It can be challenging for a local or small business to compete with large brands in terms of being found by Google. It can be difficult for smaller firms to compete with more prominent brands when they target keywords you want to rank. There is a solution!
Local Search Engine Optimization can make your business more visible on Google. Local SEO can help you increase sales and bookings if, for example, you are a hotel, restaurant, or hairdresser.
Customers today use the internet to do research, read reviews, and make purchases. An Accenture Report revealed that 56 percent of customers shopped at local stores during the Covid-19 Pandemic or purchased locally-sourced products. According to 79 and 84 percent of customers, this trend will likely continue for the foreseeable future.
Businesses, especially smaller ones, must be online to gain visibility. They also provide the information necessary to encourage people to make a booking or request more information.
This blog will cover why local SEO matters and what it is. We’ll also look at how to develop a local SEO plan and give you tips to increase your online visibility. We’ll also look at examples of businesses that have benefited from local SEO.
Local SEO basics: a guide to the basics
Let’s first examine local SEO and its differences from national and international SEO.
What is local SEO (local search engine optimization)?
SEO aims to make your website more visible and increase its search ranking. Local SEO is using local keywords or terms to get your website in front of those searching for services or products in your locality.
Local SEO vs. Search Engine Optimization
SEO can be used to benefit your business. National SEO, also known as traditional search engine optimization, is a method of optimizing your website to achieve a high ranking for keywords at a national or nationwide level. If you are in the United States, your chosen keywords will be geared toward the United States.
International SEO, on the other side, focuses on language and geo-targeting. The results are traditional SEO results shown to Google users, but the people are in a different country or region than the business or site.
Local SEO, on the other hand, is highly targeted and specific. Local SEO results are available in two different forms:
Maps: This includes Google Maps and Google Business Profiles (GBP), which appear on the SERPs as Local Packs or Map Packs, also called Snack Packs.
Local SEO is a traditional method of SEO that focuses on results.
Local SEO: Why it is Important
A recent Milestone Study revealed that 69 percent of all website traffic is organic and local. This means your business has an excellent opportunity to be noticed if you do the right things. Google also reports that mobile searches for ‘where to purchase’ and ‘near-me’ keywords have increased by more than 200 percent over the past two years.
Local SEO can help your business. Local SEO will help you climb Google’s search ranking and attract customers searching for your services. Google My Business is another directory that allows you to display your business information in local searches, Google Maps, and Google Business profiles.
BrightLocal reports that over 5 percent of views to a Google My Business Page result in a sale. If you create a GBP page correctly, that’s a great ROI.
What kind of business requires local SEO? Any company that is located in the local area and has contact with its customers qualifies. It’s more than just about driving revenue or sales. Local SEO can be used to create brand awareness or to provide valuable information (or solutions).
It can be challenging for a local or small business to compete with large brands in terms of being found by Google. It can be difficult for smaller firms to compete with more prominent brands when they target keywords you want to rank. There is a solution!
Local Search Engine Optimization can make your business more visible on Google. Local SEO can help you increase sales and bookings if, for example, you are a hotel, restaurant, or hairdresser.
Customers today use the internet to do research, read reviews, and make purchases. An Accenture Report revealed that 56 percent of customers shopped at local stores during the Covid-19 Pandemic or purchased locally-sourced products. According to 79 and 84 percent of customers, this trend will likely continue for the long term.
Businesses, especially smaller ones, must be online to gain visibility. They also provide the information necessary to encourage people to make a booking or request more information.
This blog will cover why local SEO matters and what it is. We’ll also look at how to develop a local SEO plan and give you tips to increase your online visibility. We’ll also look at examples of businesses that have benefited from local SEO.
Local SEO basics: a guide to the basics
Let’s first examine local SEO and its differences from national and international SEO.
What is local SEO (local search engine optimization)?
SEO aims to make your website more visible and increase its search ranking. Local SEO uses local keywords or terms to get your website in front of those searching for services or products in your locality.
Local SEO vs. Search Engine Optimization
SEO can be used to benefit your business. National SEO, also known as traditional search engine optimization, is a method of optimizing your website to achieve a high ranking for keywords at a national or nationwide level. If you are in the United States, your chosen keywords will be geared toward the United States.
International SEO, on the other side, focuses on language and geo-targeting. The results are traditional SEO results shown to Google users, but the people are in a different country or region than the location of the website or business.
Local SEO, on the other hand, is highly targeted and specific. Local SEO results are available in two different forms:
Maps: This includes Google Maps and Google Business Profiles (GBP), which appear on the SERPs as Local Packs or Map Packs, also called Snack Packs.
Local SEO is a traditional method of SEO that focuses on results.
Local SEO: Why it is Important
Milestone Study revealed that 69 percent of all website traffic is organic and local. This means your business has an excellent opportunity to be noticed if you do the right things. Google also reports that mobile searches for ‘where to purchase’ and ‘near-me’ keywords have increased by more than 200 percent over the past two years.
Local SEO can help your business. Local SEO will help you climb Google’s search ranking and attract customers searching for your services. Google My Business is another directory that allows you to display your business information in local searches, Google Maps, and Google Business profiles.
DMI Google My Business listing
BrightLocal reports that over 5 percent of views to a Google My Business Page result in a sale. If you create a GBP page correctly, that’s a great ROI.
What kind of business requires local SEO? Any company located in the local area and has contact with its customers qualifies. It’s more than just about generating revenue or sales. Local SEO can be used to create brand awareness or to provide valuable information (or solutions).
Local SEO Audit
You need to know where you stand before improving local SEO. To begin, you should conduct a local SEO audit.
What are the most important things to consider?
Conduct keyword research for local queries. – Conducting research helps you find the most relevant keywords for your audience. You can also see which keywords you are ranking for and build upon them. You can localize your content by using local terms and phrases. You can find a list of free keyword research tools to assist in the discovery.
Audit Your Google Business Profile- Google automatically populates your GBP with content such as location, products, services, and descriptions. You must review this content to ensure it is accurate. Local SEO is closely related to Google Profiles and websites. They can boost results based on reviews and location, while your site can also enhance your GBP and leverage that profile to drive more sales. This will trigger your profile to appear for more local searches and display messages based on website content.
Check out the number of local reviews. Reviews are essential for any business. Take the time to read and respond to all good and bad reviews. It’s worth spending some time to find and obtain reviews for your business that will give it credibility and trust. Read our article “5 Tactics for Getting Great Customer Reviews” for some excellent tips.
Optimize Tags for Local Queries This is important if you have multiple locations or branches. If you have a unit in Vancouver and another in Toronto, you can optimize the pages for both sites with tags, such as titles or headers, depending on their queries. This page will then be linked to your GBP at that location, and when someone searches for your company in Toronto, the Toronto page will come up first.
Make sure the website is optimized for user interaction/ User experience. This is how a visitor interacts with your site. Does the user’s journey from one web page to another seem easy? Are your page load times quick? Does your content flow? Be sure to maintain a consistent tone and language across all your pages, whether they are landing pages or blog posts.
Check backlinks to see if they are relevant to your locality. High-quality backlinks, or external links, can help you rank your site and ensure that the traffic to your site is relevant. Learn how to do it by viewing our lesson on SEO backlinks. Consider also searching for duplicate content on other sites.
Look for local directories. Local directories, as well as Yelp, are excellent places to list your company. You can add your business to any reputable local guides. Local newspapers, both online and offline, often feature a free local directory.
Schema Review (Ensure localized Schema is added) – Schema markup is a type of microdata that creates a rich snippet (or enhanced description) that appears in search results. Learn how to start by clicking here.
Review Internal Linking – Internal links on your website can be used to direct traffic to important pages that are valuable or money-making’. You should have internal links within each blog post that drive traffic to other blogs and parts of your website. If you want to improve your internal linking, download templates or tools for successful blog posts.
