What Is Local SEO and Why Is It Important?
As a business owner, you know it’s important to have a strong online presence. This is especially true if you are a local business.
Google spends countless hours and untold dollars analysing user behaviour in an effort to improve the user experience every time they make use of the search engine.
As a result, the search engine giant now knows that 43 percent of Internet searches are for products and services within the consumer’s geographical area, and 74 percent of those searches are performed using a mobile device.
You need to take advantage of this and ensure potential customers see your business immediately, when looking for a product or service you offer.
In order to reach your target audience in your local area, you need to be visible on Google Maps and other online platforms.
That’s where local SEO comes in.
What Is Local SEO?
As opposed to normal organic SEO, local SEO is simply search engine optimisation designed to attract consumers in a specific geographical area.
This includes claiming your business on Google My Business, adding your business to Google Maps, and optimizing your website and online listings with local keywords and descriptions.
Additionally, businesses can improve their local SEO by cultivating positive reviews from customers on websites like Facebook and Google Maps.
Why Is Local SEO Important?
Local SEO is important because it helps businesses reach customers in their local area. When people search for a business or service in their area, they want to see websites that are relevant to them, and Local SEO can help make sure your website comes up near the top of the search results.
Google has updated its search engine algorithm numerous times over the past few years, with the goal being to provide more relevant results and emphasize quality websites and original content.
The search engine is also constantly improving the way in which it delivers local search results. In order to increase your exposure, you’ll need to take every step you can to ensure your business ends up in the first page of the search results when someone conducts a local search for the relevant business category.
What Local SEO tactics can be used to get higher rankings on Google?
Among the major ranking factors in local SEO are citations, which refer to any listing of your business’s name, address and contact details anywhere on the Web. When it comes to citations, consistency needs to be the top priority at all times.
You need to claim your business listings on various popular sites, such as Google My Business, Foursquare, and Yell, and ensure that the information on all pages is exactly the same. Some may assume that slight changes to an address won’t make a significant difference, yet they actually do.
Don’t hesitate to create multiple listings for each physical branch of your business, while ensuring consistency across the board.
As with normal SEO, you’ll also need to make some changes to the content currently on your website. You should include relevant keywords in page titles, along with your brand name and location, while ensuring that all titles and other content remain natural and is easy to read.
You also need to actively pursue reviews, since these are a major ranking factor when the search engines crawl and rank a local site.
Finally, try to obtain quality inbound links from reputable and relevant sites for great results.
Never discount the importance of local SEO. Google continuously works to improve the experience of its users. Local SEO services play an increasingly important role in online marketing for traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses, and in order to remain competitive, your company must embrace it.
This is what happens when you ignore Local SEO!
