Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving your business' visibility on search engines across the web. Local SEO is a subset of SEO that focuses on local keywords, directories, and other location-specific strategies. With the right tactics in place, your gun store can rank first for searches like "gun store near me" or "where to buy guns near me". In fact, search queries like these have grown by over 200% in the past few years. This means that more than ever, it's important for gun stores to prioritize local SEO tactics.
Why is this important? More and more people are using online information to make purchases in-person. One study shows that 78 percent of local searches resulted in an offline purchase. So, if you want to drive more sales online or in-person, local SEO strategies can help.
This guide will show you 5 easy ways to drive more users to your site so they can purchase products using your online shop or your brick-and-mortar storefront.
Google My Business is a directory of businesses listed on Google. In most cases, Google will crawl your website and automatically create a profile for you. However, often times your information may not be accurate or complete. It's important to create or claim your Google My Business profile so you can get the most value out of the platform. Here are a few steps to get you started:
As you do this, you'll notice that your ranking will increase, you'll gather more customer reviews, and you'll streamline the path to purchase online or in-store.
Beyond Google My Business, it's also important to create or claim profiles in all other business directories. Think places like Yelp or TripAdvisor. In fact, a Yelp page is within the top 5 results for 92% of search queries that contain a local business. Why does this matter? The top 5 results on the SERPs account for 80% of click-throughs.
There are quite a few directories out there. Fortunately, you can use tools like BrightLocal to create and manage these listings and get listed in 100+ sites.
Once you've build a foundation of directory citations and citations, you should look towards including certain keywords on your website. Use tools like Google's keyword planner or Ahref's keyword generator to find what people are looking for around you. If you have a brick-and-mortar gun store, people around you may be searching for "Guns in Raleigh" or "Omaha guns for sale" or "gun store near me".
Once you find the specific keywords that people are searching for, start to include them in headlines when contextually relevant. For example, you may want your H1 tag on your homepage to be "Orlando's #1 Gun Store".
You shouldn't "stuff" keywords and you don't only have to target your local town. Consider including areas within 10 or 20 miles away from your business as well, especially if you live in a metro area.
Reviews are extremely important. You likely use them when you make decisions on where to eat or what to buy. In fact, 77% of consumers look at reviews prior to making a purchase decision.
If you've done the groundwork of creating a listing on Google My Business and other directories, you've already given people a place to review your business. Now, you just need to give a reason for people to leave reviews. Whether it be by word of mouth or using a flyer in-store, encourage your customers to leave reviews. Tell them how much it helps and supports you as a local business, or you can encourage reviews by incentivizing your customers with a coupon code for submitting their shopping experience.
Once they leave a review, you should make an effort to respond to them all, negative or positive. Perspective customers will see that you're proactive in customer support and will begin to trust your brand even before shopping there.
Lastly, have a mobile friendly website. 82% of consumers use searches like"gun store near me" on their phones. You need to have a responsive site to effectively capture these consumers before they leave for a competitor. When you're building your website, make sure you review your website on responsive displays and different devices. Ensure your fonts and images are readable and that your website loads quickly while using cellular data. Your goal is to make it easy enough to browse so the user can focus on what to purchase rather than how to navigate your website.
SEO and Local SEO can and will take time to implement before you see results. Using these 5 tips, and coupled with enough patience, you will start to see a higher ranking, more traffic and ultimately more sales for your gun store.
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