The Benefits of Focusing Your Strategy on Local SEO
Local SEO is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that helps increase search result visibility for local businesses. If you rely on local customers, have a physical location, and serve a specific geographic area, local SEO is a strategy worth implementing to optimize your reach.
Benefits of Local SEO
1. More new and returning customers
With modern life being so fast-paced, people tend to add “near me” to their search engine inquiries or look for local businesses directly in Google Maps and other map apps. With successful local SEO, your business will appear in the top three results, increasing the chances of customers selecting it among your competitors.
2. Increased website traffic conversions
You can include the link to your website in directories such as Google My Business, which will result in highly qualified traffic. Site visits that come from local searches are from customers in the area who are ready to engage with the products or services your business offers.
3. Improved brand awareness
Having your business appear in global or local trustworthy publications and review sites (such as Yelp) can help generate more feedback, helping you take control of your reputation. Also, through high-quality link building, search engines and customers alike will feel more confident about your products or services, amplifying your business opportunities.
How to Implement Local SEO
Your strategy for implementing local SEO for your business stems directly from what you hope to achieve. Taking the above local SEO benefits as a guideline, here are some things you can do to rank higher in Google search, get noticed by more customers, receive better leads and targeted website traffic, and manage your reputation for increased brand awareness.
1. Perform a website SEO audit
Keeping local SEO in mind, check how well your website is performing. Does your website feature SEO elements that help ranking? Do you mention the specific geographic locations you want to target? Are your URL, meta titles and descriptions, and headers optimized? Do you have a location page on your website? Do you offer local content that could attract a local audience? These are just a few of the questions worth asking when performing an SEO audit.
2. Optimize your online presence
Create a Google My Business page and encourage your customers to share authentic reviews. Keeping this page active and updated will help your business rank higher in search results. But your online presence doesn’t stop with Google My Business. You have to make sure the content about your business continues to appear in online directories and citations. Reach out to local online publications to feature your business and link to it, which will help your website gain credibility for search engines and prospective customers alike.
3. Stay consistent
It is your responsibility to make it easy for people to contact you and find out where your business is located. Ensure your name, address, and phone number are the same everywhere online, and optimize your website for mobile to guarantee website traffic conversions for people who are on the go.
By implementing a local SEO strategy, you’ll increase your business recognition and gain more customers. Though the benefits of this approach are undeniable, building a successful local SEO strategy takes time. To streamline your journey, contact us to discuss conducting an SEO audit and other steps we can take to help your business thrive. You can also learn more about SEO by reading other blogs in our Demystifying SEO series.