Implementing local SEO is crucial for businesses, mostly for those providing services in a certain locality. Having said that, today the market for local SEO has become much more competitive as more and more businesses are recognizing the importance of local SEO ranking.
However, developing an effective local strategy is a big challenge and that is why a combination of different local SEO ranking factors is required to rank on local searches. It might look challenging to you but with the help of an SEO Company or expert, you can get an upscale of your business in Google’s ranking.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO is an effective search engine optimization strategy that helps your business be more visible in local search results on Google. Any business having a physical location or serving a geographic area can benefit from local SEO.
Local SEO statistics for 2021
- 18% of location-based mobile searches result in a sale within 1 day.
- 61% of mobile searchers contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site.
- 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of their current location.
- 78% of location-based mobile searches result in a sale within 1 day.
- 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google map.
- 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.
These figures show how impactful local SEO is for your business. Optimizing for local search is an effective way to generate more qualified leads to your business.
Local SEO tips to boost your Google rankings.
- In-depth Keyword research: Keywords play an important role in local SEO rankings. Your focus should be to find the most relevant keywords with the highest search volume. In local SEO keywords research, however, you need more geo-targeted keywords. Depending upon the area and location, you can also divide them into primary and secondary keywords.
For local keyword strategy, you can expand your search targeting both main city and business-specific regions. You can also try variations to maximize your target reach. Just make sure, location is accurate to your physical store or office.
- Google My Business (GMB): A lot of businesses are taking the help of GMB to establish their brand authority on Google and get more customers. With this platform, you can provide useful information to your customers such as contact details, location and store hours. An additional benefit of GMB is that if Google validates your business as authentic, you can get your business listing in Google’s local search.
Optimizing GMB can help you empower your brand and credibility. According to Google, business listings with high-quality images receive more clicks and better ranking. You can also add reviews as 95% of customers check online reviews before visiting the store physically.
- Content Marketing Strategy: A focused Content Marketing Strategy is the need of the hour. Just like any other digital marketing strategy, you need an effective content plan that involves your local area or city to rank your service or business in local searches. Blog posting or web content is not an optional choice today but is mandatory. Always make sure that your content strategy is up to date and your content is at least a thousand words.
Sample ideas about local SEO content:
- Choose blog topics related to local news, activities, or events.
- Promotional content in a specific area.
- Publish videos about the charity event your business does.
- Create a city-specific service page for multi-location businesses.
- Informative and relevant content.
- Optimize your content by adding keywords to headers and body.
- Choose quality keywords.
- Citations: Citation is easy access to your business to customers. It contains your business name, phone number, and address. Mostly only the basic information is allowed in it but some platforms also give you the feature of adding a description, business hours, methods of payment, etc.
Citation is considered as the fourth most important factor of local SEO, standing right behind the GMB. So, it is advised to use citations effectively as it can boost or hinder your Google ranking depending upon the quality of content you are providing there. Remember, its quality and not quantity. Therefore, make sure to build citations on the most relevant websites.
Conclusion:
SEO is a vast sea of techniques and strategies to make your business rank. And, the local SEO is equally significant, no matter what’s your business niche. As a business owner, you must know how to build effective strategies to rank your website.
Consult an SEO professional for expert advice.