Guide To Local SEO: What IS it?
Local SEO is the practice of enhancing your website’s visibility to attract traffic from nearby users, improving its local search rankings on regionally relevant search engine results pages (SERPs). Utilizing strategies such as optimizing for local search and local content, businesses can signal to search engines their relevance to geographically focused queries, like “near me” or specific areas. For local businesses, this means increasing their exposure to local searchers and potential customers. Effective local SEO also involves managing local business listings and conducting a local SEO audit to ensure all elements are optimized.
Why Local SEO Is Important For A Local Business
Some of the most popular search engine queries are for local businesses. In actuality, 97% of all search engine users look for local companies online. You may reach the growing number of users that conduct daily local searches by using local SEO.
Local SEO is one of the most economical ways to boost sales because these local search results are highly relevant to their target and approximately 80% of mobile searches with local intent (i.e., searches that prioritize location) result in conversions.
Nevertheless, it is simpler to raise your local SEO results than it is for broad terms like “haircuts” or “doctor.” You limit competition to other local businesses instead of big, national brands by focusing on a certain geographic area. Due to the fact that local SEO traffic originates from your own area, your efforts will help you connect with clients you can genuinely offer.
To improve your local visibility, you should start by conducting a comprehensive local SEO audit. This audit will help identify areas where your local search optimization can be improved. Local business directories play a crucial role in boosting your online presence, so ensure your business is listed on popular platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and others. Optimizing your listings with accurate and up-to-date information will enhance your visibility in local search engine results.
1. Improving Keyword Research
The first step in improving local SEO is conducting keyword research. When you are aware of the search phrases used by your neighbourhood clients, you can tailor your online material to them.
Make a list of common search terms for your brand using free keyword research tools, such as “day spa,” “deep tissue massage,” or “facial” for a spa company. Using keyword research tools like WordTracker and Ubersuggest, which let you filter question keywords, you may also find questions that searchers frequently ask (such “what spa treatments are worth it?”). As it comes more naturally for individuals to ask whole inquiries aloud rather than to speak a phrase, this can help you rank on local voice-enabled searches. (For instance, asking Alexa to find the greatest spa treatments feels forced.)
Once you’ve created a list of important words and phrases, modify your core terms with a local keyword. “Plumber” changes into, for instance, “plumber near me,” “plumber Dallas,” and “plumber 75001.”
Include localised keywords whenever appropriate—ideally, on every page of your website, but especially your home page—to boost your local SEO. Additionally, if your company provides services to New York City, you can designate blog posts and landing pages to particular neighbourhoods or service regions, such as the Upper East Side and Williamsburg.
The information that tells SERPs what your site is for can be added to the backend of your website builder in addition to on-page SEO. To create rankings, search engines make use of a variety of metadata, including:
- Title tags are name tags that display on search engine result pages, or SERPs, for each page of your website. Keep title tags under 60 characters and location-specific.
- These statements are displayed in SERPs beneath your title tag. Include a brief business description, your local area, and a call to action to persuade people to visit your website in order to give users a quick overview of what your page is all about in 50–300 characters.
- When an image on your website won’t load, screen readers can describe it to readers in general or to persons with disabilities by using the alt text attribute. When feasible, include relevant, local SEO keywords in your alt text.
2. Claim your business listings
Your website’s role in local SEO is not complete. The next step is to build a larger web presence to improve local visibility.
Local citations, sometimes referred to as NAP or mentions of your business name, address, and phone number, are used by search engines to validate your company information. Search engine algorithms can’t confidently recommend your business to local searchers without local citations.
Claiming listings on well-known business directories like Yelp is one strategy to increase local citations. By taking control of your Yelp Business Page, you may edit your company’s NAP information, website, business description, operating hours, business categories, and more. You have the chance to appear in local image searches by adding photographs.
The profiles on Bing Places, Foursquare, and Google My Business are additional local listings that need to be claimed and updated. By giving search engines more citations that validate your location, creating social media pages with consistent, up-to-date NAP information can also assist you in enhancing your local SEO. NAP citations are a visual SERP feature that highlights the top businesses in searches and add 11% to your ranks on local packs.
