hat does search engine optimization (SEO) for local, brick-and-mortar businesses look like for 2025?

First and foremost, your Google Business Profile (GBP) is still the foundation for local businesses. Obviously, it should be complete and have all your current information. A detailed article about setting up a GBP can be found in the September 2024 issue of Messenger.

There’s also Bing Places, which is Microsoft’s GBP equivalent.

Another article on local SEO, published in the May 2024 issue of Messenger, discussed having customers check in on Facebook and Instagram. Naturally, those still work.

With Google’s August 2024 CORE algorithm update, it now ranks fully optimized websites higher. Consequently, it demotes websites with poor SEO (See “Expect The Unexpected” in the December issue of Messenger). By the way, Google does these updates monthly to refine their search systems to enhance the quality of results. It’s constantly changing.

Certainly, you can’t deny that AI is quickly changing the digital world. Likewise, search engines constantly evolve in how they work and deliver results to searchers.

Google’s SGE is still in its experimental stages, but I expect it will be rolling out soon and evolving. It goes beyond the links in search engine results pages (SERPs). For instance, it will analyze content on web pages and extract specific information. It will attempt to better interpret the intent behind the search. For you, focus on solving problems, not just selling services or products.

SGE will provide multi-faceted answers to allow the searcher to dig deeper. It goes beyond “people also searched for …”

Traditional blue links won’t disappear completely. Nevertheless, you must create the optimized content your searchers are seeking. Remember, write for the human reader with the search engine in mind.

How can you thrive with SGE? Focus on managing your digital marketing presence (your website and social media) to provide helpful, relevant content while demonstrating experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (EEAT) and optimize images and videos for effectiveness in the digital world of AI and SGE.

Your web address or URL and the H1 title of your page must have your location. Second, include your NAP (name, address, phone number, and hours). Make sure it matches what’s on your GBP. For example, an optimized H1 title would be “Brand Self-Storage, Tempe, AZ, Near ASU and the 101.”

Next, have some enticing copy with a clear call to action (what you want visitors to do) alongside a picture or video of your facility.

Include distinctive bullet points, like “near [blank] University,” “conveniently located next to [blank],” “in the heart of [blank],” or “with the only RV storage in [blank].” Moreover, include the specific problems and pain points that your facility would solve and alleviate.

After that, showcase your amenities with a picture slider and optimize links to service and product pages. Then, add a slider with your blog articles featuring your owner/manager/staff at various local events, doing community service, or telling the story of something interesting that happened at your facility (See the recent Messenger article on blogging and using AI.).

Lastly, add your staff’s pictures, which can include short bios of how long they’ve been in the area. For more details, visit https://ahrefs.com/blog/location-pages.

Add Schema Markup to your website.
This is getting into technical SEO, but if you’re struggling with getting found locally or have tough competition, you may want to invest the time or hire someone to help you with this.

What is Schema Markup? Schema.org was created 10 years ago as “a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet.”

Structured data is a standardized format, or backend code, on web pages for easier and more efficient access for both computers and humans. Simply put, it helps the search engines understand and better index the content of your pages.

And it can get very specific. Furthermore, it requires adding backend code to your website. Not everyone knows how to do that. You need a developer.

If you have a WordPress website, some SEO plugins have paid add-ons that add Local Business Schema, but other free plugins are available.

Note, SGE is new and will evolve along with AI technology. Schema markup is a standardized format. It ensures that even if the way search results are shown on SERPs changes, your essential data will regularly be crawled, indexed, and understood.

For details on the LocalBusiness Schema markup, visit Schema’s website at schema.org/LocalBusiness.

ADD LINKS TO NEARBY LOCATIONS.
Here’s where your local organization memberships come in. Whichever local entity you are a member of or support, add their logo or picture and link it to their respective websites. Set the links to open in a new tab so visitors don’t lose your page. This could include your local chamber of commerce, the state self-storage association, the local little league team you sponsor, and any local nonprofits you support. For instance, a great blog post would be if your staff went to volunteer at a local food bank or you helped an organization store stuff for a special project. Link to their website and showcase pictures.

• Local event participation and sponsorships – Along with your support comes a link back to your site from the event website. They should also tag you on social media.
• Membership listings – You link to them, and, of course, you get a link from their listings.
• Social media posts and videos – When you upload a video to YouTube, you can add the location. It’s the same with Instagram and Facebook posts. Always tag your location. Make sure all your social media profiles have the same NAP that matches your GBP.
• Other review sites and online directories – You want to make it easy for your customers to review you, so offer them other options besides Google. There’s Yelp.com, Facebook, the BBB, and TrustPilot.com, etc. In addition, there are at least 150 online directories. You don’t have to be listed in all of them, just the ones that you feel your target audience would use. Some services charge a hefty monthly fee to get you on these sites. First, check to see if your competitors are on them. Here’s an article from Search Engine Journal that lists 20 web directories that still matter: www.searchenginejournal.com/web-directories-list/287799.
• Local newspapers and bloggers – Both of these are always looking for local, community, human-interest, and tug-at-the-heartstrings stories. Send out press releases to your local newspapers, magazines, and bloggers. Offer to write articles for them.

All in all, these are just more suggestions on how to market your facility. Each place is different and each city is different, so some of these may not work for you. Considering that most are free and just take a little sweat equity up front, there’s no harm in trying!

May you have a wonderful, prosperous New Year!