How to Keep Your Local SEO at the Top of Google

Hi, it's Tee.

Getting to the top of Google is one job. Staying there is another. Your competitors are working too, and Google keeps changing its rules. The businesses that hold their spot all do some version of the same weekly routine.

Why rankings slip

A competitor gets a wave of new reviews. A new business opens near you and starts posting. Your information changes in one place and not another. Google updates how it judges quality. Any of these can move you down a spot or two, and a spot or two is the difference between the top 3 and no calls.

The weekly routine

Post something new. A short update on your profile and on your website. A job you finished, a tip for customers, an offer for the season. Active businesses look active.

Add fresh photos. Real photos of real work. If you work at the edge of your service area, photos taken there help show Google that you serve that area.

Ask for reviews and reply to every one. Keep the stream steady. A review last week counts for more than ten from last year.

Check your information. Name, address, phone, hours and services should match on your website, your profile and your listings. Update holiday hours before the holiday, not after.

Watch your rankings. Check how you show up in the places you want to serve. If you slip, you will see it early and can respond.

Once a month

Look at what your competitors added. New services, new pages, new reviews. Add pages for services or areas you do not cover yet, written for real people and specific to the place. Fix broken links. Make sure your website still loads fast on a phone.

What to avoid

Do not change your business name or categories on a whim. Do not buy fake reviews or fake listings, because it can get your profile suspended. Do not publish dozens of near identical pages with only the city name swapped. Google is getting better at spotting that, and it can hurt the pages you already have.

We follow this routine on our own site. TW Marketing holds the number 1 spot on Google for "local seo college park md." A DC contractor we work with went from 0 of 6 target searches on page 1 to 4 of 6 in 12 weeks. Results like that need the weekly routine to hold.

This is the part nobody sees

Most of the work in local SEO happens after the first ranking win. That is why our local SEO service includes weekly updates, photos and reporting, whether you are in Alexandria, Arlington or anywhere else in Northern Virginia. Want to see where you stand now? Get a free audit.