What is Local SEO and How it Can Help Local Businesses

No matter what kind of business you run, it’s crucial for your potential customers to be able to find you on the internet. For this, you need so-called general SEO, that is, the work of optimising your website for global or national searches. In other words, if you want to target a particular audience regardless of their geographical location, then general SEO is a must as it will help you improve your Google rankings.

Now, imagine you find yourself in an unfamiliar city where you don’t know anybody and your car breaks down.

It’s an unpleasant situation, but with the help of Google, you can easily find a trustworthy garage that will repair your car. All you have to do is type something along the lines of “car repairs near me,” and you’ll get contact information and customer reviews based on which you’ll be able to pick the best and most affordable garage in the area.

As if you got a recommendation from a friend, courtesy of local maps SEO – this is why local SEO is a great business channel.

Pretty useful, right?

And this means you can use this approach in order to make your brick-and-mortar business discoverable so that local customers and those who happen to be in your area can easily find it.

In a nutshell, local SEO refers to the branch of SEO marketing focused on helping businesses rank higher in Google in their local area and establish a strong local online presence, which is why local SEO is important. This means that your business website will show up in relevant local search results only if it’s properly optimized. Many companies might benefit from hiring professionals who offer specialized local SEO services to effectively implement strategies for driving traffic and generating leads.

88% of consumers who perform a local search on their smartphone, visit, or contact a store within just a day. It’s obvious that implementing a local SEO strategy will drive more foot traffic to your business. Even though not a lot of potential customers physically visit your store or shop at the moment, due to the current situation, it’s still important to stay on their radar and target those situated in your geographical area.

Apart from making it easier for people looking for the products or services you offer to find your business when doing an online search, local SEO will also boost your credibility and trust.

Some of the businesses that can greatly benefit from this strategic process include law firms, plumbers, restaurants, accountancy firms, and medical practitioners, to name just a few.

For example, it’s very unlikely that people will be ready to travel a couple of hours for a medical checkup – they need someone with a nearby practice whom they can see on a regular basis.

Similarly, plumbing frequently involves emergency repairs, so it’s only logical that people will look for a plumber who can come quickly.

Understanding Local SEO

Local SEO is a crucial aspect of online marketing for businesses that operate in specific geographic areas. Unlike traditional SEO, which aims to improve a website’s visibility on a national or global scale, local SEO focuses on optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for local searches. This means that when potential customers search for products or services in their vicinity, your business appears prominently in the search results.

For instance, if you run a bakery in downtown Chicago, local SEO ensures that your business shows up when someone nearby searches for “best bakery near me” or “Chicago bakery.” By targeting local customers, you can drive more foot traffic to your physical location and increase your chances of converting online searches into actual sales. Local SEO involves various strategies, including optimizing your Google Business Profile, building local citations, and using location-specific keywords to attract local customers.

Benefits of Local SEO

Local SEO offers a range of benefits that can significantly impact a business’s visibility, reputation, and bottom line. Here are some of the key advantages:

1. Increased Visibility: By optimizing for local search results, your business becomes more visible to potential customers in your area. This increased visibility can lead to higher website traffic and more in-store visits.

2. Improved Reputation: Local SEO helps build your online reputation through positive reviews and ratings. When customers see that others have had a good experience with your business, they are more likely to trust and choose your services.

3. Higher Conversion Rates: Local searches often have high intent, meaning that people searching for local businesses are ready to make a purchase or book a service. This leads to higher conversion rates compared to broader, non-local searches.

4. Cost-Effective Marketing: Local SEO is a cost-effective way to market your business. It targets customers who are already looking for your products or services, reducing the need for expensive advertising campaigns.

5. Competitive Advantage: By implementing local SEO strategies, you can gain a competitive edge over businesses that are not optimizing for local search. This can help you capture a larger share of the local market.

How Does Local SEO Work?

After analyzing huge amounts of data referring to users’ search behaviour, Google concluded that people looking for particular types of businesses actually need results referring to nearby areas. That’s the reason why a proximity factor plays an important part in the search engine giant’s local search algorithm.

In layman’s terms, this means that Google takes the location of a person performing a search for a local keyword, even when the search doesn’t contain a city name or the “near me” phrase.

Let’s say that you’re at work and want to order a burger for lunch. By Googling “burger delivery,” you’ll get a list of restaurants in the vicinity of your office. On the other hand, if you’re at home and perform the same search, your results will be entirely different because the idea is to help you get your burger as soon as possible.

Either way, you’ll notice that your results page is structured so that it displays a box with the top 3 local results most relevant to your search. The box also features a map of the area with dropped pins, showing the exact location of these 3 businesses. This feature, known as the Google 3-pack, is considered the holy grail of local SEO, as it can put your business right in front of your customers’ eyes. Utilizing local SEO tools, such as Google Search Console, can further enhance your local search rankings by monitoring and improving your search visibility.

Unlike regular organic results, a local pack shows additional information such as opening times, review ratings, contact information, photos, and distance from you.

Although local SEO isn’t a new concept, its widespread use and popularity started growing together with mobile search. A couple of years ago, when people predominantly used their desktop computers to search the internet, local SEO couldn’t reach its full potential. However, now that mobile searches make up more than 50% of global web traffic, optimizing your website properly is crucial to the success of your business.

Now that we’ve established what local SEO is, how it works, and what its importance is, let’s discuss how to do it right and find your way into the Google local 3-pack.

Local SEO Tools and Keyword Research

As keywords are one of the building blocks of successful SEO, the first thing you should do is identify what key search terms you want to rank for.

Besides figuring out the best and most relevant keywords for targeting your local communities, this research will also help you to:

• Understand your potential customers’ search behaviours better,

• and find related, complementary markets to tap and expand into.

• Uncover new ways of attracting potential customers.

• Use Google, just like your customers do. One of the best ways to build your list of core keywords is by searching for the terms that relate to your business. Pay attention to what your competitors use in their title tags, as that’s a great source of relevant keyword ideas.

• Add modifiers to your core keywords. In order to make your keywords more descriptive and rich, expand them with relevant modifiers. Specific, exact-match keywords are tremendously competitive, meaning that big companies already rank for them. By opting for long-tail keywords, you will not only diversify your keyword strategy but also make the most of less competitive organic search opportunities. For example, if your core keyword is “trainers,” you can expand it with modifiers like “men’s running” or “women’s hiking.”

• Use keyword research tools such as Ahrefs, Moz, or SemRush, as they will also show you a number of other important parameters such as keyword difficulty and search volume. Additionally, maintaining consistent NAP information across various platforms, including business directories, can enhance local SEO.

• Don’t neglect question keywords. Make sure to include what, how, where, why, and when in your keyword phrases.

• Use long-tail keywords so that you can create complete questions your audience search for

• Include filler words, too. Although seemingly irrelevant, words such as the, of, on, to, and for will make the query more conversational and spontaneous, which crucial for voice searches

• Provide your full and correct business name. Utilizing local business directories for building relevant citations can significantly enhance local SEO rankings.

• Enter your physical business address, but in case you don’t engage in face-to-face interactions with your customers, mention that you only deliver your products or services online.

• Pin your exact location on the map

• Chose your business category

• Provide your phone number and a URL of your website

• Verify your listing.

Come up with a list of search phrases that best describe your products or services and find out which one of those are being searched for by your target audience. This isn’t a straightforward process because even though you might run a restaurant serving healthy meals, your potential customers might search for “vegetarian restaurants,” “raw food restaurants,” or even “plant-based restaurants.” It’s obvious that you have to take search trends into consideration if you don’t want to miss the mark and fail to attract your audience’s attention.

As this might be easier said than done, here are a couple of tips explaining how to get started with your keyword research and where to draw inspiration from:

Optimize for Voice

Mobile devices aren’t the only factor that shapes the way people search the internet. Recently, virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa have become widely available. Being voice-activated, these devices have introduced a new avenue for executing local searches.

In other words, Google started favouring conversational keywords and searches, meaning that you have to optimize your local search for voice.

Since many people find it easier to say “Google, find a plumber near me” than to type the entire sentence, it’s obvious that you won’t use the same tactic for voice and text-based searches. Using a conversational tone is the key.

Instead of fragmented phrases and strings of keywords and modifiers, you’ll need to think in terms of entire sentences. “Hey, Alexa, what’s the best pizza place near me?” would be an example of how people use voice search.

Based on this query, we can conclude that you should do the following in order to properly optimize your content for voice search:

Claim Your Google Business Profile for Local Businesses

Setting up your Google My Business page is essential for the success of your entire local SEO strategy.

We’ve already mentioned that the top 3 results box features a lot of information about your business, and if you’re wondering how Google generates it, the answer is from your GMB page. As a matter of fact, this step is one of the most important factors the search engine takes into consideration when ranking businesses in local organic search as well as 3-pack.

Once you set up your GMB page, you’ll have an opportunity to start building a strong online presence on Google Maps and other Google services.

Take the following steps to do this right:

Once you have successfully verified your GMB, provide additional information such as photos of your business, business hours, relevant additional business categories, and additional phone numbers and other channels of communication.

Stats say that 60% of mobile users have contacted a business directly from search results, so adding a direct click-to-call button to your website and GMB listing can bring you a lot of new customers. Once you have claimed your GMB listing, you can start leveraging Google Posts for Local SEO.

On-Site SEO

On-site SEO is the practice of optimizing webpages to help them rank higher on organic search results. It’s indispensable for local search engine marketing. Here are some tips for on-site SEO:

1. Optimize Meta Tags: Ensure that your title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags include local keywords. For example, instead of just “plumbing services,” use “plumbing services in [Your City].”

2. Use Local Keywords: Incorporate local keywords naturally throughout your content. This includes your homepage, service pages, and blog posts. Tools like Google Keyword Planner can help you find local keywords relevant to your business.

3. Create Location-Specific Pages: If your business operates in multiple locations, create separate pages for each location. This helps search engines understand your geographic relevance and improves your chances of ranking in local searches.

4. Ensure Mobile-Friendliness: With the rise of mobile searches, it’s crucial that your website is mobile-friendly. A responsive design ensures that your site looks and functions well on all devices, improving user experience and search rankings.

5. Add Schema Markup: Implement local business schema markup to provide search engines with detailed information about your business, such as your address, phone number, and business hours. This can enhance your visibility in local search results.

Build NAP Citations and Ensure Their Consistency

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number, and its consistency throughout the web is one of the most important ranking factors.

What does this mean in practice?

All your business information across major citation websites such as Google, Bing Maps, Yelp, Facebook, and a number of online directories and publications should be accurate and consistent. There’s no room for typos, misspellings, and discrepancies in phone numbers, addresses, and business hours. By getting this right, you’ll ensure that your business comes off as trustworthy and help your customers find everything they need to know about it.

Citations are mentions of your business on different websites and online platforms, and the same goes for them. Including directories of local service providers can also enhance your visibility in local searches.

A NAP audit will tell you whether there’s information that has to be corrected. However, doing this manually is an overwhelming task, which is why you should automate it using a tool that will check your business information on the internet and generate a report.

Finally, every time there’s a change in your business information, it’s important to update it in a timely manner. See our local citation submission packages.

Leverage Local Link Building

Your ranking in local searches can greatly benefit from local link building.

In order to boost your local SEO, you should obtain links to your website in high-profile, authority websites and web portals in your target area. We’re talking about some respectable local online magazines, trade associations, Chamber of Commerce, and similar sources.

Another way to get your website featured in local online media outlets is through hosting webinars, forging partnerships, offering scholarships, and guest posting. All these tactics will have your business name pop up in local searches and help you build a good reputation in your local community.

Reach out to authority websites in your area of interest, and offer them valuable content that their readership will find useful. That way, you’ll avoid an overtly promotional approach and make your efforts more organic.

Basically, this tactic is similar to general SEO link building, the only difference being the focus on focusing on a target location. Effective search engine optimization (SEO) strategies can significantly enhance your company’s online presence and competitive edge.

These tips can come in handy if you want to make the most of your local SEO and improve your rankings in local search results. It’s worth mentioning that your local SEO efforts can span across multiple locations, meaning that you can target more than one area.

Managing Your Online Reputation

Your online reputation is incredibly important. Positive reviews and ratings enhance your visibility in search results and create trust with potential customers. Here are some tips for managing your online reputation:

1. Encourage Customer Reviews: Ask satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook. Make it easy for them by providing direct links to your review pages.

2. Respond to Reviews: Engage with your customers by responding to their reviews, both positive and negative. Thank them for their feedback and address any concerns they may have. This shows that you value their opinions and are committed to providing excellent service.

3. Monitor Your Online Presence: Regularly check review sites and social media platforms for mentions of your business. Use tools like Google Alerts to stay informed about new reviews and comments.

4. Showcase Positive Reviews: Highlight positive reviews on your website and social media profiles. This not only boosts your credibility but also encourages other customers to leave their feedback.

5. Address Negative Reviews: Handle negative reviews professionally and constructively. Apologize for any issues and offer solutions to resolve the problem. This can turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal one and demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.

Measuring and Tracking Local SEO Results

The site’s local keyword rankings will regularly change for any number of reasons. When rankings decline, traffic to the site can decrease, potentially hurting the business. Here are some tips for measuring and tracking local SEO results:

1. Use Analytics Tools: Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console provide valuable insights into your website’s performance. Track metrics such as organic traffic, bounce rate, and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of your local SEO efforts.

2. Monitor Local Keyword Rankings: Regularly check your rankings for local keywords. Tools like Ahrefs, Moz, and SEMrush can help you track your keyword performance and identify any fluctuations.

3. Track Online Reviews and Ratings: Keep an eye on your online reviews and ratings across various platforms. Positive reviews can boost your local SEO, while negative reviews can harm your reputation and rankings.

4. Analyze Traffic Sources: Identify where your traffic is coming from, whether it’s organic search, direct visits, or referrals from other websites. This helps you understand which channels are driving the most local traffic to your site.

5. Set Up Goals and Conversions: Define specific goals in Google Analytics, such as form submissions, phone calls, or online purchases. Track these conversions to measure the success of your local SEO strategy.

By following these tips, you can effectively measure and track your local SEO results, ensuring that your efforts are driving the desired outcomes for your business.