The quality of your local SEO is only as strong as the quality of your written content. Local web search engine optimization and SEO copywriting tips go hand in hand, so even the most optimized site in the world will fail to rise in the rankings if the voice of the copy is obviously out of sync with the target location. Your readers want to feel right at home, so here are some pointers for crafting copy they can relate to.
1. Regional Spellings. Whichever side of the pond you live on, your eye is always caught by the different regional spelling of certain words, such as “color” and “colour”, or “organize” and “organise”. Nothing will sour the relationship between reader and writer faster than the writer claiming to be from somewhere when the reader can immediately tell otherwise. Know what your readers expect, and give it to them. There are many charts and guides online to help you reliably navigate the spelling differences between English speaking nations. Bookmark them, use them, learn them.
2. Area Nicknames. Knowing what Wikipedia calls an area of town is not the same as knowing what the locals call that same area. You may be talking about the area of Minneapolis that contains the University of Minnesota, but unless you use the term “Dinkytown”, residents might suspect something. While Wikipedia may indeed offer insight as to nicknames of certain locales, make sure to do extra research. Trying to sound “in the know” and falling short is a recipe for SEO disaster.
3. Cadence and Word Choice. This can be the most difficult of the local SEO tips, both to describe and to implement, but properly executed, it can be so effective your audience will never even think to question your authenticity. An easy example would be the word choice and average sentence length of a native Texan versus a British member of Parliament. One will speak in shorter, more direct sentences, while the other will perhaps more elaborately expound upon the issue at hand whilst doing so in a more verbose manner, as befits a subject of the Queen.
Clean and capable copywriting is just one of the many skills an SEO professional must have in order to deliver the high quality results their clients expect. Local SEO tips like these can help you learn to deftly weave your way in and out of whatever dialect or speech pattern you might be targeting.