Local SEO (search engine optimization) is a strategy to make your business more visible in local searches on Google. Local SEO is beneficial for any business that serves a specific geographic area or has a physical address. Local SEO is a great way to grow your business.
Who needs local SEO?
Local SEO marketing is, quite simply, required by:
- Any business that has a physical location where customers can visit it (e.g. bars, law offices, and grocery stores).
- Any business that services a specific geographic area (e.g. restaurants that deliver)
- Any business that travels to customers (e.g. locksmiths or plumbers) is known as a service area business.
Local SEO will be beneficial for your business if you can identify your business in any of these categories.
Why is local SEO important?
Local search optimization is crucial, especially for brick and mortar businesses that serve specific cities, towns, regions, states, or even countries. Local SEO is a great way to make sure people find the information they need quickly and easily. This will help them get closer to making a sale.
How can you optimize your website for local searches?
Here are seven ways to optimize your local search results.
- Enter your address in Your website will need certain tags that contain your address.
- Create a Google My Business Listing. Add your Google My Business listing, upload photos, get verified. This is also a way to get customer reviews. You should ensure that the phone number, name, and address listed on your website are the same as the one you have.
- Make sure that your Facebook page includes your address. It can be a page for local businesses
- Add your address to local directories. Your Name, Address, Phone Number, and Contact Details should be added to your Yelp listing. It is also important to remove any outdated address information from the internet as it can lower your ranking.
- Network. Ask local businesses to exchange links on your website.
- Track social mentions. You can check if your company is mentioned on social media. If so, you can engage with them. Search engines can determine if your feedback about your business is positive or negative, and rank you accordingly.
- Write about your location. Your city or region should be mentioned in your website copy. Write about why this area is important to you, and why you are the best in that region.
How to do local SEO marketing?
Google can show you why your business is worthy of being ranked by each search engine ranking factor.
- Undertaking keyword research
- Building citations, and other online mentions
- Listing in directories
- Stealing strong reviews
- Optimizing your website
- Create new content
- Establishing local connections
What are the Important Local SEO Ranking Factors?
According to Google, the three most important factors are:
- Relevance: How well people’s searches match up with a local listing. Google can use your business information to better understand you and match your listing with the most relevant searches.
- Distance: This is the distance each potential business is from any search terms. Google will calculate distance from a search result if the customer does not specify a specific location.
- Prominence is a measure of how well-known a company is based on the information Google has from all over the internet (such as links, articles, and directories). Local search rankings are also affected by Google score and review count. More reviews and better ratings will result in a higher ranking.
Here are some Important Local SEO Areas:
Google My Business (GMB)
Make sure your NAP (Name and Address) is consistent across all online directories that you have enlisted in. Google will likely not list your business in its Local Pack if there are discrepancies.
On-page Signals
List all information that customers need about your business, including addresses, locations, and services. Make sure it is exactly the same as your GMB listing.
NAP Citations
Local citations are when a third-party website, such as a blog or article review site, lists your business as a point-of-reference. It could include your business name, address, or contact information. This does not need a link to your website.
Localized Content
Blogs can be a great way of including local topics in your website landing pages. Localization can be used in page content and title tags, meta descriptions, image tags, and image tags.
Online Reviews
Positive reviews and ratings can help you rank higher in Google for the hospitality industry. This will likely translate into other industries over time. Getting great testimonials and reviews into your business directory listing is crucial to gaining prominence.
Google will consider the number of reviews when ranking local businesses. Although it doesn’t matter to Google whether the reviews are positive or not, the actual content of your website will have an impact on the number of customers, traffic, and revenue.
Backlinks
We can help you develop backlinks to websites such as local newspapers, directories, distributors, and suppliers.
Conclusion:
Local SEO is still vital to your business, and it will only get more important. You can improve your chances of being ranked well for local keywords by following the tips and guidelines in this article. The result? Engaged customers will be more likely to visit your shop and purchase your products.
