Educators are important, passionate people who take the time to master topics before teaching them to others. With all of their focus on your teaching, educators might skip past the important step of having a marketing strategy. Though you may not realize it, local SEO is one of the most important strategies for teachers to keep themselves visible to their target audience, reach students, and bypass competition with other American educators.
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An Educator’s Online Presence
It is important for American educators to have an online presence. Advertising digitally is the best option when it comes to marketing in education. With this strategy, you can target the right audience.
Having a website is one of the most important online marketing tools masters in education could have, whether you are involved in a school or starting your own educational business. Once you create content for this site, you need to find a way for it to reach people. No matter how good of quality your site is, its purpose will be completely diminished if no one reads it. That is why SEO is extremely important if you want to improve your school website. To gain more visibility from potential students, the route American educators should go for is local SEO.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is location-based search engine optimization. It allows your marketing to be seen in a specific location rather than worldwide.
Traditional SEO is the idea of improving the traffic sent to your site with marketing tactics such as keywords, link building, and meta descriptions. Local SEO is all of that, but with a specific location. For example, traditional SEO might have a keyword “dry cleaning,” while local SEO will say “dry cleaning near me” or “dry cleaning in Columbus.” The specification of location or relative location is what targets customers in a certain place. If you work with an SEO company, you’ll want to make sure they specialize in working with your area.
How Is Local SEO Useful?
You might find out the hard way that traditional SEO is not working for you. If you find yourself with declining traffic or local competitors rising above you, it may be time to think about optimizing local SEO. It turns out that 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. This is because online traffic usually applies to certain demographics, making local content the most convenient for customers.
Your goal with using local SEO is to reach your target audience’s top page of search results. By using local rather than traditional, you can accomplish this goal more efficiently. You want your online traffic to reach a specific audience effectively so that your site holds more interest overall. This is why it is so important, especially for small businesses, to use local SEO. While being an American educator is not the same thing as owning a local business, the two are alike in SEO needs.
If you are struggling to find ways to incorporate SEO into your marketing strategy as an educator, think in the way a small business would think. You want to make your profession stand out, like how a small business wants to make itself stand out. Since you are likely to compete against other educators and they are likely to compete against other local businesses, you both have similar strategies in mind.
Google chooses local sites based on relevance, proximity, and prominence. If someone is looking for schools online, Google will typically give them results based on where they are searching. If you want your school to get to the top of these searches, you have to be constantly referring to a location within your content. Using this strategy will signal your relevance to google and you will be more likely to show up on the top of search engine result pages.
Local SEO vs Traditional SEO
If you are an American educator, local SEO is right for your business. Traditional SEO is a useful tactic in some cases, but as much as local SEO is for an educator’s marketing strategy. If you use traditional SEO for your school, you will not reach your target audience as quickly. While your site might reach a wider range of people, it won’t resonate with what a specific person is looking for, making your site a less useful experience. Even if you reach several people worldwide, your site will mean nothing if it doesn’t reach the right people. Think about who your audience is and how local SEO can find them.
Why Local SEO Matters for Schools and Colleges
Local SEO has become more popular with small businesses and physical locations like schools, dry cleaning companies, and cafes. For schools, local SEO is the most helpful option for reaching an audience. Even if you are an educator who teaches virtually, local SEO will be more helpful in reaching target audiences. It narrows down searches and allows certain virtual exchanges, like payment, to be easier.
Some of the specific ways local SEO matters for schools are:
- More visibility to your school
- It is within a reasonable budget
- Student recruitment is easier
- There is more credibility
- You are getting your name out there
- You will be more likely to appear in a search of “schools near me”
- Your website will have more relevance, prominence, and proximity compared to other American educators
- Allows students and parents to have information on the fastest route
- Boosts your account on Google My Business
- Most nearby locations have directions via Google My Business, and directions lead back to your website
Keeping Google in mind while optimizing local SEO is a necessity. Google often caters to local SEO and vice versa. 80% of your online traffic comes from Google, so it is very important to optimize your online presence and cater to search engines. When you do this, you can show up on maps or carousels.
How to Optimize Local SEO for Educators
In order to dominate local SEO, you’ll need to know how to incorporate certain strategies. These are some key elements to have in mind:
Get Google My Business
Google My Business is a platform that allows you to create a business profile that can be viewed online. This gives more visibility to your business through Google search results and Google Maps. The main thing that this platform does is help your potential customers reach your site by giving them more easy-to-read information. You will also get reviews, which will allow you to know what is and isn’t working for you, ultimately allowing you to improve as an American educator.
Keywords
Keywords are specific words that you use throughout your content that will likely be used in a search. You’ll want to have a focus keyword that is used multiple times throughout your writing, around 9 times in one article. Secondary keywords should also be used a few times. You’ll want to be creative with the way you use the words so that they blend with your writing.
Some keywords educators could use when optimizing local SEO are:
- Educators near me
- Schools nearby
- Local schools
- Community colleges in Columbia
- Masters in education near me
Be Mobile-Friendly
With the increase of technological advancements today, it is important to have a site that is mobile-friendly or has a mobile option. People love convenience, and will not always be able to pull out a laptop if they’re on the go wanting to look you up. According to Google, being mobile-friendly is an important ranking variable. Paying attention to this factor will surely affect your company in a positive way.
Take Reviews Seriously
Looking at reviews may be nerve-wracking, especially as a teacher. However, it is extremely important to know what is working for you and what is not. Receiving criticism is useful in the long run, and the way you respond to it will show people that you care and are passionate about your profession. True masters in education take note of their evaluations and allow it to be a learning experience rather than a negative one. You care about your students, and this is where it shows.
Use Localization
Localization is incorporating your location into your site’s content. By naming where you are located multiple times, Google will be more likely to use your site when people are searching in a specific location. Educators should use localization so that they are recognized before other American educators around them.
Local SEO Companies
Using a local SEO company or optimizing local SEO will benefit American educators. Whether you are promoting a virtual or physical educational business, you’ll want to reach an audience near you for the best results. Working with a local SEO company like SEO Design Chicago makes it possible for you to focus on your target audience.
FAQ:
- Why is local SEO important for educators?
- What is local vs traditional SEO?
- Do educators need SEO?
- Do educators need an online presence?
- How do educators optimize SEO?
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