Local SEO is a powerful search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps a business by improving its visibility in local search results on search engines like Google.
The objective is to increase traffic, generate leads, and enhance brand awareness. This SEO strategy is highly beneficial primarily to local & smaller businesses with brick-and-mortar locations or if a company serves a specific geographic area.
The practice of optimizing your business for local search results wasn’t known until Google introduced the pigeon update in 2014. The update allowed the search results pages (SERPs) to show users information on products, services, and businesses within their vicinity.
Why is Local SEO Important?
Local SEO is an integral part of any marketing strategy. When done right, it can generate high-converting leads as well as improve local organic traffic. It could also put potential customers one step closer to a transaction.
We’ve listed some of the most impressive local SEO statistics from Safari Digital that highlight the importance of creating and developing a comprehensive local SEO strategy.
1. 46% of all searches on Google include a local intent
Google alone received 3.5 billion searches every day. This means small to medium-sized businesses that do not incorporate local SEO into their strategy are missing out on ranking for 1.6 billion of all Google searches per day.
2. At least 28% of local searches are followed by a purchase
Typically, users who conduct local searches already have high purchase intent, which means they are more likely ready to transact with your business. By optimizing for local search, you are not just enhancing your online profile, you are also attracting high converting leads.
3. 70% of users visit a store because of the information they find online
Regardless of whether it’s an ad, review, or marketing campaign, failure to acknowledge the important of local SEO means you’ll miss out on plenty of customer opportunities.
It’s clear that local searches make up a huge chunk of the SEO world. If you get your local business on the top of Google’s search results page, there’s a good chance you’ll have users walking through your door in a few minutes.
How Does Local SEO Work?
In general, Google scans a search through its index and works to provide users with the best results that answer that person’s query. However, the ranking factors used to determine the ranking of local search results are of a different set.
Basic Ranking Factors
1. Google Business Profile
You may know Google Business Profile by its previous name, Google My Business (GMB). This is one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your local SEO, making it the creme de la creme of local search. Best of all, it’s completely free to create one.
Setting up a business profile will allow your brand to be featured in Google’s Map Pack, Local Finder, and Google Maps.
Once you create a Google My Business listing, it’s time to optimize your profile.
2. GMB Categories
Google Business Profile has a portion asking you to select the category where your company fits. Doing so will help the search engine connect you to customers who are specifically looking for you. To optimize this part, choose a primary category that best describes your business as a whole.
3. Photos On Your GMB Profile
Adding images to your GMB listing can increase a user’s interest and your brand’s credibility. It is also a local ranking signal that Google uses to determine your ranking.
You can add both photos and videos to your business listing. These photos can include your location, the facade and the interior of your store, your products, your staff, and your customers (with their permission, of course).
4. Bing Places For Business
While Google is the most commonly used search engine in the world, Bing still holds 7% of the world market, according to Statista. Covering all your bases would be the best course of action, which is why you should consider setting up your Bing Places for Business.
5. Online Directories and Local Citations
Claim your business in other popular online directories, including Apple Maps, Yellowpages, Foursquare, and Yahoo’s Localworks.
6. Business Listings on Review Sites
Get your business listed on popular review sites, such as Yelp, Glassdoor, and Angie’s List. Having said it, reviews placed on Google still carry the most weight.
7. Get Positive Reviews
Achieving a number of positive reviews and responding to feedback from your customers can help improve your business’s visibility. That said, do not buy reviews just to boost your local search rankings as it is against Google’s policy.
8. Get Reviews with Keywords and Locations
When a reviewer uses the city or keyword in their feedback, it signals to Google that you are a trusted local business.
9. Responses to Negative Reviews
Refusing to respond to less-than-stellar online reviews will negatively impact your business. As such, you need to put a plan in place for responding to all types of reviews, but more particularly to negative feedback.
If you receive an inappropriate or negative review, Google has a system that could help you get it removed.
10. Facebook Business Page
In recent years, the social media platform Facebook has also transformed into a search engine for users. This makes it even more important for you to create a business page on Facebook and update the details with your company’s website, store hours, and a description.
11. Business Listings on Social Media
If you plan to be active on social listings, claim your business listing on popular social media sites such as Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
12. Consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP Citation)
Being consistent with your business name, address, and phone number through all the mediums where your company is listed can help Google’s bots to provide more accurate information to users.
For example, if your business name is Art’s Restaurant on one site and Art’s Diner on another site, it may cause confusion for users.
13. Mobile Responsiveness
Google looks at your mobile website first, which means it’s important to optimize your site for mobile phones.
The Fundamental Ranking Factors
14. Localized Content
As with any website, consistent publication of high-quality content is key to boosting traffic and generating sales. When creating localized content, make sure you can organically include your keyword and location.
For example, if your business is based in New York, you can write about any local events, fund-raising efforts, charity programs, and any other local community initiatives that relate to your brand.
15. On-page Location and Keyword Optimization
In line with creating localized content, also make sure that you are optimizing for a localized keyword. For instance, instead of optimizing for “pet shop,” go for “pet shop New York” instead.
16. Title & Meta Description
When coming up with a title and meta description for your content, do try to include key terms and location, when possible.
17. High-quality Links
Getting inbound links or backlinks from websites that Google trusts can be good for SEO. We discussed the topic of backlinks more extensively in this backlinking guide.
18. Diverse Backlinks
Getting a lot of inbound links is great for your SEO, just make sure they are relevant, authoritative, and gained organically.
19. Proximity to User
This is one factor you cannot optimize. However, it’s an important ranking factor that Google uses to determine which businesses to show in their local pack. As such, it is of utmost importance that you claim your Google Business Profile and input consistent information on your business listing.
20. Increasing Domain Authority
The process of increasing your domain authority through SEO strategies and link-building campaigns isn’t a quick or easy process. However, it’s likely to pay off handsomely in the long run.
When you meet some of the listed ranking factors, your local business may appear more prominently in four areas of Google’s search results: the Local Pack, Local Finder, localized organic results, and Google Maps.
Local Pack
The local pack, also known as the map pack, appears on top of SERPs and displays a set of three local businesses with a map of their locations at the side. For context, here’s what that looks like.
Results shown on Google’s Local Pack are based on the Business Profile, which means stores should have a business listing set up and well optimized to rank in this spot.
Local Finder
Much like the map pack, the local finder shows a list of local businesses within the area alongside a map pinpointing their location. However, the local finder shows more than three business listings.
The local finder can be accessed by clicking the “More Places” button at the bottom of the map pack.
Localized Organic Results
Localized organic results are the web pages that appear below the local pack. Here’s how it looks:
The listing order is based on a range of ranking factors, which include on-page optimization, reviews, and inbound links.
Google Maps
You can also search for local businesses on Google Maps. The results will appear on the left side of the page with basic information. The location of the businesses will be displayed on a map to the right.
How To Optimize Local SEO
1. Optimize your Google My Business profile
To ensure you’re optimized for GMB, you would want to create and verify your business profile, use Google Posts within your account, encourage customers to post their reviews online, and respond authentically to reviews while specifying your location and product.
2. Ensure that your business information appears consistent
You have to make it easy for people and search engines to find you online. To do this, you have to set up your business profile and ensure that there are no discrepancies in the information you put, which means there should be no misspellings, abbreviations, lack of suite number, or wrong phone number.
If your information is inconsistent, Google may not show your business in search results. In addition, you should make sure that there are no duplicate business listings in online directories.
3. Perform an audit
When you have the fundamentals down, you should perform a comprehensive local SEO audit to see where your website currently stands and what you can do to achieve your goals.
An audit includes:
- Checking how your GMB appears in the SERPs and make sure the information displayed is accurate
- Making sure that your site is crawlable and that there is nothing hindering indexing
- Ensuring that your website is performing well and does not have any speed or design issues
- Checking whether your citations are correct in business directories
4. Improve your internal links
While inbound links are great, adjusting your internal linking structure will also help boost your SEO. Internal links support website navigation and distribute page authority and link juice among pages.
Find out more about internal links with our Internal Linking SEO guide.
5. Optimize URL, title tags, headers, and meta descriptions
Before you write a piece of content, there are several things you should remember.
- Conduct keyword research and optimize the content for high-volume and relevant keywords
- Use high-volume local keywords in the URL, title, header, meta description and content body
6. Add a location page to your website
If you have a brick-and-mortar store in multiple locations, consider creating a location page that provides readers with your name, address, phone number, store hours, store descriptions, promotions, and testimonials from customers.
Content That Will Help Your Local SEO
Let’s be clear, there is no magic bullet that would instantly drive traffic to your business. However, when done correctly, local SEO can increase the number of leads and transactions over time.
There are several types of content you can create to help with your local SEO.
1. City-specific landing page
While ranking for local keyword terms without a location webpage is possible, having a city-specific landing page makes it much easier to rank in the local SERPs.
2. State or regional landing page
If you’re overwhelmed by the thought of having to create multiple city-specific location pages, you can start by making state-specific or region-specific landing pages.
3. FAQ pages
FAQ pages are extremely valuable to organic performance when they are optimized for relevant keywords, designed for optimal user experience, and provide readers with valuable information about your products or services.
4. Host local events
Hosting a local event is an easy way to improve brand awareness and connect with potential customers. However, if the idea of hosting a local event seems daunting for you, consider partnering with local events.
Note: Don’t forget to promote your event on your website and social media pages.
Analyzing Your Local Search Organic Competition
Before you begin your journey towards boosting your Local SEO, there is one last step you should do to ensure that your strategy is sound—analyzing your local search organic competition.
Performing a local search organic competition analysis will give you information to help you achieve the results you are looking for while also giving you an advantage against your competitors.
By performing content analysis, you will be able to determine:
- The topics your competition is writing about
- How many words do their content have (on average)
- How frequently do they update content on their website
- How many inbound links the competition has
- What kind of links they are getting
- Where they are getting their links
- How often they get inbound links
The things we’ve outlined are the basic things you should look for when performing a local search organic analysis. However, you will want to perform a deep local competition analysis from time to time.
Here are the factors that should be included in your deep local search organic competition analysis:
Links
- Local SEO Directories
- Niche local sites
- Editorial local links
- Government links
Content
- Content writers
- Content topic
- Date when content was written
- Target location of the content
- Shares across social media platforms
Technical SEO
- Validated HTML and CSS coding
- Schema.org coding for local SEO
- Locally optimized title tags and meta descriptions
- Locally optimized URLs
- Locally optimized on-page copy
Partner With Us And Boost Your Local SEO
Here at CreateVenue, our team of experienced SEO experts works to ensure your business ranks high in SEO local search queries and achieves lead and revenue growth.
As your dedicated local SEO company, we make sure that we execute our local SEO services and consistently provide local SEO reports to our partners. Our team also takes time to explain to your team the strategies we are taking and how it can benefit your business.
No matter if you have a single location or multiple stores, our company can provide the services you need to help your business thrive in the ever-growing competitive market.
