Local SEO is one of the most effective strategies for small businesses. Four out of five individuals use search to find local information, according to Google’s infographic. You could lose 80% of your prospective consumers if your firm is not local search optimised. In short, local SEO is an important factor of any digital marketing plan if you want to remain relevant in today’s industry.
Accordingly, if your company has an online presence, customers are probably looking for it right now on their phone or desktop computer and will decide whether to buy from you based on the search results they see.
What is Local Search?
Standard or generic informative searches are different from local searches. Here is an example to help you understand the differences between standard and generic search: When someone types “SEO service agency” into any search engine, they are performing a normal search. However, when they type “SEO service agency near me” or “SEO service agency in [location]”, they are doing a local search.
Google reports that 46% of queries have a local focus. These kinds of local search queries are typically made by people who want to buy a good or service, and search engines will list nearby businesses on the results page.
For companies who operate physical shops or provide goods or services to a particular region, local SEO is a necessity, in our opinion. According to a Google study, 18% of local smartphone searches made by customers resulted in a purchase within a day for 50% of consumers, who then visited a store.
Consider it like this: if your target customers are aware of your company, they may be searching for additional local citations, such as your company’s address, phone number, or hours of operation. They may also be looking for customer reviews and traffic info on Google Maps. If the searcher is not familiar with your company, they will likely be seeking for services or goods that are similar to yours. In this situation, without a strong local search marketing plan, they won’t learn about your company, but they will definitely be aware of your competitors.
Improve Your Local SEO
We advise correctly optimising your website if you want to have a chance of moving up the search engine results pages (SERP). In addition to traditional on-page and off-page SEO, you should take the time to develop a plan that will contain the following activities:
Create Your NAP Right
Make sure that online business directories and citation sites are present on your website. This gives information about your business to your target market. Create a contact page with a list of NAP citations:
N – Name
A – Address
P – Phone
On-page SEO
On-page Title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content optimization are all included in SEO. When it comes to content, we act by carefully considering how Google would interpret our page. Search engines must rapidly understand the topic of your website. Every new page you add to your website, whether it’s a blog post or a new webpage, is indexed. We truly believe that a web page with a targeted geographic search phase offers a chance to appear higher in the search engine results page more quickly.
Use high-volume keywords while writing material for the URL, meta title, meta description, content, and body. We advise thinking about including client success stories and case studies as a simpler starting point for geo-targeted content.
Internal Linking Structure
Your internal linking structure can be adjusted and improved to enhance your SEO rankings. This is crucial since it will facilitate simpler website navigation, better-defined information architecture and hierarchies, and increased authority and ranking power for more of your sites. We advise reading this post by Neil Patel if you are unfamiliar with internal linking and don’t know where to begin.
Optimize for Google Maps
According to a Moz analysis, having a complete Google My Business page is the most important ranking factor for appearing in the Snack Pack. The secret is consistency! This implies that the data in your profile must coincide with that on your website and NAP citations. Google will learn that your website is legitimate and trustworthy if the information about your company matches across all platforms and third-party websites.
We created a thorough tutorial on how to create a Google My Business profile. You can find all the processes as well as some advice for creating a successful profile.
Mobile-Friendly Website
According to statistics, 90% of mobile users do local searches, and 30% of mobile searches are location-related. Mobile devices and local searches go hand in hand. It will be simpler for your target clients to navigate and find the necessary information if your website is mobile-friendly. People will utilize mobile devices to read up reviews, get contact details, and find directions to your actual site.
Inbound Links
Because they let Google know that you are a reputable business, inbound links are a potent technique to improve your local SEO. Additionally, inbound links may improve your domain authority. There are a few ways to obtain high-quality inbound links, including collaborations, sponsorships, and guest blog posts. Starting internally with your network, business districts, licencing bureaus, resellers, vendors, manufacturers, and other affiliates is, in our opinion, the wisest course of action. Also think about sponsoring a local event, webinar, meet-up, promote something you love and appreciate locally, create contacts with bloggers and influencers. Ask your partners whether they would be willing to list you in their partner directory by getting in touch with them. Being a guest blogger is an additional strategy to obtain inbound links.
