Local SEO is the practice of optimizing your website for a specific local area. Companies that have a physical location or serve geographical areas can benefit from local seo. If you search Google for key business-related keywords and you see three list cards (also known as card packs) underneath, your local SEO can help your business grow.
What is Local SEO?
What about local organic search results? After analyzing user behavior in trillions of searches, Google found that people searching for a particular type of business needed results around them. For this reason, Google’s local search algorithm includes a proximity factor.
This is a great way to say that Google considers your location when searching for local keywords (search queries using local intents). This also happens if the searcher does not include the city name or “near” in the search.
However, with the recent growth in mobile internet access, mobile search has exploded, boosting the benefits of local seo for businesses and local marketers offering local products or services.
What does this mean for search marketers? Local map packages appear in the standard organic Google search list. Still, the most important Google search results and local map package results for local rankings are supported by separate algorithms. As a local company, you have the option to view your most important organic search results and your local map package at the same time.
If you’re new to marketing small businesses online, one of the biggest challenges is knowing what to focus on to make your efforts as effective as possible. Similar to traditional Google search algorithms, it is due to the popularity of localized content and local links.
Therefore, creating a local landing page for each location is important. Use tags and meta descriptions, especially for companies in multiple locations. You need to add details such as addresses and phone numbers and tweak the title, not just the company name.
Follow SEO best practices. This should also be considered in content marketing and link-building strategies. In addition, location-related factors such as business listings in Google My Business, local quotes from data aggregators, and review signals that local customers need to publish are considered in local-oriented SEO rankings in local business seo efforts.
An SEO tool focused on local search to help develop locally-oriented SEO audits, from developing local audience-focused keyword surveys to creating quotes, Google My Business entries, corporate profiles, and managing Google.
Website content is just as important as Google’s traditional search algorithms, but it also considers location-related factors such as Google My Business, quotes, and review signals.
Why Is It Important to Do Local SEO?
Consumers with a high rank of local keywords on Google are more likely to find information and services available in a particular region.
Keywords that help a company rank locally are often more useful than keywords that help a company rank nationally. 76% of people who use their smartphones to search for nearby stores will access their smartphones within a day, and 28% of those searches will lead to purchases. Therefore, if you want to reach your local audience, the ability to target local keywords is important.
Local SEO Can Boost Website Traffic from Users in the Area
One of the major benefits of using local seo services is increasing traffic to websites and specific web pages. Local website traffic can optimize website visibility, increase sales directly, and make your brand name familiar to your local audience. This is very useful for local businesses that want to promote their business in a small area.
Local SEO Can Convert Online Searches to Offline Purchases
According to a survey conducted by Retail Dive, 67% of consumers say they look up most products online before buying them in-store. Also, given the estimated 30% of traffic that visits the site on the first page of search engine results, it’s easy to see the local business benefits at the top.
Strategised local seo marketing allows you to display your brand before almost any customer looking for a local product unique to your niche and useful for any business. In a sense, affordable local seo services are a form of local advertising that connects consumers to websites for free. Local SEO allows you to publish important information about your website online.
This will help increase your company’s presence on the Internet and make your company better known to the local population. Implementing a local seo strategy is not costly and is considered a free and effective form of online advertising.
Local SEO helps you get reviews from nearby customers.
Many before trying new products and services People search for reviews online. If your business doesn’t have reviews, potential customers may hesitate to give you their money. Local SEO is an effective way to get high-quality reviews from previous clients.
Many local directories allow consumers to post reviews of their local business experiences and opinions about specific products and services. Reaching customers in your area who need your service now When web users search for a particular service, they often want it shortly. Consider the case of a local restaurant search. An estimated 64% of searchers have achieved conversions “instantly” or “within an hour.”
This means that one of the two people searching for “restaurants in northern Virginia” is likely looking for a place to eat their next meal. If you are the restaurant they found in the search results, you have a great opportunity to do their business.
Of course, this applies to all local businesses. With local SEO, you can instantly reach local customers who need your product or service. When web users with urgent needs look at a local list (rather than a competitor), they probably choose to buy from you. They are more likely to choose your company than your competitors, who may be far from them in performing their search.
Local search can appeal to leads from mobile users.
Local SEO can appeal to both desktop and mobile web users. This is especially economical for local businesses, given the increasing number of mobile searches for local services. According to Search Engine Land, an estimated 79% of all mobile phone owners and 81% of tablet owners use their devices to run local services. This means that local SEO optimized for mobile search can benefit local businesses to promote their products and services. Local SEO is a must, as more searches are being done on mobile devices than ever before.
Difference between SEO and Local SEO
Both traditional SEO and local SEO focus on improving your ranking in online search results so more people can find, contact and buy your business. The differences are as follows: Whereas traditional SEO focuses on improving the visibility of your website at the national or global level, local SEO allows you to capture your local search area and connect with searchers in your area. SEO and local SEO use many of the same strategies. However, local SEO solutions use special means to connect with searchers in your area.
11 Tips to Improve your Local SEO
The following are the best local seo tips:
1. Create and optimize your Google My Business account
We’ve fully explained the importance of Google My Business. Now is the time to request your list and redeem all of those local leads. Your Google My Business account appears in entries that you wouldn’t otherwise see, giving your company more online visibility almost instantly.
2. Perform a local keyword search to optimize your content
If you haven’t done so already, open Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool and perform a detailed local keyword search. This tool provides all the knowledge you need for this phase. Which keywords are more relevant to your company, and are their estimates and the current competition to rank them.
There are still some steps left to prepare for keyword targeting. The local SEO solution is to narrow down your targeting. Perform a local keyword search and select locally relevant keywords for your targeting. Integrate it into your website’s metadata, the body of the relevant page, and the URL itself.
3. Identify keywords and track their position in SERP
Once you have identified the keywords you want to appear for, you will pursue them. This task can easily be accomplished in several ways, and Semrush also helps to make things a little easier.
4. Local link building or community engagement
Building a local link is synonymous with community involvement. Monitor your position with SERP using location tracking. When you set up the link-building tool to search for prospects, you’ll see a list of other companies you can contact about the new link.
5. Send to Online Business Directory
After collecting the initial information on the Google My Business page, an important step in your local SEO strategy is to get the same information in your online business directory, such as Yelp, HubSpot, TripAdvisor, etc.
6. Establishing a Social Media Presence
Social media can be expected to have various opportunities. There are many platforms you can use to increase your online presence. The first step is selecting a platform and coordinating a multi-channel strategy that is consistent.
It’s a daunting task, but see how social platforms help your local SEO efforts. Facebook has the largest user base to reach the widest range of users. An important feature of Facebook is geographical place posts when users access the shop using the check-in feature. This will make you visible to all of your friends’ potential leads.
7. Interacting Customers Online
Managing brand messages across multiple channels is not easy, especially for small businesses. Once you have created your profile on the social platform of your choice, you should update it regularly. Imagine a customer passing through your store and seeing the same placement of the same product every day. He won’t come.
The publishing plan requires customers to interact with the page, so ask followers for questions and feedback to host contests and giveaways. Please note that the platform is subject to change. You can’t represent what your brand represents. Social media communication must match all other channels your business uses, such as websites and GMB profiles.
8. Actively managing online ratings is as powerful as personal recommendations.
It is also important to monitor and address all reviews, especially if you are active in your area. These ratings (and how they are handled) directly impact your brand image.
Encourage happy customers to leave reviews by email by actively thanking them after purchase or promptly replying to positive reviews. Monitor and resolve issues that lead to negative reviews. Ask yourself if the customer is telling the half-truth or get a refund.
9. Using geofencing ads
It is worth mentioning the potential that Geofence offers. The Geo-fence is a hyper-local and highly efficient advertising technique that draws virtual boundaries around the company to trigger ads on mobile devices entering and exiting this area.
10. Voice Search Optimization
Voice Search is another topic that has already been discussed in detail and is a valuable opportunity for local SEO. The competition may not be that great as this is still a relatively new technology. Companies can use regular local seo services and optimize content for rankings in local packs to conquer the Google Assistant, especially by adapting to a more natural language for voice search. The advice here is to use structured data wisely. Browse the Keyword Magic Tool to find and target long-tail keywords to make your content sound as natural as possible.
11. Regularly check the status of your website with a site audit
Simple things like broken pages, missing title tags, confusing internal links, etc., can have a big impact on your ranking. Run the site audit tool to see a list of the most common errors and major issues that need to be fixed. Don’t forget to adjust the settings and crawl the mobile version of the website to see the mobile statistics.
Final Takeaway
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a common way to implement online tactics to optimize your website and naturally increase its visibility and rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). While general SEO helps you rank nationally by keyword, local SEO can target a specific audience in your region for leads and conversions. In addition, companies with local SEO can specifically promote their products and services to local customers. Find out more about the benefits of implementing local seo for small businesses.
