What is Local SEO?
Local SEO stands for, “ Local Search Engine Optimization.” It is a set of practices used to optimize a business profile on the web and attract valuable local customers via search engine results. It is usually optimized by physical stores that seek to expand their marketing.
Picture this: You decided to start an online business, you’ve created social media accounts, taken enticing pictures and videos, and scheduled the posting dates. D-day has finally come and excitement filled you up, you finally posted your first photo, and every hour or so you check the interactions but it still is 0.
What is the difference between SEO and local SEO?
For starters, Local SEO is a branch rooted in SEO. While traditional SEO target’s the goal of improving an individual’s site visibility on a national or global scale. On the other hand, Local SEO encourages a user to capture a local area and connects with searchers within the area, though they inherit the same strategies Local SEO has specialized measurements that result in a specific target within an area.
Local SEO Importance?
Local SEO is integral, especially for businesses serving specific towns, cities, regions, and even states. When done right, it allows people receive information about the business quickly and easily. This should be noted given that 81% of consumers now turn to GOOGLE to evaluate local businesses.
How does it work?
Local SEO is similar to the ordinary SEO but with different ranking factors to rank the local search results, these include:
- The location that the person is searching from
- NAP citations
- Presence of Google My Business listing
- Keywords used in Google My Business profile
- The sentiment of online reviews
- Keywords used in online reviews
- Number of “check-ins” at that location
- Shares on social media
- Google Maps star rating for that business
These give a glimpse of how to create your keywords and understand it deeper.
Benefits of Local SEO?
SEO can be overwhelming when one explains it, but for the advantage of one’s company, it should be applied. If someone’s still not convinced why it’s a must be inaugurated on one’s website, it includes
Enhanced trust levels
Everyone relies on reviews when going to the web, so it is crucial to ensure the countless activities going on one’s website. Reputation management builds one’s business by acquiring more sales.
Join the local shop trend
Ever since the pandemic began, consumers are gravitating to shop locally and are ditching the mall, around 56% of consumers are now patronizing neighborhood stores or buying locally sourced products. Therefore, it provides a boost in popularity since consumers discover new establishments through the web.
Less advertising cost
The time has finally come to cross out advertising expenses off the list, and become paperless, avoiding all those banners, and pamphlets. The utilization of social media has become the most practical way of marketing businesses. It has been reported that over 80% of smartphones users favor the “near me” choice when finding a type of establishment
Long lasting rankings
Other than being paperless and at no cost for advertising expenses, the effort exerted to gain ranking and boost web traffic remains in the long run. The concept of Local SEO allows sellers to shift from traditional marketing strategies since it displays better results.
How to improve Local SEO?
Now that the basics of Local SEO have been tackled it is essential to end this article with steps to master SEO. These are the following ways to improve Local SEO:
Follow a Comprehensive Local Keywords Research Strategy
SEO and keywords are correlated it is one of the main considerations, with the wide When incorporating this to your posts, add the name of the city/region where your business operates to your page title tag, H1 tag, landing page URL, landing page content, and landing page image ALT attribute.
Get visible citations
Citations are a mention of one’s local business on another website it is made as an abbreviation NAP which means Name, Address, and Phone number. The very first destination that should be placed should be Google My Business. For starters, try reaching out to influencers and community members for more coverage, or utilize HARO a platform that allows journalists and specialists to exchange information. This can provide free reviews that can boost one’s site exposure.
Collect customer reviews
Reviews can also be a good pillar to improving Local SEO ranking since they can boost visibility. More so, be knowledgeable on the websites that Google expects businesses to have reviews on, and be sure to gather the positive ones from platforms such as Facebook, Yelp, etc, which are relevant to the business.
Understand your target market
Constantly, sentiments of a business’s target market change, and what they wanted during the first two months may differ from the succeeding months, so it is important to frequently monitor the analytics, from social media platforms. Arguably, the primary source for marketing is social listening and it should be noted that collecting information is a display of prioritization creating a relationship between the seller and consumer. Additionally, this strategy can be experimental to see what the target audience wants from technicalities such as the keywords to services that they wish to see in one’s business.
Overall, the importance of Local SEO provides a head start to businesses with physical stores, with just a little effort to exert learning local SEO can immediately gain sales as it leads an individual’s industry to the top searches and quickly beats competitors. With just a little effort, learning local search engine optimization can lead to a greater impact on sales and guarantees the most valuable asset your company can make.