid creating multiple local versions of your main business website – it's actually far better to work well on creating a single solid website serving all your brands and covered regions. 
• Differentiate each separate location and product/service you're offering locally with your small business content SEO strategy – consider creating location-specific landing pages rich with hyper-local keywords, setting up occasional local-targeted promotion campaigns/timely deals, hosting or participating in local events of the core importance to your key sphere of industry/main business topic, as well as investing your time & labor (or some cash) in creating a sound supportive blog that will keep local users engaged, making it possible for your blog pages to address a particular demographic or a given location.

Final Thoughts

• Don't mess with paid fake customer reviews – they will hardly drive you the right way of local promotion.
• Don't be scared with negative reviews at some point. Be ready to respond and provide a reasonable solution – anyway, your manner of tackling explicitly negative customer feedback can positively showcase the whole business in its own way.
• Do track and analyze your current achievements, as well as the rest of ongoing ranking gains in Google's local SERPs, and don't forget to pay special attention to organic keyword rank. Get assisted with the right analytical platform like Moz's Open Site Explorer, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, or Semalt Website Analyzer (my fave one ever) – and you're done!