Take out your phone, and search “Best Assamese Restaurant.” What do you see? The top results are often locally-owned restaurants in your city that are close to where you are now. That’s the magic of Local Search Engine Optimization. Searches with local intent are rising – 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information. (Source: Think with Google). And search result information sends 70% of consumers to a physical store. (Source: Joel House Search Media)
In fact, 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. So, if your business dominates the local market, and you haven’t optimized for local SEO. In that case, you are missing out on many potential customers searching online for local products and services. About 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device either call or visit the business within 24 hours. (Source: Nectafy)
So, if you too have a local business or want to learn what exactly is Local SEO. Is it even necessary? If so, what one can do to improve local rankings. Keep reading the article, and by the end of it, all your doubts would get resolved.
Let’s get started!
What is Local SEO?
As the name suggests, Local SEO is the practice of improving search engine visibility for a business that serves its communities face-to-face. This can be a business with physical locations, like a fashion outlet, grocery store, advertising agency, or service-based business that operates throughout a specific geographic area. Local SEO offers more information to people about your business before they visit. And contribute to driving people’s decisions in favor of your business.
“30% of all mobile searches are related to location. 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day.”
Why is Local SEO important?
Local SEO is crucial as it boosts the online visibility of your business and brings in more foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar location. Moreover, it enhances credibility and also helps in building trust. Below is an infographic that would explain the massive importance of Local Search Engine Optimization.
Now, we know that local searches make up a considerable chunk of the SEO world. And if you can boost your local rankings and show up whenever your potential customers look for your business, there is a massive chance they will visit your business in a few minutes.
How do we improve Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Now let’s move on to the central part – how you can improve your local search ranking. There are plenty of aspects to this, but we have listed down some of the most critical ones:
Create your Google My Business (GMB) profile and optimize it –
The first step is to set up your Google My Business Listing. First, visit the Google My Business website and create your listing. Then fill in every relevant field and make sure that every piece of information is accurate.
Once your listing goes live, you’ll require to verify it, usually through a phone call or postcard. Furthermore, optimize your GMB profile by sharing business updates and fresh content regularly.
Optimize your website for mobile screens –
As smartphones have become a part of our everyday lives, we resort to mobiles for local information and business. According to a study conducted by Uberall, 82% of respondents had used their mobile devices to conduct a “near me” search.
So it would be best if you catered to these searches by creating a mobile-friendly website. So that mobile visitors can easily find the information they need.
Also, make sure that you add Click-to-Call buttons on your website and your Google My Business listing.
Ask your customers for a review on Google –
Whenever we purchase from online sites, we first see the star ratings it has got. Do you do that? Similarly, local businesses listed in the map snippet of a local search usually have star ratings next to their name. When customers search for the best local businesses or best local service, Google gives them the best results. To determine a business’s trustworthiness, Google considers the same factors as the customer does. Reviews from customers, particularly the good ones, could work wonders to boost the visibility of your local business in local search in addition to enhancing your reputation.
Ensure your business NAP/citations are consistent –
After claiming your Google My Business, Yelp, Think Bing Maps, and other listings, claim your business with the primary data providers like Infogroup, Acxiom, and Factual. Also, make sure your name, address, and phone number are correct.
According to Moz, Google considers citation signals and NAP (name, address, phone number) consistency in local search results.
Furthermore, make sure your business NAP is consistent across all platforms and websites.
Focus on local link building and community engagement –
Just like regular SEO, local SEO also requires link building to boost your link profile. But the linking domains should be more relevant to your target region. Also, focus on both local link building and community engagement. Make connections with other local businesses in your location and ask them to link directly to your website.
Ensure your website and content is optimized for search –
Make sure you include relevant keywords into the meta tags and on each page where it seems natural. Apart from this, you should create content with a local focus. Also, add schema markup to your website.
Conclusion
Climbing the SERPs can be quite a task for businesses, especially if you are a small business with resource constraints. However, if your target audience is in the location of your operation, you must undoubtedly consider Local SEO for your business to succeed. Your competitors may take care of the people who might have been your potential clients. People decide to purchase or reject your products/services, depending on what online reviews and search engines say about your business. Hence, it would greatly help if you worked on boosting your local rankings to get found online.
Need any help with digital marketing services? Contact our team at BrandImprint