Where do you go when your boiler breaks down or you need a handyman for a job? Google. There are thousands of results. You need to compete with these people to have the best user experience, the fastest loading time and the smallest bounce rate. As a designer or a DIY website builder, you will have Googled “how to get found on Google” or “good SEO tips.”
I appreciate that every single one of those blogs will tell you the same thing; if they’re not skyscraping the content from each other, then they’re using commonplace, effective advice.
Today, in this shorter-than-usual blog, I want to share the secret I use on all my websites. This is how I boost my location SEO, without typing a single word.
Step One: Find My Image
Every image you place on your website must tie into your brand & values. There’s no point having someone in a tracksuit, if you’re corporate. You could invest in a brand photographer, but that’s a heavy cost on a new business. Instead, you should look to places like FreePik, Unsplash or Pexels for stock images that you can use without attribution.
Also Read: How To Use Google Autocomplete for SEO.
Take your time to explore these fantastic resources. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, you could always try the free trials on Shutterstock or Adobe. You can only get a limited number of images, but if you only need a limited number for your website, what’s the harm?
Make sure these images all fit the theme of your website. Then download them and head to Step Two.
Step Two: Make it light, but bright
You may have noticed when you downloaded the image from any of the sites above, that they are massive. The largest resolution I’ve ever used was 1920px in width, but most of the images from these resources can be 5000px+. These are too big, and they will damage our chance of improving our SEO score.
So, use ReduceImages. Drag your image into the box, and then reduce the image to a size that suits. If I am using the image to stretch across a page, I’ll reduce it to 1800ish. If it’s for an image that will sit within content, I’ll set it at 800px maximum. When you’ve downloaded the image, it should keep most of its quality but it will be a fraction of the filesize. This is important, because it will vastly improve loading times when this version is uploaded to your site.
Download this file, and you’re ready for step three!
Step Three: Tag your location
If you write content, you know the difficult balance to strike between reading well enough to be engaging & being clever enough for Google to rank you in search. Local businesses simply have too much competition to rely on your words alone. Some will rely on high advertising costs to drown others out. However, you can use local SEO hacks like this to rank better.
Also Read: WooCommerce SEO: The Definitive Guide
Take your optimised image and head over to GeoImgr. You want to “start now” and upload your image.
Find the location you want, and drop the pin. This will work for people in your area and beyond, because it will bring up results for the area they are searching, not the area they are searching from. So, if you are a hotel & you are looking to attract tourists, this technique will have a huge benefit to you.
Remember to add keywords and tags relevant for your goals.
You’re done!
It’s important to remember that this hack alone will do very little to win you any traffic. You need to employ it as part of a larger SEO strategy. However, if the only thing separating you and your competitors is a strong location signal, why would you not optimise and tag all your images?
Most traffic on Google leaves through the first four search results. You don’t want to miss out on position five, because you couldn’t be bothered updating some images. Would you?
Chat with us about what your objectives are, and we’ll create an SEO strategy that helps grow your business online.
