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Owning a website is important for any business. A website not only adds credibility to your business but also makes it easier for customers to search for the best nearby products and services. Local SEO is the way to go if you want to reach more customers using organic search for your local business.
If you own a physical business, local SEO is essential. Statistics show that 97% of users search for a local business online. Of those, 70% visit the store based on the information they find.
In this article, we’ll share how you can optimize your local SEO strategy to achieve the best results for your business.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the key to driving organic traffic and converting customers for businesses with physical stores. By incorporating local SEO best practices, you can ensure that your business is visible to potential customers in your area.
There are two types of search results for local searches on Google: the map pack and the organic search results.
The map pack results, or local pack, is the part of the Google SERP (Search Engine Results Page) that features the top listings and an actual map. The organic search results are the regular search results with the first ten blue links, which appear below the map pack results.
Search engines use local content, social media profiles, and links to filter local search results for users. Local SEO allows businesses to offer their products and services directly to local prospects and customers.
If you’re not using local SEO as part of your marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. Most people use search engines like Google to find local businesses, and location is one of the primary reasons they purchase or use a service.
Google My Business is a powerful tool for companies. By optimizing their online presence on Google Search and Maps and adding photos to their Google My Business account, businesses can ensure they are highly searchable by potential customers.
Here are four reasons why Local SEO is a worthwhile investment for your business:
An effective local SEO lets you establish authority and credibility with your target audience, allowing you to optimize your local search to increase your presence. By appearing in the top results of a Google search for “restaurants near me,” users will see your business as legitimate, and you will maintain your local ranking.
If you’re looking to generate more leads for your business, one of the best places to start is by increasing your visibility online. Local searches are often one of the major ways that users find out about new businesses, so if you can make sure your website ranks highly for relevant keywords, you’re likely to see a boost in leads.
As your website grows and becomes more established, you may also see an increase in direct contact from potential customers.
If you want to improve your SERPs ranking and collect more leads, your local SEO strategy should:
Organic traffic is the key to maximizing local SEO. The goal is to get actual visits to your website, and the right SEO techniques will help you achieve this. Your Google My Business page provides potential customers with vital information about your company, including your services, location, and social media channels. Best of all, increasing organic traffic doesn’t cost a dime.
Local SEO helps you tap into an audience searching for businesses in their vicinity, which means boosting your ranking with targeted traffic can lead to more conversions. Users who search for what you offer are more likely to buy from you immediately.
Local SEO is essential for any business looking to increase its visibility online. But it’s not just about increasing your visibility. Local SEO can also help you expand your customer base and convert leads into customers. A good local SEO strategy can set you apart from competitors and establish your credibility online.
Here are 8 Local SEO best practices you can try for your business:
Google My Business is a crucial tool for local businesses. It allows you to update your company name, service hours, and location, monitor and reply to client reviews, and upload photos and videos. It’s important to optimize your Google My Business page so your customers can find your business easily, and to make sure that your page is up to date with your current offerings and hours.
Here’s how to optimize your GMB page:
Google verification can get you access to a sidebar space on Google’s local search and can help increase your presence. Reviews, updated contact details, and store hours can help to optimize Google My Business and allow your target customers to find your business.
If you want to ensure that your business appears in Google searches, you need to take some active steps:
Adjusting your internal linking structure can give an extra push to your local SEO. Internal linking is simply connecting a specific page to a different page on the same website. This is done by adding links to pages within your website and can help boost your SEO rankings because it allows search engines to crawl your website more easily.
Here’s how internal linking helps optimize your local SEO:
If you’re looking to earn a consumer’s trust, good reviews are key. In fact, 95% of consumers check reviews before making a purchase. Good reviews not only show that your customers are happy but that they’re also willing to refer your business to others.
Want your business to show up at the top of local listings? Encourage your customers to write Google reviews about your business to allow you to rank above in local listings. You can ask your customers to leave reviews by:
Did you know that more than half of all global internet traffic comes from mobile devices? With most consumers using their phones to search for local businesses, optimizing your website for mobile only makes sense.
If you want your site to be mobile-friendly, you need to consider the UX design and how mobile-responsive it is. That way, it can handle mobile visits, and your content will fit on the display.
Improve your local search ranking by finding the right keywords. Use location-based keywords on your site so that locals can instantly see your business in the search results.
You can also use these keywords in your title tags, meta descriptions, image file names, and ALT tags. These relevant methods will help Google determine what your page is about.
Inbound links are great opportunities to boost your search rankings because it builds trust and authority for your business.
There are many ways to get inbound links, including sponsoring a webinar or meet up, organizing a community event, appearing on guest blogs, offering scholarships, promoting locally made products, building relationships with influencers, and reaching out to partners to get featured on their directories.
Google increases your web ranking when you use inbound links with relevant anchor text directing them to another credible website. Not only does this help you get traffic and boost your rank, but you can also get referrals from those websites.
Content is the key to a successful website, and local content is a great way to improve your site’s SEO. By writing about topics relevant to your industry and local area, you can attract the right audience for your business and establish yourself as a thought leader.
To dominate your local market, you need a good SEO strategy that considers your long-term business objectives. Local SEO is more important than ever as people increasingly go online to find businesses near them. You can appear at the top of relevant local searches by optimizing your website across multiple devices.
Using Local SEO best practices can:
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