Local SEO for furniture stores is more than just creating a functional website. Whether you are dealing in leather furniture, custom furniture or upholstered furniture, you need to make sure that search engines can find you and rank you high in search results. This is the only way you will attract new customers to your online and brick-and-mortar store.

It goes without saying that search engine optimization is incomplete with keywords. Hence, take a look at your business scope and core business to get keywords. Use terms that you feel people will be using online to find your furniture store.

Remember to categorize keywords into two categories. One is the buying intent keywords which reveal that online visitors are ready to become paying customers; and the other is research intent keywords which show that your online visitors are interested in something and may decide to buy them at a later stage. This segregation of keywords is necessary as you will use different categories in different places of your website and blog.

Start with the homepage. Here, you should use buying intent keywords and your city name to add the local flavor. Start with the title tag of the homepage. It is the tag that will be shown in search engine results. Hence, use the following format:

Furniture Store in {Your City} | {Name of Your Business}

The title tag should be between 50 to 60 characters. By adding the city name, you demonstrate to Google and other major search engines the location of your business.

As stated earlier, people do look for furniture online. And, online business directories play a major role in ensuring that your prospective customers can find you. So, build citations in local business directories. This will fetch your website much-needed backlinks and also ensure your online presence becomes more visible.

You should ensure that you create citations in local and niche directories. Make sure your business NAP (name, address and phone number) is consistent and accurate in all business directories. If there is discrepancy, search engines will catch them and get confused. As a result, either your business name will be listed lowly in search results or will not be listed at all.

Google My Business Listing is like a mini-website. It can do wonders to your search engine rankings. Also, it ensures you can be found by prospective customers who are looking for a furniture store online.

It is necessary you claim and verify your Google My Business listing. Then get cracking on expanding that listing. Insert your business name and address. Make sure that this information is similar to what you have mentioned in online business directories. Put in the business hours and then upload about three to five good quality images of your brick-and-mortar store. Images should be of the exterior, interior and perhaps a few employees working. You can even put images of your customers after getting permission from them. Make sure you put a local number to prove to Google that you are indeed a local furniture business.

Reviews matter a lot not just for online optimization, but also to create trust among your target audience. Most people believe the online reviews they read, and this will determine whether they patronize your furniture store or not. So, get in touch with your customers, preferably by email, and ask them to write a review on your Google My Business profile. To make it easy for them, send them the link to your profile.

Also, encourage your customers to write reviews on your social media pages and local directories. This will help to establish your online credibility and also spread the word around. Remember, it is also necessary to respond to reviews. You should respond to positive and negative reviews.

You will be amazed how blogs can engage customers and prospects. So, begin blogging related to the furniture industry. This will make you a reliable source of information related to the industry. In turn, this will boost your credibility. Also, when you make an effort to post fresh and creative content regularly, it will keep your visitors coming back for more. They will wait eagerly for new content and spread the word around.

You can even put links to the blogs on your social media pages. This will encourage your followers and their friends to visit your blog and from there your website.