Google remains the top search engine globally, particularly for local searches. Calgarians are still proactively using Google to search for local businesses such as “self storage near me” or “phone repair Beltline”.
For example, there are approximately 77,000 monthly searches for queries related to “self storage Calgary”. This large volume of searches provides an enormous market for self storage facilities in Calgary to capitalize on.
To help Calgary businesses improve their Google organic search rankings through SEO, here are seven tips you can use.
Create Local-Focused Pages and Include Service Name and City or Neighborhood Names in the SEO Titles
The most important of local SEO for Calgary businesses is assure that you have a product or service page that includes “Calgary” in the SEO title as well as in the website content. You can take it further by adding a neighborhood in the SEO title. For example, if you’re a dry cleaner that’s based in Bridgeland and services the Calgary community, include Calgary and Bridgeland in your service page’s SEO title so that the page can rank for both “Calgary dry cleaner” and “Bridgeland dry cleaner”.
Add Additional Descriptions in the SEO Titles
If you’re a plumber that offers 24/7 service, make sure to include “24 hours” in your SEO title so your service page can rank for high-converting, niche queries such as “24 hour plumber Calgary” or “24 hour emergency plumber Calgary”.
Gain High-Quality Backlinks
The number of backlinks a website gains continues to important in the SEO world. A backlink is a link to website from an external website. A backlink is a vote of confidence from an external website to another website. The more backlinks a website gains, the more authoritative the website appears to Google and more likely that Google will rank the website higher on Google search results. There are different ways to gain backlinks. For example, you can procure high-quality backlinks from trusted vendors, write guest blogs, join the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and gain a backlink through your profile, and other approaches.
Gain Positive Google Reviews
The number of positive Google Reviews has business receives remains a top factor for local search. The more steady flow of Google Reviews your business gets, the more likely your business will appear highly on Google Local Map Pack and Google Maps. Hence, make sure to ask your customers to write you a Google Review!
Implement Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools on the Website
Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are Google-powered and Microsoft-powered webmaster tools, respectively. Both tools can show your websites’ search performance data such as the number of clicks and impressions your website has gained from Google or Bing, search queries your website is ranking for, and some search data from AI-powered platforms such as Google AI Mode or Microsoft Copilot.
Example of Google Search Console data for Google’s Generative AI Platforms
Use these tools to measure and compare your website performance over time and identify opportunity for improvement.
Gain Positive Brand Mentions or Listicle Features
While Google is the go-to platform for local searches, some consumers are using AI tools to look for local businesses or compare different brands. AI tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini reference third-party reviews to learn about a brand and recommend a brand in AI results. If you want an AI tool to recommend your organization, gain positive brand mentions or get featured in the top of a blog listicle. Achieving this will help your brand appear positively to AI tools which will likely increase your chance of being featured in AI results more frequently or be positively recommended by AI tools when the tools are comparing your brand with competing organizations.
