Maximize Your Local SEO for the Holidays with These 3 Strategies

With Covid-19 having no end date in sight, people worldwide continue to stay inside or socially distanced.  Yet, people are still looking forward to the holiday season!  While a larger percentage will make their gift purchases online this year, it’s imperative that both brick and mortar and e-commerce platforms are optimized to reach all holiday shoppers and audiences.   

Magnify your reach to 2020 holiday consumers with these 3 key online reputation enhancement strategies to maximize your local SEO.

1.  Be proactive on your Google My Business. 

If you haven’t yet set up your Google My Business listing, your first step is to claim it.  The Google Q&A section is an important local SEO tool where you can directly read and respond to consumers’ questions.  You’ll want to create specific Q&As for holiday-related inquiries – holiday products or service specials; contactless shopping, service delivery, or shipping; holiday business hours; and COVID-19 questions.  With GMB Messaging, too, it makes it easy to have customers message questions that come to you via text.  You can answer their questions and give more information your service or products, enhancing their direct customer experience with your company.

2.  Develop review response templates.  

Your review management strategy matters now more than ever with more consumers shopping online.  Collecting reviews and testimonials is imperative to maximize your local SEO.  Responding to those reviews only further enhances your search engine optimization.  Having a handful of review response templates in your arsenal will help you stay on top of the influx of reviews in a time-sensitive manner.

3. Maximize your social media presence. 

With social media use up 21% this year, you’ll want to create regularly scheduled, engaging content across social media channels.  Shoppers also started shopping for the holidays as early as Halloween this year, so start planning your social media content calendar in advance.  Giveaways and contests are a great way to engage consumers with your brand and gain new followers and customers.  Content can also include holiday hours, links and other business-related information.  While consumers plan to spend less this holiday season, be sure your content shows you’re being price-conscious and authentic with your audience.

Want to take advantage of Positive Pulse’s local SEO and reputation management dashboard?  Connect with one of our experts to see how your brand can stay ahead of the competition this holiday season.