How to do Local SEO for Bars

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Bars have fierce competition to attract new customers. 

Since businesses have moved online, getting optimized to rank at the top of the SERP is essential. It helps you bring as many customers as possible. 

Suppose you are wondering how to get ahead of your competition online. 

Check out these 12 local SEO tips for bars that will help increase traffic and bring leads.

12 Local SEO Tips for Bars

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SEO can boost your local business in the targeted location. Following the below-mentioned tips, you can appear on the top of SERP if someone searches for a 'bar near me.'

1. List Your Bar on Google Business Profile

It doesn't matter if your website has not come through yet. If you have a bar business, you should start your local SEO with Google Business Profile. It allows you to list your company details, including; name, contact details, and working hours.

Making your profile on GBP will help you rank on top of the local searches and put you on Google Maps. It is entirely free of cost.

Tools To Optimize Your Google Business Profile

• Google Business Profile: A free platform to highlight your local company details and get free leads
• Grammarly: To write a flawless description for your local bar business 
• Small SEO Tools Plagiarism Checker: Check your content for any plagiarized bits

Tips To Optimize Your Google Business Profile

• While building your Google Business Profile, use your business email ID. Don't use your email ID.
• Carefully fill in details such as name, address, and contact details. Add website link, operational hours, and products and services provided, among other information.
• Try to add customer reviews to your Google Business Profile.
• Be active on your profile and update offers and additional services.

Here’s a screenshot of GMB:

Read: Step-by-step Setup Guide for Google My Business Set up

2. Add your Local Bar Business in Local Listings and Citations

After building your business profile on Google, move on to other local listings and citations. You can use the information and content that you added previously on these listings. 

Adding your business details to the local citation is one of the best SEO strategies for local businesses. 

You must take down a complete list of these citations. Target the customers in and around your locality. 

List of Local Citations and Listings

• Yelp: Find reviews and recommendations for local businesses
• Trip Advisor: More than a billion reviews for local bars, hotels, and more
• Yellow Pages: Local business directory to find the best bar in town

Tips to Find Local Citations and Listings

• Start by finding out the listing management services to get your business registered.
• Keep scouting for old and new local listings in your locality.
• Prepare pitches for local blogs and online publications to get your business listed. 
• Try to reach out to Facebook and Apple Maps to show your business on their pages.

Here’s a screenshot of Yelp:

3. Get Reviews and Testimonials on Different Platforms

Did you know customer reviews have the potential to make or break your online business? Yes, that is true. You should always ask your customers to leave reviews across your social profiles and Google. 

You can offer incentives, offers, and discounts in exchange for a genuine review. Such offers will help in customer retention and new customer income.

Tools to Get Customer Reviews and Testimonials

• Getsitecontrol.com: Add this to your website and let your customers give you a star-based rating
• Venngage: Publish online coupons and introduce rewards for your customers in return for a genuine review
• Pinnacle Studio: Edit video testimonials of your customers easily and quickly

Tips To Get Customer Reviews And Testimonials

• As mentioned, use incentives to get genuine customer reviews and testimonials.
• Offer them rewards or coupons for dropping an online review on their next visit.
• Do not delay. Ask for reviews immediately and offer them a free drink on the house.
• Act on the reviews and acknowledge them by sending a follow-up SMS or email

Here’s a screenshot of Getsitecontrol.com:

4. Create a Competitive Website

So far, we have discussed tips that can be implemented on other platforms. But if you want your local SEO to work, you should have a website. 

A website allows you to function freely. You can post content on it, introduce new services and create landing pages to avail offers.

Ensure your website is easy to navigate and universally adheres to the guidelines of search engines. A good website with sound dev and ops will rank higher.

Tools To Create A Competitive Website For Your Local Bar Business

• Wix.com: Build a professional website in just a few minutes here
• Squarespace.com: Grow your business online with a customizable website layout
• WordPress: One of the most popular and easy-to-use platforms to build your website

Tips For Creating A Competitive Website For Your Local Bar Business

• You should keep your website design simple and easily accessible.
• You should optimize your website for the mobile version these days, or you will lose out on many leads.
• Your website must take less than 2 seconds to load.
• Create separate landing pages for your services and discounts. Upload informational content about drinks in the blog section

Here’s a screenshot of WordPress:

Read : Best Competitive Analysis Tools to Use

5. Do an In-Depth Keyword Research

One of the crucial elements of local SEO is keyword research. 

Targeting the right keywords will boost your online presence, giving your local bar business a suitable customer base. Put yourself in your customer's shoes and think of search terms.

Use the right keyword research tools. Ensure that the keyword research is targeted at your locality.

Tools to find the keywords for local SEO for bar

• SEMrush: A tool to get the right keywords and do competitor analysis
• Google Keyword Planner: Decide how and using what terms you want to reach potential customers online
• Ahrefs: Find keywords for all platforms in just one place

Tips for finding the keywords for local SEO for bar

• Set your tools for the targeted location, and then start with the keyword research
• Enter phrases like 'local bars near me,' 'bars near me,' 'gay bar near me,' etc.
• Target long tail and short tail keywords for your local bar business
• Voice search is the future. Target keywords for it as well.

Here’s a screenshot of SEMrush:

6. Create High-Quality Content

Once your website is ready, you should start creating high-quality content. Your publishing content should discuss your services, offers, and other vital details. There should be a dedicated blog section. 

You can implement the local SEO for bars if you start producing content exclusive to the beverage and food industry. Look for relevant topics and start generating content.

Tools for creating high-quality content for bars

• SEMrush: Search for topics that your competitors have picked up
• Ahrefs: Go through the content suggestions to produce good quality content
• Answerthepublic.com: Find thousands of topic ideas for your content here

Tips for creating high-quality content for bars

• Since content is integral in implementing SEO strategies, ensure keyword placement is correct at all places.
• Choose topics from various sources related to your industry.
• Project expert opinion and establish authority through your content
• Keep a balance of text, audio, and video content.

Here’s a screenshot of Answerthepublic:

7. Optimize your Website and Content for On-page SEO

When you publish content online, it is essential to optimize it correctly. Your keyword research will be helpful here.

On-page optimization will help search engine crawlers identify your website's content. It will increase the chances of being ranked at the top for local SEO keywords.

Ensure that you publish high-intent content with the right keywords placed in it.

Tools to optimize your website and content for on-page SEO

• Uber Suggest: Get keyword suggestions, analysis, and more 
• Google Search Console: Track keywords, analyze performance, and get solutions
• SEMrush: Conduct site audit and analysis with this tool

Tips to optimize your website and content for on-page SEO

• Do not stuff keywords in your website and content. It will indicate spamming.
• Keep track of activities performed and do not stop experimenting.
• Conduct competitor website analysis to ensure you are ahead of them
• Keep track of the ranking of your targeted keywords for on-page SEO activities.

Here’s a screenshot of a website audit by SEMrush:

8. Add Schema and Local Structured Markup

One of the critical strategies for local SEO of a bar is to add schema and local structured markup to your website. 

A schema is a code you add to your page to let search engines understand your content better. Local structured markup plays a similar role.

Schema and local structured markup will help you appear on top of the search results and get more customers.

Tools for Adding Schema and Local Structured Markup

• Schema.org: Promote schema to get structured data on the internet
• Structured Data Markup Helper: Let Google understand your website better using markup elements
• Bing Markup Validator: A markup validator to allow structured markup protocol on bing

Tips for Adding Schema and Local Structured Markup

• Test your structured data with the structured data markup tools regularly
• Choose the relevant web pages to markup on your website.
• Validate all your codes for rich results

Here’s a screenshot of Schema.org:

Read: How to Use Schema Markup Values on Local SEO?

9. Build High-Quality Links

Building high-quality links is a crucial strategy in your SEO list for bars. You must focus on internal and external link-building activities to give your business an online boost.

 You must ensure that all the relevant pages are interlinked for internal linking. While building off-page links is a next-level game.

Off-page link building requires time and effort. You must search for the best resources and obtain high-quality backlinks from them.

Tools To Find High-Quality Backlink Leads

• SEMrush: Conduct website audit for internal links
• Ahrefs: Check where your competitors are getting their links from
• Moz: A tool to help you conduct a complete website audit to spot the quality of backlinks 

Tips For Finding High-Quality Backlink Leads

• Conduct a thorough audit of your website and your competitor's website to spot link-building opportunities
• Reach out to top bloggers and influential publications in your niche to give you a backlink in exchange for quality content
• Spot loopholes in existing content and offer to improve it in exchange for a backlink
• Conduct regular audits to spot low and high-quality backlinks on the website

Here’s a screenshot of an internal link analysis by SEMrush:

10. Set the Right Goals

When finding the right local SEO tips for bars, you must know that setting your goals right is the key. You cannot research or execute the tips if you do not set the goals first. 

Besides, you need to refer to these goals to check if your local SEO efforts are paying off.

While setting goals for your SEO strategy, mark what you want to achieve and what is the timeline for the same. Make a list of large and small goals.

Tools To Set Local SEO Goals For Bar

• SEMrush: Conduct a gap analysis of your local SEO goals
• Google Analytics: Set website goals to check leads and conversion
• Google Search Console: Find out all the details for keyword and page performance

Tips For Setting Local SEO Goals For Bar

• Your goals must be measurable.
• Keep your goals divided into three categories - process goals, performance goals, and outcome goals. 
• Set goals on SEO tools mentioned above for regular analysis
• Keep track of SEO performance.

Here’s a screenshot of Google Analytics:

11. Keep Technical SEO in Check

Often, people overlook local technical SEO. However, it will not perform well if your website is not technically optimized. 

Technical SEO ensures easy navigation and sends the right signals to search engine crawlers.

Focusing on technical SEO will help you increase your reach across all the channels and appear in the rich snippets section.

Tools to improve local technical SEO for bars

• Screaming Frog: Conduct thorough technical SEO research using this tool
• Google Page Insights: A tool to check your website load speed 
• Siteliner: Create an XML sitemap easily here and submit it to search engine servers

Tips to improve local technical SEO for bars

• Your page load speed should be between 0.2-0.3 seconds.
• Make your website mobile-friendly. Create a mobile version.
• Create an XML sitemap and submit it to the servers
• Keep track of issues and resolutions on Google Search Console.

Here’s a screenshot of Screaming Frog:

12. Track the SEO Performance

Now that you have implemented the local SEO strategy for the bar, it's time to measure its performance. 

You must understand the primary goals and rules to track SEO performance. There are various tools to help you track it. 

While tracking the local SEO performance, you must primarily check traffic, CTR, and rankings. 

Tools to track local SEO performance

• Google Keyword Planner: Keep track of rankings of your targeted keywords
• Google Analytics: Set SEO goals and track them easily
• Moz: Check website DA, PA, and overall authority of your website

Tips for tracking local SEO performance

• Select the right metrics to track the SEO performance of your bar website
• Track the month-on-month organic traffic performance of your website 
• Focus on improving your website CTR. Track CTR improvement of each webpage.
• Keep a tab on bounce rate. If you find it on a higher side, try to bring it down.

Here’s a screenshot of Google Keyword Planner:

Local SEO for Bars - FAQs

Q1. What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the optimization strategy used to boost the performance of locally targeted websites and businesses online. 

Q2. What Are The Benefits Of Local SEO?

Local SEO helps in increasing traffic, conversion rates, and rankings. It helps get more reviews and boosts business.

Q3. Do Small Businesses Need Local SEO?

Local businesses should focus on local SEO to create a market and increase customer turnout.

Key Takeaways

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• Create a profile on Google and other search engines. Enlist your business on Google Business Profile.
• Add your business to local listings and citations.
• Ask your customers for reviews and testimonials.
• Build a competitive website optimized for search engines
• Conduct keyword research for your website and other SEO activities
• Start creating high-quality content for your website and other channels.
• Do proper on-page keyword optimization.
• Add schema and local structured markup to give a boost to your website.
• Work on building high-quality links to your website 
• Set goals for your website and execute strategy accordingly
• Focus on technical SEO to boost website performance
• Track SEO efforts and generate reports for further improvement