Local SEO is all about optimizing a website in order to increase traffic, leads, and brand awareness from local search. Local search is powerful for small businesses: Four in five consumers use search to find local information, meaning that if your business isn't optimized for local search, you could be missing out on 80% of your business. potential customers. In short, local SEO is essential if you want your business to stay relevant. Common tasks associated with local SEO include researching local keywords, optimizing a company's Google My Business profile, and creating “NAP” (name, address and phone number) citations.
Why is Local SEO Important?
46% of all searches in Google have “local intent” (Search Engine Roundtable).
"Near me" searches grew 150% faster than traditional local searches (Google).
29% of all Google SERPs contain a local pack in the results (RankRanger).
74% of consumers who search for something local on their phone visit a store that day (Google). So it's clear that local searches are a big part of the SEO world. And if you can put your local business in front of that research, there's a good chance it'll walk through your door a few minutes later.
Google My Business listing Optimization
Google's algorithm for ranking company profiles not only takes into account proximity and relevance, but also activity and quality of information. Optimizing your Google business profile sends these signals to Google to rank you higher in local results. And a higher rank, as you know, means more visibility and engagement for your business. According to Google, here are the most important factors that can determine your chance in ranking on the 3-pack spots:
Relevance: In simple terms, the relevance of your business listing in relation to the Internet user's intention. The more complete and detailed your information (as it appears on your Google My Business listing), the more often Google will connect your business with potential prospects.
Importance: An established business will rank higher than a brand new business. And a business with a good social presence will rank higher than a business without an online presence.
Distance: The proximity of the company's location to the Internet user's location (or to the location term used in the query). If, for example, two companies have similar relevance and prominence ratings, the one closest to the searcher will rank higher.
Add location pages to your website.
Maintain specific location pages. Location pages provide readers with your name, address, phone number, store hours, unique store descriptions, parking / transit information, promotions, and testimonials from satisfied customers.
It's also important that you avoid duplicating content on multiple localization pages. For single-location businesses, create an About Us page that is descriptive locally. You will get big bonus points if you add a google map to your website on your respective location pages.
Optimize URL, title tags, headers, meta description, and content.
When it comes to content, every new blog post is a new indexed page for your site, a new page to target a geographic search phrase on, and a new opportunity to be found in search engine results pages ( SERP).
Whenever you write a piece of content, you need to optimize the content for search engines using high volume keywords in the URL, Title, Header, Meta Description, and Body. If you're having trouble finding geo-targeted content, consider highlighting customer success stories and case studies.
Ensure your name, address, and phone number are consistent online.
You need to make it easy for internet users and search engines to find you. To do this, configure your NAP, which represents the name, address and phone number (with area code). This should be included as crawlable HTML text on your site.
Avoid the common mistake of only including the NAP in an image - images cannot be crawled from search engines like HTML text. The most common location for the NAP is in the site footer or header.
Get listed locally in all directories
When you increase your visibility online, it's much easier to put yourself in front of your current customers than it is to try to attract new customers to you. Business directories do a remarkable job of putting your business in front of your potential customers. Business listings on directories usually provide a small overview of your business, reviews of your business, and contact information.
There are hundreds of directories out there, and you want to do your best to be in as many of them as possible. This will increase the likelihood that a potential customer will find your business rather than your competitor.
Optimize your content and web pages for local keywords
Local keywords will definitely help you get found, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice quality of content. Google loves high quality and valuable content on websites. Sites with this type of content rank higher than sites that do not.
Use keywords in your blogs and on web pages people will use to search for your business, and add location keywords to them. For example, you can use these local keywords:
- Coworking Spaces In Whitefield Bangalore
- Best hourly hotels in indiranagar bangalore
Optimize your website for mobile
In recent years, Google has favored sites suitable for mobile, ranking them higher than sites not optimized for mobile use. Recently, Google's algorithm has changed again, putting fast-loading mobile sites in the prime position over slower websites.
Having a website with fast loading pages is already a well-known SEO strategy, and with a good cause.
Today's website visitors want a fast user experience. When it comes to loading time, 30% of visitors click on a page if they wait longer than 6-10 seconds for a page to load. So a mobile friendly site that loads quickly should be a necessity for optimization.
Online Reputation Management:
Another important factor in determining how important your local business is to Google is the number of reviews on your Google Maps listing as well as other review platforms
Also, reviews are obviously important as social proof to encourage more conversion. Study suggests 57% of consumers will only buy from a business with at least a 4-star rating
Get backlinks from authoritative sites
Backlinks are links that are posted on other sites that point to your site - and you need them. There are several ways to get backlinks from good sites, and the first is to produce high quality, useful content.
You want everything to be very organic without any forced backlinks.
Remember that quality is your main goal. When your content is shared, it gets noticed and is more likely to be referenced in other people's content. You can also post content to websites for well-known posts and include a link to your business in the signature or even in the body (if it can be done without being spammy).
Optimize your listing for voice search
Until just a few years ago, the only way people could enter information into search engines was to type. Those days ended when Google showcased its voice capabilities for search.
Today more and more people are using their voices to search for what they want. The catch is that the way people speak is usually different from the way they type. That could mean a redesign, or at least the addition of more voice-friendly keywords. You will have to stop thinking in textual terms and more in terms of natural speech. Responding to the audience is a good place to start.
Conclusion
Ramping up your local SEO strategy will get you big wins, but can be overwhelming.
The Digitalcrafts.in can show you how to outrank your competitors and get the results you want. Don't forget to check out our Local SEO Packages. Mail us your query at [email protected]
