We all know the importance of on-page SEO for your website, but what about local SEO?
As more and more people turn to apps to find their information, there's more pressure than ever before to make sure you're getting set up with an on-site mapping element (think location analytics) and getting onto social media platforms where your audience is.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a common marketing strategy for businesses and organizations.
However, local SEO can also be important for many businesses who want to establish their offline footprint and make the most of people who live close to their business.
Local SEO can differ from rankings and links, and there are specific techniques you should focus on if your company only has a physical presence.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the strategy of ranking for local search results in Google.
To rank high on search engines, your website must have information related to the area it's located in.
There are many different ways of optimizing your website for local search, but choosing which ones to implement can be difficult.
A good place to start is by optimizing your business title and address so that it can be better found on search engines.
When it comes to digital marketing, Local SEO is the most important component of an online business
It is imperative that businesses focus on their local audience as well as those from other regions.
This includes optimizing your website from a local perspective and following up with those who have been in contact with you or purchased something from you.
Local SEO is making sure your website ranks well in geographic areas near where you are based.
This can be done by using keywords that are specific to the area you operate in, having a user-friendly site that's easy to navigate, and providing information about what services you offer.
Local SEO encompasses search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, which involve actions like publishing articles with keywords to improve your rank on SERPs (search engine results pages).
Benefits of Implementing Local SEO Strategy
Many businesses think that local SEO is for companies such as restaurants and stores that want to break into the market by specifically targeting their own neck of the woods.
But this strategy can also benefit all kinds of companies, not just mom-and-pop shops, and in the internet age, it's getting more and more important than ever before.
The benefits of implementing a Local SEO strategy are huge.
The first benefit is that people will often search for local businesses on their phones.
This is the best type of user for your business because they are very close by, usually within walking distance.
Secondly, Google gives increased weight to local listings with the use of location-based metrics like knowledge panel results and brick-and-mortar store citations.
By focusing your content on establishing your brand in the local domain, you can strategically distinguish yourself in the local internet market.
This is especially helpful if you are a brick-and-mortar storefront business, selling goods or services to locals.
Conducting Local SEO can help grow your customer base by expanding in-store traffic and by generating more customers online.
With Local SEO you can lay the foundation for success by ensuring that SEO is an integral part of every aspect of your marketing strategy.
Your goal with this strategy is to maximize the visibility of your business on local search engine listings and draw people from those listings into your store.
This process not only boosts traffic to your storefront but also builds brand awareness as consumers become familiar with who you are and what you offer.
When Should you do Local SEO?
Local SEO is one of the very first things businesses need to take care of when they're launching a new business or redesigning an old one.
This includes registering your business with Google My Business and setting up a website for your business.
Both will help increase online presence and entice customers to use their services.
Local SEO is often overlooked in the world of digital marketing.
Beyond the geographical limitations of targeting, localization offers advantages related to language-specific search behavior.
English speakers are more likely to want to visit Britain when conducting a search for "British food", while Spanish speakers would be most interested in visiting Spain due to its proximity in relation to keywords.
The problem with Local SEO in terms of ranking is that it can be remarkably difficult to rank for local keywords since the search engine varies the keyword-based on the user's location.
Rankings will vary depending on how close a business is to an area and changes as consumers' perspectives change on how far they want to travel for purchase.
You should use Local SEO if you are operating or planning to open a brick-and-mortar business because this strategy targets people who are within your local area.
It also helps to help establish your reputation in your local market by building up an online reputation that can reach customers well outside of your vicinity.
The SEO provider may give SEO (Search engine optimization) services that develop either mobile optimization or desktop optimization.
Is Local SEO Underrated?
With the growing dominance of Google as the search engine for users worldwide, local SEO is an underrated but highly effective strategy.
Local SEO specialists work with search engines and websites to promote a business' rank for its location - including data like hours of operation and their address.
According to Moz's Website Explorer, Local SEO is one of the top SEO ranking factors for Google.
When it comes to local optimization, there are a lot of unshakable realities that we shouldn't take lightly.
Conclusion
Local SEO is extremely valuable and an extremely underrated aspect of web marketing.
It's the key to local e-commerce and getting more traffic from Google, but also to ranking better on other search engine results pages (SERPs).
Local SEO services provide a way for customers to find your business location on a map and customers can even search on their app.
Fake reviews and misleading information will not show on local searches as it does regular keywords.
Unfortunately, many businesses do not invest in such services because they often feel like it's an optional service or their nose doesn't hit the road.
But it is one of the most powerful ways to attract new customers if you make it happen.
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