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The Importance of Local SEO for Small Businesses
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO or local Search Engine Optimisation(put link for past SEO blog), is a specialised version of SEO that focuses on improving the visibility of small businesses in local search results.
It helps businesses with actual physical locations rank higher in search engine results pages (SERP’s).
In short, local SEO allows small businesses to rank higher in their regional areas when customers are looking for goods and services.
Why is it important?
- 46% of all Google searches have local intent.
- 97% of consumers searched online to find a local business with 12% doing so every day.
- Over 70% of consumers who perform a local search visit a business within five miles of their location.
Local SEO is important for several reasons, the most important being increased visibility. Everyone wants their business to be well known, don't you want yours too? Having your page rank higher in your local area gives your brand more visibility.
The greater your visibility, the more likely you are to achieve higher conversions, stronger brand recognition, and positive customer reviews. This advantage significantly boosts your competitiveness, especially against non-local businesses.
Local SEO Audit
Before we get onto how you can improve your local SEO, we need to see where your business stands as of right now. Here's a checklist to start you off.
- Have a look at your Google Business Profile - In local SEO, websites and Google business profiles are closely connected and can boost your results, based on location, and the number of quality reviews.
- Check the number of local reviews - Reviews are a powerful tool you can use to improve the social proof of your business. You're most likely not going to eat at a restaurant with multiple one-star reviews, are you? It's worth checking the reviews on your business, the good and the bad. If you don't have any it will be worthwhile to ask past customers to review their experience working with your business.
- Ensure your website is well optimised for user interaction - When someone loads onto your website, is it responsive? Does it load easily from one page to the next? Is the tone of language consistent throughout the website?
- Review internal linking - Internal links within your website are important too. This is where you link from one blog post to the other. This is an easy way to drive traffic to other parts of your website.
How do you Improve your Local SEO?
Once you’ve done your local SEO audit, you can see where your business stands. You should have a great overview of your website. Not only will you have areas you can improve on but you should also have areas you perform well in.
When it comes to local SEO for small businesses, it's a long game so expect the process to take some time, just as it is for normal SEO. If you want quick results for search engine marketing, you could consider using PPC ads, or Google ads they're a quick way to get traffic to your website. (Include a link to the PPC ads blog)
Local SEO Ranking Factors
Just like SEO, local SEO has ranking factors too.
- The location of your business - The area someone searches in is a ranking factor for your business showing up on their search results. If they don't type in a location, Google will do it for them. So having your website's, brick-and-mortar address is a perfect way of letting Google know where you are and hopefully your customers too!
- Your Google Business Profile listing - As mentioned above make sure all the relevant information is up to date, including photos, reviews, business categories and opening hours. If you don't know how to do this, check out this blog about setting up and optimising Google My Business
- Online reviews and ratings - As stated before, reviews are essential. If you do have some bad reviews hanging over your business, it might be worthwhile to resolve those with the customers. If you don't have any, reach out to customers, and ask them to leave reviews on Google, Facebook or Trustpilot. It builds your reputation and it goes a long way.
- Relevant and valuable content - Search Engines love valuable content. Make sure your content provides actual value to your audience. Blogs, such as this one are a great way to provide content to all users.
- A localised website - A localised website uses location-specific keywords and references to connect with local customers. By incorporating local landmarks and community-related content, you can enhance your site's relevance in search results. This approach not only improves SEO but also fosters a stronger connection with your audience, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversions.
By focusing on these local SEO ranking factors, businesses can enhance their online presence, attract more local customers, and ultimately drive more traffic to their physical locations.
Have a Local SEO strategy
The best way to guide your local SEO activities is to have a strategy, a few tactics to set you ahead of your competitors. Having a strategy will help you build brand awareness, increase rankings, drive traffic and boost leads. You can do this by:
- Focussing on your Service/Product - I know this seems very niche, but it could not be more true. Having keywords that directly relate to your business on your website shows Google what your whole website is about. Find keywords that relate to your business that you want to rank for.
- Use the SEO audit - Follow the steps outlined above to conduct an audit to see how you are performing in terms of SEO.
- Apply on-page SEO - This step will optimise your website for human eyes and search engines. Search engines such as Google love optimised websites and webpages and reward them heavily. Include alt text in your images, meta descriptions, internal links and keywords.
- Link build locally - You can implement local link building by just reaching out to local directories. All you have to do is ask, you could do link for link or promote to newspaper or news outlets, the sky's the limit!
Should You Outsource My Local SEO?
If you're feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to begin with local SEO, you're not alone. Fortunately, there are agencies ready to assist you!
While managing local SEO on your own is possible, it can come with challenges. It requires time and effort to learn and implement the right strategies to achieve those coveted top rankings.
As mentioned earlier, professional agencies, like us at Conquer The Internet, are available to handle it for you! Schedule a consultation through our website and have a chat with our founder Matt. He’s a marketing nerd who will be more than happy to explain things further.
If you’re still eager to learn more about Local SEO and its importance check out these blogs:
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