If you’re a business trying to beat the odds and thrive in Liverpool, you’ll know more than anyone that you have some fierce competition.
Liverpool is home to a variety of amazing businesses. At Blaze Media, we are lucky enough to have worked alongside some of the city’s greatest successes… or they’re lucky enough to have worked alongside us, it’s how you interpret it, really.
Having represented numerous businesses in the city, we understand how challenging it is to surpass your competitors. We’ve spent years developing the most effective techniques to help our clients succeed.
You can have a fantastic business, great branding and a website that pops, but if your SEO strategies aren’t up to scratch, you’ll find it difficult to sustain long term, consistent growth. But don’t panic, at Blaze Media, SEO is a big part of our gig, and our SEO team know exactly how to put together an SEO strategy that works in Liverpool.
As you know, we’re a generous lot and we’re always happy to show off share our industry knowledge, so keep reading to find out 5 essential SEO tips for Liverpool businesses.
Why Your Business Needs Local SEO in Liverpool
Even if you have a brick-and-mortar store, if you want to compete with the thousands of businesses in Liverpool, you have to have an online presence and, at the very least, a fully functioning, user-optimised website that stands out.
In the past, this might have been enough to help you compete, but nowadays, every business has an online presence, so you need a great SEO campaign strategy to help your business climb the search rankings.
Liverpool has an incredibly competitive business market, so working with an SEO team to develop a marketing strategy can help your business become more visible to potential customers.
Blaze’s SEO Tips
We could gatekeep all of our fantastic SEO insight, but we love sharing the lovely knowledge we have gained over the years. Whether you’re a well-established business or just starting, implementing the following SEO tips can help drastically improve your business’s performance.
Optimise Your Google Business Profile for Increased Visibility
Once a place for disgruntled customers to leave nasty reviews, many businesses seem to be terrified of their Google Business Profile, avoiding it like the plague.
Google Business Profile has evolved a lot in the last few years, and it is now essential for businesses to make the most of their Google Business Profile if they want to compete with other local businesses.
Google Business Profile is basically the superhero of local SEO. It saves your visibility and credibility in local search results, making your business the star of the show. People can use Google Profile to find key information about your business, from your business address to your recent reviews.
If local map blocks frequently appear for the search terms you’re looking to rank for when conducting keyword research, then it’s crucial that your business’ profile is there and competing, as this is where the majority of clicks and attention is going.
If optimised correctly, you have full control over how your business is perceived and can ensure that it aligns with the brand you are trying to develop. So make sure that you’re optimising your Google Business Profile pronto.
Use Liverpool-Focused Keywords Across Your Site
In Liverpool, local people want to support local businesses, so you can really capitalise on local businesses by integrating Liverpool-focused keywords into your SEO strategy. So, if you’re a Liverpool-based florist, don’t just market the fact you’re a florist; highlight that you’re a Liverpool florist in your socials, website and ads, and you will reap the benefits.
People will be actively searching for businesses like yours, but with so many online these days, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle. By combining local data on-site with keywords and content that references your location, you can give your website ranking the nudge it needs to reach the right people.
Built Citations and Local Directory Listings
Local businesses should harness the power of built citations and relevant directory listings to boost local search visibility, turn heads, and earn trust from potential customers.
These citations, which are basically shout-outs of a business’s name, address, and phone number, send positive signals to search engines like Google, confirming the business’s existence and location, and maybe even making your business the talk of the town.
By appearing in reputable online directories, businesses can increase their online presence, improve their local search rankings, and drive more organic traffic to their website.
So, hurry up and get your business listed in local directories.
Build Reviews from Local Customers
Though word of mouth as we know it might have changed and evolved, it still has a huge impact on the success of local businesses. People only want to work with a business that they know has provided fantastic service in the past, and the best way for consumers to verify that is through reviews.
If a customer sees bad reviews or a lack of reviews for a business, why would they choose that business when they can choose one with a great reputation and plenty of reviews?
Reviews also play a major role in improving visibility in local search results; the more reviews and mentions your business receives, the more local notoriety it earns. So make sure you’re reaching out to clients and asking for reviews (positive ones, preferably).
The content of user-generated reviews can also have a positive impact on your visibility. If you run a restaurant, for instance, and a customer leaves a review complementing a particular dish, it can help pull through and show for people searching more specifically.
More complex than you’d think this local SEO malarkey, isn’t it? But there’s a reason so many businesses are focusing on it.
Earn Local Backlinks from Relevant Sites
Local backlinks are like loyal neighbourhood support; they boost your local SEO, put your business on the map in search engines, and draw in the right crowd.
These links tell search engines, “Hey, we’re relevant and trustworthy right here in Liverpool,” which boosts your local search rankings. Exposure is everything when trying to win over a whole city and direct them to your business, so make sure that you are working towards earning those backlinks.
To earn local backlinks from sites relevant to your business, you need to build local relationships and get involved in the local community, so get yourself to those networking events.
If you’re struggling to build links or need more momentum to compete in the search results, get in touch with our team for link building advice as part of a long term strategy.
Why Your Business Needs a Marketing Agency
If you’ve just read our tips and found yourself in a state of panic, Googling what a backlink is and the address for the local directory, you might need a digital marketing agency on your side.
With practice and training, you might be able to master the art of SEO, but by then, your business will probably be non-existent, so get a team on your side who can do it for you.
Some other reasons why your Liverpool-based business needs a marketing agency include:
Expertise and Knowledge
Something that Liverpool-based marketing agencies have by the bucket load is local expertise and knowledge. Liverpool marketing agencies just understand the area in a way that other agencies can’t, you could try to outsource your agency to a different town or city, but you run the risk of the marketers turning up to your meetings with white socks on- so is it really worth it?
Jokes aside, Liverpool-based agencies tend to be full of scousers who know the city like the back of their hands and know how to craft campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
Local agencies also know local SEO well and know exactly what your business needs to rank for to get the attention it deserves. When they’re performing their SEO audits on your site, local agencies will learn how to cater their suggestions to the local market, putting you in a better position.
Improved Visibility
A marketing agency can elevate your brand’s visibility from a faint whisper to a loud, resonant voice that reaches across multiple channels. They develop smart strategies, increase online excitement, and connect with customers in ways that grab attention and drive purchases, ultimately boosting sales.
In this industry, visibility is everything. Think of local marketing agencies as your business’s personal spotlight operators. They have the experience, connections, and expertise to make sure the right audience sees you. They know how to position your business to help it shine, especially when crafting an SEO strategy.
Staying up to Date
The marketing world is constantly changing, especially with the growth of AI, and the world of SEO has experienced some major changes. Continuous updates have made it challenging for even the most experienced marketers to keep up.
For someone with little experience or few connections in the SEO world, it can be easy to miss these updates. Before you know it, your business is way out of the loop, and your traffic takes a nosedive.
Like building an extension or getting a tattoo, some things are best left to the experts if you want them to go well, and SEO falls into that category.
You Can Focus More on Your Business
SEO can be time-consuming, which is why there are marketing agencies across the country with teams dedicated to it. SEO is about constant checks and reports to ensure that everything is functioning as it should. Now, do you have time for that?
We have seen far too many businesses suffer because owners have been unable to prioritise their time properly. If you’re a small business, it’s very unlikely that you have time to do all of your SEO, marketing, ads, and social media without some help.
So, why let your business suffer when you can let the professionals take care of it?
Improve Your Local SEO With Blaze Media
At Blaze Media, we live and breathe SEO… and if that’s wrong, we don’t want to be right.
Our team stays up to date with current trends, understands the local market and is ready to help local businesses outrank their competitors and smash their expectations.
Do you want more traffic to your page and never look at site analytics ever again? Get in touch to find out how we can help your business thrive, and sign up for our free site audit to get a full review of your business page.
