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Getting your business to appear on the first page of results for internet searches is an ongoing challenge. In this post I will discuss how geotagging can help your small business (even one without a physical location) show up on Google.
What is Geotagging
Geotagging is the process of adding precise global positioning data, such as specific latitude and longitude, to a website or image found online.
It is the most common way to embed location-specific data into your website, usually by adding the information to photos and images. Your website visitors don’t see this information, but search engines read, catalogue, and analyze as they crawl the web looking for data.
Geotagging helps the search engines make the connection between your photo and the location of what it depicts or where and when it was taken, or both. You can set the geotagging to be a particular location you choose, down to specific latitude and longitude coordinates.
Why is Geotagging Important
As more potential customers search for information from their mobile devices, web search engines are factoring the person’s current location into the search results they deliver.
Furthermore, people are getting more specific and sophisticated with their web searches. Your customers want to narrow the thousands of web search results into the ones that are most relevant for them. If you don’t have geotagging information on your website, you aren’t ranking as highly as your competitors who do.
How does Geotagging help Small Businesses
Geotagging is especially important for ranking with local search engine results. If you are a massage therapist located in Paris, Texas, you don’t care about finding customers in Paris, Virginia, or Paris, France.
You only want people in your locality to find your business. It might be nice if someone in Chicago found your site on the Internet, but it’s not likely to be very relevant to them. It’s even less likely that they will click on your site or contact you.
To grow your local business, you need local results from web searches. You need to find the customers in your local area, and get information to them when they need it.
Geotagging is essential for helping you pinpoint your customers and making your business appear as the top choice in the search engine results.
I use tool.geoimgr.com This tool allows me to include the location, keywords and alt text on an image I plan to upload to a website or Google My Business.
The location information on a photo on the same webpage as your company’s description of services will boost the search engine’s confidence in the results it provides. It will be certain that your business is indeed located in the physical location that was included in the search question.
Where should I put Geotagged Images
To optimize your search results using geotagging SEO practices, ensure that you have a geotagged image on at least the following pages of your website:
The homepage
Your contact us page
Your location page
Your blog posts
Of course, adding a geotagged photo to every page or post on your site will help the most, as repetition is key in optimizing your search engine results.
If all of this sounds 🤯 you’re right. If you’re looking for assistance with geotagging SEO, or for optimizing your website for search engine results in general, contact me. I'm here to help. Check out my contact form today and let’s start dominating your competition.