In today’s digital landscape, succeeding in the local business arena requires more than just traditional marketing strategies. As more and more consumers turn to the Internet to discover and engage with local businesses, having a strong digital presence has become a necessity. Whether you have a brick-and-mortar store or a completely online shop, you can benefit from a digital presence. This is where local SEO comes into play.

In this article, we look at what local SEO is, how it works, and share some best practices as to how you can optimise your website to drive your business growth.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO refers to the practice of optimizing a website’s online presence to increase local visibility, brand awareness, and traffic. This strategy helps businesses become more visible in local results on search engines such as Google. This works because search engines typically rely on signals like social profile pages, links, citations, and local content to provide the most relevant search results to users. As a result, with local SEO, businesses can use this strategy to position their services and products to local customers that are looking for them.

Why is local SEO important?  

Local SEO is important as it helps businesses show up at the top of search results, which could lead to more traffic and, potentially, an increased bottom line.

According to Google, 76% of people who make a local search on their smartphones tend to visit a business within 24 hours, with 28% of those searches resulting in a purchase. If a business misses out on the chance to take advantage of relevant local searches, it could potentially lose out on a lot of sales opportunities.

How does local SEO work?

There are three main factors when it comes to ranking for local SEO, and adhering to best practices when optimizing for these can potentially give your website a huge boost in its online visibility. The factors are distance, relevance, and prominence.

• Distance refers to how far away a search engine believes a user is from a particular business when they make a search. If a user does not specify any location in their search, a search engine will use their IP address and possibly location tracking to prioritise nearby businesses.
• Relevance refers to how closely a business’s profile relates to a user’s search query. This is the measure of accuracy when it comes to matching a business with an online search query. Providing complete and clear information on a website is crucial to improving a site’s relevancy.
• Prominence refers to important a search engine thinks a business is to a potential customer. Search engines determine a site’s prominence based on both offline and online information such as website popularity and reviews.

Google typically displays three types of search results when it comes to local searches: paid advertising results, organic results, and local pack results (Business Profiles and Google Maps). Therefore, additional factors may come into play, including social media visibility, as well as elements related to Google Business profiles: such as star ratings, reviews, and number of check-ins.

How to implement a local SEO strategy

Implementing a local SEO strategy is essential for businesses looking to attract more views and engagement in their area. Setting one such a strategy up involves a combination of reputation building, on-page optimisation, and local listing management. Let’s look in detail at how you can build your strategy.

1. Research local keywords

Researching local keywords is the process of understanding how people search for local services a business offers. You want to make sure you understand how people are behaving online, so that you can cater your business to what they are looking for. There are a few ways to do this.

Find service-based keywords

Businesses should think about the different ways that audiences and potential customers may search for what they do. For instance, most customers may search for queries related to specific or relevant services. As such, it is best to begin by listing and brainstorming the services you offer. This will help to maximise your chances of a presence for queries that customers are looking for.

Check keyword search volumes

If you are looking for volumes specifically related to your city, state, or town, you can use Google Keyword Planner. You can check the popularity of certain groups of keywords and find their broad search volume ranges and a combined, rounded search volume. If your business is spread across a country or several countries, you can also check for the popularity of keywords on a national or international level with SEO tools such as Ahrefs and KWFinder. Knowing the search volume of keywords allows you to gauge the interest levels of your audience in particular terms.

2. Optimise Google Business Profile

A Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business) is a free business listing that offers information on a business, such as its location, products, services, photos, and more. It is listed in Google’s local search results, and it is what allows businesses to appear in Google Maps and the map pack.  

According to Google, creating and optimising a Business Profile is vital to rank well locally. As mentioned, businesses need a Google Business Profile to stand any chance of ranking on the map pack. Additionally, the search engine states that customers are 70% more likely to visit businesses that have a complete Business Profile and are 50% more likely to make a purchase from them.  

When it comes to best practices, businesses should keep a few things in mind:  

Add services

Businesses should let customers know what kind of services they offer on their Business Profile. Service businesses can pick from suggested services based on their business category. For instance, a landscaper may add Outdoor lighting or Irrigation. If the specific type of service is not listed, then businesses can add custom services.

Upload photos and videos regularly

Videos and photos help audiences and customers to learn more about a particular business’s services, products, and environment. Customers can also upload photos to a Business Profile. One way to boost engagement with customers and rankings in search results is to regularly add videos and photos to a Business Profile so potential customers know what to expect from your business.

There are a few different types of photos that can be added:  

• Cover photo: Businesses should set a cover photo at the top of their profile that best represents what they do.
• Business logo: This helps customers recognise a business on Google.  
• Business profile: Businesses can add different photos to highlight features of their services, products, and environment to attract new customers.

Set opening hours and date

Businesses with brick-and-mortar stores should set opening hours to let potential customers know when they are or are not available. They can also outline when their business first began operating.

Give a personal description

When creating a business profile, it is best to make it personal, real, and engaging to customers and audiences. It tells people what the business is about and its brand story, building a connection with visitors and potential customers.

Select attributes to describe the business

Businesses have the option of picking specific attributes to describe the details of their business. Attributes can include things such as having outdoor seating, free Wi-Fi, being pet-friendly, and more. Make sure that these attributes are accurate and relevant, and they are updated regularly.

Attributes will appear on the Business Profile on Google Maps, Google Play, Google Search, and other Google services. By adding certain attributes, businesses may show up in search results when people are looking for places with those specific attributes.

Add in-store products

Finally, for those running a retail business, they can show what they sell by adding in-store products to their Business Profile. This can either be done by manually uploading product photos or automatically added with Google’s Pointy tool.

3. Set up NAP citations

When implementing a local SEO strategy, you should also consider set up NAP citations.

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. An NAP citation is essentially the business’s address, name, and phone number online. These citations generally appear on social media profiles and business directories.

NAP citations are important as search engines may use them to verify that any business information is accurate and true. The idea behind this is that when search engines see consistent NAP citations for a particular business, they are more likely to view that business as trustworthy and legitimate.  

Best practices for NAP citations include keeping all citations consistent (this means having the exact name, phone number, and address) in multiple places, and submitting information to popular directories that are in a business’s industry and local area, such as Apple Maps, Yelp, and more.

4. Create optimised local content

A successful local SEO strategy must include creating local content that caters to the audience you want to target. By creating local content, businesses can become the local authority for their industry. Some examples of local content a business can produce include promoting local industry gatherings, news, and educational content.  

Additionally, with search engines such as Google becoming more intelligent, it is essential to follow their content guidelines. In recent years, search engines have become more aware of content creators manipulating their ranking algorithms. These days, while local content should be optimised for search engines, they should not be done overboard, and content creators should ultimately set out to produce content that can fulfil human users’ needs.

5. Encourage online reviews

Encouraging, moderating, and regulating online reviews should also be a part of your local SEO strategy in the long term.

With your Business Profile and online presence set up, you may start receiving testimonials and reviews from visitors and customers. Testimonials and reviews help to build customers’ trust, as they validate a business’s experience in the industry, provide a form of social proof, and give potential buyers confidence in the business. Before making a purchase, many customers will read reviews so they can better understand a brand.  

Nevertheless, not all reviews are positive, and it is in your best interest to moderate and regulate your user-generated content regularly, so that you can maintain a positive online presence. Responding to positive reviews can also boost your engagement rate and build customer loyalty.

6. Participate in the local community

Finally, though your local SEO strategy may be focused on the digital world, there is also value in participating in your local community in an offline way to gain more positive attention for your business. This includes participating in local events in the real world.

The more a business engages with its local community, the more it will be noticed and talked about. Some ways to participate include sponsoring events, partnering with other local businesses, and appearing in any local media as an authority in their sector.

Conclusion

Local SEO is an essential part of a wider SEO strategy, and it can be an invaluable way to help businesses optimise for and cater to local audiences. Having a well-optimised local strategy can help businesses gain visitors and customers in their area, and potentially increase traffic to physical stores. This can lead to a potential in boosting their bottom line and improving customer loyalty.

If you would like to start your local SEO journey and set your business up for success, MediaGroup can help. We have a team of specialists on the ground around the world, and we have native speakers of 22 languages to help you send the message you need to send. Contact us today to learn more about local SEO or to build the best strategy for your business.