Yoast Local SEO Premium
For businesses that operate in specific geographic locations, local SEO is essential to ensure they’re visible to customers who are searching for products or services in their area. Whether you own a small local store, a restaurant, or a service-based business, appearing in local search results is crucial for driving foot traffic and attracting potential customers. That’s where Yoast Local SEO Premium comes into play – an indispensable tool that helps optimize your website for local searches, ensuring that your business stands out on Google and other search engines.
In this article, we’ll dive into the features and benefits of Yoast Local SEO Premium and how it can help your local business get found online.
What is Yoast Local SEO Premium?
Yoast Local SEO Premium is an advanced WordPress plugin designed to optimize your website for local search results. It enhances the Yoast SEO plugin (the industry-standard SEO tool) by adding functionality specifically geared toward local businesses. This plugin provides powerful tools to ensure that your business appears in Google’s local search results, Google Maps, and other relevant local listings.
Yoast Local SEO Premium is the ultimate solution for improving your local search visibility and ensuring that your business is easily discoverable by customers searching for your products or services near them.
Key Features of Yoast Local SEO Premium
1. Optimized Local Business Information
One of the core aspects of local SEO is ensuring that your business information is accurate and consistent across the web. Yoast Local SEO Premium makes it easy to display your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on your site. It ensures that your NAP information is structured correctly and can be easily understood by search engines.
The plugin also lets you specify:
- Your business location with exact latitude and longitude coordinates.
- Your business type (e.g., restaurant, dentist, retail store) to help search engines understand the nature of your business.
- Your hours of operation, so customers know when to visit.
By ensuring your local business data is properly structured, Yoast Local SEO Premium makes it easier for search engines to index and display your business in local search results.
2. Google My Business (GMB) Integration
Google My Business (GMB) is an essential tool for local SEO. It allows your business to appear on Google Maps and local search results, making it easier for customers to find you online. Yoast Local SEO Premium integrates seamlessly with GMB, allowing you to:
- Display your Google My Business profile on your website, increasing the likelihood of your business showing up in local search results.
- Add a Google Map to your website, helping customers see your exact location.
- Add your GMB reviews to your site, showcasing social proof and building trust with potential customers.
Integrating your GMB listing with Yoast Local SEO Premium gives your business the best chance of appearing in the local pack—the list of businesses that appear at the top of Google’s search results with a map.
3. Local Business Schema Markup
Schema markup is a form of structured data that helps search engines understand the content on your website and display it more effectively in search results. Yoast Local SEO Premium automatically adds the LocalBusiness schema markup to your pages, ensuring that Google can easily identify your business as a local service provider.
With LocalBusiness schema, Google can display your business in the knowledge graph, making it more likely to show up in featured snippets, local packs, and other rich results.
This type of structured data includes:
- Your business address
- Your phone number
- Your hours of operation
- Reviews and ratings
- Business category
By using schema markup, Yoast Local SEO Premium helps your business show up more prominently in Google search results.
4. Multiple Locations Support
For businesses with multiple locations, Yoast Local SEO Premium makes it simple to manage and optimize each individual location. You can specify different locations, addresses, and other relevant data for each of your branches or service areas.
The plugin allows you to:
- Add and optimize multiple locations on your website.
- Use separate Google My Business profiles for each location.
- Generate location-specific pages with optimized content for each branch.
This is ideal for businesses with chain stores, multi-location franchises, or those that provide services to various cities or regions. Yoast Local SEO Premium ensures that each location has the best chance of being found in local search results.
5. Local SEO Dashboard for Performance Monitoring
Yoast Local SEO Premium includes a handy dashboard that provides valuable insights into your local SEO performance. You can track metrics such as:
- How often your business appears in local search results.
- Click-through rates for your local pages.
- The visibility of your Google My Business profile.
The dashboard helps you monitor the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts and make adjustments as needed to improve your visibility.
6. Enhanced Google Maps Integration
With Yoast Local SEO Premium, you can easily add an interactive Google Map to your website, allowing visitors to find your physical location with ease. The plugin automatically pulls in your business’s location based on the address you’ve entered and displays it in an interactive Google Map format.
This feature is especially beneficial for brick-and-mortar businesses, as it makes it easier for potential customers to locate your business and plan their visit. Including a Google Map on your website can also increase user engagement and time on site, which are factors that can indirectly boost your SEO.
7. Local SEO Content Optimization
Yoast Local SEO Premium provides recommendations for optimizing your website’s content for local search. It guides you in incorporating local keywords, adding location-specific landing pages, and using local references in your content.
The plugin helps you:
- Target specific local search terms (e.g., “best pizza in New York” or “affordable plumbing services in San Francisco”).
- Create local-focused blog posts, case studies, and landing pages that resonate with your target audience.
- Add local business testimonials and client reviews to strengthen your site’s credibility.
By ensuring your website is rich in relevant local content, Yoast Local SEO Premium boosts your chances of ranking for location-based search queries.
8. Tracking Reviews and Ratings
Customer reviews are essential for local SEO. Not only do reviews help establish trust with potential customers, but they also contribute to your local search ranking. Yoast Local SEO Premium allows you to display customer reviews on your website and helps you manage them effectively.
You can:
- Showcase reviews from Google My Business directly on your website.
- Add star ratings to your pages, which may appear in search results and increase click-through rates.
- Respond to customer feedback directly from the plugin, maintaining a positive online reputation.
By leveraging reviews and ratings, Yoast Local SEO Premium helps you build social proof and increase visibility in local search.
9. Advanced Local SEO Settings
Yoast Local SEO Premium provides advanced settings to fine-tune your local SEO strategy. You can:
- Customize the Google My Business listing for each location.
- Optimize location-specific pages for relevant keywords.
- Configure the local business schema to match your exact business type, ensuring that Google understands the nuances of your business.
These advanced settings give you the flexibility to tailor your local SEO approach to the unique needs of your business.
Why Choose Yoast Local SEO Premium?
- Comprehensive Local SEO: Yoast Local SEO Premium provides all the tools you need to optimize your website for local search, from schema markup to Google My Business integration.
- Improved Google My Business Visibility: The integration with Google My Business ensures that your business is more likely to appear in Google’s local pack and on Google Maps, increasing visibility and traffic.
- Easy to Use: Yoast Local SEO Premium is designed to be user-friendly, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes, even those with limited SEO knowledge.
- Supports Multiple Locations: If your business has multiple locations, this plugin makes it easy to manage and optimize each location for local SEO.
- Actionable Insights: The plugin’s dashboard provides performance insights, helping you track your local SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions to improve results.
Conclusion
Yoast Local SEO Premium is a must-have plugin for any business looking to improve its local search visibility. Whether you have a single location or multiple branches, this plugin ensures that your business is easily discoverable by local customers searching for your products or services.
By optimizing your Google My Business listing, improving your website’s local content, and implementing schema markup, Yoast Local SEO Premium gives your business the tools to stand out in local search results, increase traffic, and drive more conversions. If you’re serious about attracting local customers and growing your business online, Yoast Local SEO Premium is the plugin you need to get started.