It is apparent that using local SEO on your San Jose business’s website is only going to help you achieve greater rankings, but what is not so apparent is what is involved in optimizing locally. While page content is always important, no matter what sort of optimization is being pursued, there are some things that can improve your local ranking, all of which seem to be equally important.

Use your city, state, and/or region name everywhere you can. Of course, it needs to fit and not just be stuck there for the sake of having it. Include it in your page title, your first heading, and your meta tags. For example, if your company sells widgets and is located in San Jose, you might have a page title like “The Widget Company, San Jose, CA.” Your meta description would say something like “The Widget Company in San Jose, CA, offers a variety of widgets for your enjoyment.” The first heading (H1) on your site might say “Welcome to The Widget Company in San Jose, CA!”  This helps the search engines to know to show your site when people in and near San Jose are looking for widgets, whether or not they add the place name to the search, especially if their device’s location mode is on.

Be sure that the NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information for your business is clearly listed on every page of your site. Make sure it is accurate and that the address matches the official version from the post office. It is also wise to include as much information as possible about your business, including a map, business hours, and your logo, if possible.

Claim or create your business listing on the major search engines. While most people assume Google is the only one about which they need to concern themselves, this is not entirely accurate. Both Bing and Yahoo are often used, as each has its own devices or browsers in which it is default. While it may take a little longer to maintain your listing at each of these sites, it is crucial to local SEO to be sure that your business information is correct on all browsers.

When including a map to your location, be sure to link to your Google Plus listing whenever possible instead of only to your location. Linking to your Google Plus page will help people get more information about your business that may not be listed on.

Consider adding a geo meta tag to your headers to let search engines know where you are located. These include geo.position for your latitude and longitude coordinates, geo.placename for your city, and geo.region for area of the country.

These are just a few things you can do to improve your local SEO for your San Jose business, but these are some of the most important ones to include.