As a local business owner, optimising your web presence may seem futile when you’re competing with big-name brands and multinationals. Local citation building is one of the clearest examples of why that’s not the case. This SEO strategy is essential for any business seeking to attract new customers, and it should be a key component of any Brisbane SEO campaign.
How does local citation building impact SEO in Brisbane? It puts your name and contact details in front of the people who are looking for your services, and builds your brand authority across the web. It also increases the likelihood that AI tools like Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT will give you a mention.
Brisbane is an excellent city to start a business, with the 2024 Global Startup Ecosystem Report naming it one of the world’s top 40 ecosystems for startups. All kinds of businesses can thrive in Queensland’s sunny capital, from purpose-driven enterprises to tourism and leisure-based activities. Yet it’s worth remembering that even if you run a brick-and-mortar business in the heart of the CBD, most of your new clients will find you online before they take their first step inside your building.
Looking for an SEO agency that can help you enhance your local search presence? Anchor Digital has helped many types of Brisbane-based businesses succeed, from allied health to construction equipment and food service. If you’re wondering ‘How does local citation building impact SEO in Brisbane?’ and how you can make it part of your strategy, this is the Anchor guide.
Impact on SEO: Local Citation Building
Brisbane has a thriving commercial sector with over 130,000 registered businesses. Yet entrepreneurs and brands here face many of the same challenges as they would in any other city, including increasing competition and adapting to Google’s algorithm changes.
A local citation is a mention of your business name (and often your website URL, physical address, phone number or any other relevant information) on another website, such as an online directory, review site or blog post.
How does local citation building impact SEO, including in Brisbane? It increases visibility, credibility, and public trust in various ways. Having consistent details across multiple platforms makes you appear more trustworthy to both the public and search engines, allowing web users to find you in various locations. Local citations are a key ranking factor in local SEO, leading to higher search engine rankings and more relevant traffic. Local citation is an integral part of a local SEO strategy, and complements other strategies such as backlinking.
Local Citation Building Guide
You may have local citations you don’t even know about: reviews, event listings, articles. But as local citations are a ranking factor, it’s in your best interests to build more. How many? There’s no magic number, but it pays to have as many as your closest competitor.
Here are some tips for building effective local listings:
Update your contact details
Ensure that details such as your phone number and address are consistently up-to-date across trusted platforms, including Google Business Profile and TripAdvisor. The more reliable your contact details are on different platforms, the easier it is to find you and the more credible you appear.
Apart from the usual name, address, and phone number, some useful elements to include in a local citation include a website URL, business description, opening hours, social media links, images, and videos.
Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile appears in a prominent position on Google’s search results and contains important information like your contact details, hours of operation and reviews. You can visit the Google Business website and follow the verification steps to claim your listing. Once you’ve claimed it, you can optimise your listing and enhance your online presence with personalised details, such as unique photos and an intriguing business description.
Choose relevant platforms
Build citations on platforms that are appropriate for your business, such as industry-specific and Brisbane-based directories. Make sure you also target the major ones, such as Google Business Profile, Apple Maps and Facebook, keeping all business information consistent.
Encourage customer reviews
Customer reviews help your reputation, and you can integrate them into your local listings. Make it easy for customers to leave reviews by including clear and direct links to the review section on your website. You can also request that customers leave reviews in person. Positive reviews are a positive ranking factor for local SEO, and businesses with more of them typically rank higher. Responding to all reviews, both positive and negative, also improves your reputation.
Tips for Boosting Brand Visibility in Brisbane
Your brand visibility is the extent to which your target demographic recognises your products, services or overall identity. It’s a measure of how much you stand out in your industry from your competitors. Not surprisingly, it has a positive correlation with sales figures.
Boosting brand visibility is a major topic in its own right. But here are some tips to get you started on increasing visibility for your own Brisbane brand:
Use social listening
Social listening is using digital tools to monitor what people across social media and the internet are saying about your brand, industry and competitors. This information allows you to track sentiments and trends to enhance user experience.
Optimise for keywords
Keyword research is a fundamental part of SEO strategy that remains crucial to optimising your content. One of the reasons it’s such a timeless strategy is that it helps a great deal with brand visibility, as long as you target the keywords your customers are using.
Create powerful visual content
Unique, compelling visual content stands out and captures people’s attention faster than text alone. Videos, infographics and original images quickly engage your audience and deliver information in a fast, easy-to-understand way.
Engage with your audience on social media
Social media is a valuable tool for building a connection with your audience through conversations and sharing information. It’s an easy way to listen to your audience and provide content they can share and use.
Collaborate
Partnering with other brands or influencers your target audience respects can be a cost-effective way to increase brand awareness for both of you. Collaborating on a campaign can both extend your reach among your existing audience and reach new markets, as long as your values align.
Get Your Business Seen In Brisbane with Anchor
If you’re looking for a local SEO agency that can increase your visibility and help you stand out, Anchor Digital is here to help. Our SEO in Brisbane is a combination of sheer creativity and technical knowledge, with a range of digital solutions integrated strategically in order to meet your campaign goals. We deep-dive into your website to find what’s working and what isn’t. We take an integrated approach to SEO, encompassing everything from content marketing to social media to link building. While we can certainly please the search engines, ultimately, the focus is on the people who will be finding your brand: the web users.
Whether you have more questions about how local citation building impacts SEO in Brisbane or you’re ready to start working with Anchor, get in touch. You can call 1300 971 392, email info@anchordigital.com.au or contact our team online.
