Local SEO can help you improve your online visibility, drive more traffic to your website, and ultimately increase revenue. But, what exactly is local SEO, and how does it work? In this post, we will explore the ins and outs of local SEO, including tips, tricks, and tools to help you optimize your website and rank higher in local search results. So, if you’re looking to boost your local presence and attract more customers to your business, keep reading.
Local SEO is a branch of search engine optimization that focuses on optimizing a website to be found in local search results. It involves strategies and techniques aimed at increasing the online visibility of brick-and-mortar businesses with physical locations, helping them to attract more local traffic, leads, and brand awareness.
Local SEO is an essential part of any business’s marketing strategy. It allows businesses to be found by potential clients who are searching for products or services in their neighborhood, boosts visibility, and organic search results in the local area. Local SEO helps to create a sense of community and loyalty among customers, as they feel more connected to businesses that are located near them.
The importance of local SEO is further emphasized by statistics showing that nearly 80% of consumers use the internet to find local businesses. In addition, 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those local searches result in a purchase. Here are more reasons why Local SEO is important for businesses:
Now that we’ve established what local SEO is and why you should pay more attention to it, let’s take a look at what you can do to rise to the top of search engine results pages.
With personal assistants like Alexa, Google, Siri, and Cortana accounting for about 10% of global search volume, this tip is no surprise. Simply add more long-tail keywords to adapt this new spoken aspect of SEO.
We shouldn’t have to say this, but people keep avoiding it. As a retailer, you can expect to see as much as 70% or more of your traffic coming from mobile devices. Invest in mobile and your individual locations will benefit.
Look for opportunities to cooperate with other local stores, service groups, clubs, sports teams, schools, and non-competitive establishments through co-promotion, sponsorships, etc. Link to their website either through page content or blogs and have them link back to you in the same way.
To grab people on the go, optimize your store locator. You’ll see higher search rankings on relevant searches and increased local visibility for each individual location.
List town names and local areas, and add location extensions and local landing pages with hyperlocal content to boost your local ad conversions.
People no longer have the time or patience to search through generic content. Consumers now demand relevant, local recommendations from people they can trust. Integrate local user-generated content on your local landing pages to solve this problem.
Google is smart enough to connect listings together even if they are slightly different. Just make sure the address and phone number are correct so people can reach you.
Chances are, Google hasn’t (and won’t) index most of your hundreds of listings because they are on unmanaged sites with the same, repeated content. Don’t spend the time or money worrying about this.
Although citations are important, if that’s the only backlinking strategy you’re using, you’re most likely not going to rank well in competitive markets.
Google isn’t really a citation. Using the example of academic papers, Google is like the paper itself and all of your listings out on the web are the resources supporting your paper, aka your citations.
As we discussed above, local SEO is the process of optimizing your website for local search results. But what does Google use to determine which website should get the priority? Who will get on top of the local organic results or the local map pack? That’s where the Google ranking factors come in.
There are numerous ranking factors Google takes into consideration: NAP citations, reviews, google my business profile, and others that we have discussed above. However, all of them can be separated into 3 distinct categories that your business should absolutely adhere to: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence.
By considering investing in a local SEO strategy for your business, you are already one step ahead in planning a successful marketing campaign. Today, many local businesses are turning their attention to local SEO because they want to tap into a new customer base and provide services to those who are just a few miles down the road. Whether you are a plumber in New York or a roofer in San Francisco, local SEO will allow you to connect with local customers and improve your brand awareness in your local community. Contact us if you want your small business to benefit from the help of a professional local SEO agency.
Local SEO means 'optimizing' your online marketing to attract customers from a relevant local searches (e.g. nearby searches) through different search engines, such as Google, Bing, Safari, etc. But you also should pay attention to sites like Yelp, LinkedIn, Angi, different social media and others, because a lot of local searches happens there too.
The main difference is scale: regular SEO focuses on covering of national or global scale, while local SEO helps you to boost visibility in your area. It is also easier to stand out locally due to lower competition.
A few easy steps can help you to boost performance of your business locally: adapt to the voice search, invest in mobile version of your site, establish link building with other businesses in the area, optimize your store locator, use personalized ads and user generated content to their maximum. Or you can always hire a professional. Here at Comrade Digital Marketing, we are always to happy to help you!
Do you want a marketing plan that fits your individual needs? Let us craft a strategy that drives results to your company based on your objectives.
Please fill out the form to the right, and we will contact you within one business day for a free initial consultation.
Unlock a full potential of your website. See which gaps in your marketing don’t allow your organization to scale. Get a complimentary, no obligation marketing performance review.