Did you know that investing in local search engine optimization (local SEO) can help drive more customers to your store and generate more revenue? This is why most businesses today have to manage two storefronts. Firstly, their physical brick-and-mortar store and secondly, their online store. 

By prioritizing your local SEO, you gain visibility on the digital market, thus attracting more customers than you ever could otherwise. It is a powerful tool that gives you a competitive edge, especially if you are running a small business. Here’s what studies show:

• “Near Me” searches have grown by 150%, as compared to traditional local-based searches.

• 88% of consumers who do a local search on their smartphone visit or call a store within a day. 

• Nearly 46% of all Google searches are seeking local information. 

If your business has not yet been optimized for local searches, you are most likely missing out on a large chunk of potential customers who are looking to shop in your area. It doesn’t matter whether you own a restaurant, laundromat, cafe, bookstore, or grocery store; all businesses should take advantage of local SEO. Lucky for you, this blog aims to teach you all about local SEO, including valuable tips to boost it for your business. 

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is for any company that has a physical location to provide its products and services. It is a combination of consistent practices and tactics strategically designed to maximize your website’s rank on local search engine results pages such as Google. The whole purpose is to appear as the top listing when people in the area search for products or services in your industry. 

For example, let’s say you offer yoga classes. A potential customer who is thinking about signing up will search “yoga classes near me” or “ best yoga classes in [city name].” Therefore, if Google displays your business listing, the prospect will most likely click on your Google My Business profile or website URL to learn more about your company. This applies to people who are planning to visit your area and searching for yoga classes in advance.

Essentially, local SEO is built upon the growing online visibility of local brick-and-mortar businesses. Content, on-page optimizations, and local link building are part of these initiatives, but don’t let these technical terms scare you! While it might sound complicated, SEO is manageable. When done correctly, the advantages of local SEO are more valuable than you think.

The advantages of local SEO

Regardless of your type of business, local SEO plays a crucial role in generating sales and building a brand reputation.

In our current market, it is nearly impossible to compete with billionaire corporations like Amazon and Walmart. Not only do small businesses lack the financial resources, but they are also tied down in terms of public recognition and consumer trust. 

Local SEO sets you up for success by connecting you with local customers who are ready and willing to purchase from your business. In fact, by relying on local ranking factors, you do not have to worry about losing your limelight to large corporations to get your business in front of customers in your area. Google will only display geographically relevant results for users performing a local search. So how can you make the most out of your local SEO?

Tips to boost your local SEO

There are various ways to improve your local SEO game. Here are some tips to get you started. 

1. Optimize your Google My Business (GMB) profile.

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that allows businesses to promote their profile and business website on Google, including Google Maps. By setting up a GMB profile, you can connect with your customers, post updates, and track how customers are interacting with your business on Google. It also allows Google to verify your business, thus giving it greater credibility.

With a verified GMB profile, Google will display your business listing in a coveted sidebar space to make your business more identifiable to potential customers.

You can add a host of details to your GMB profile, such as the types of products or services your offer, opening hours, directions to your store, contact information, business description, photos and even 360 tours of your store! It is important to note that there is features that are subjective to your customers — for example, the GMB Questions & Answers and Google Reviews section. Ideally, you would want customers to leave positive reviews on your business – we will discuss this further below. 

A crucial aspect of local SEO is maintaining an accurate, appealing, and updated GMB profile. You need your business contact information and operation hours to be up-to-date. Not only does this help your customers locate you easily, but it also improves their overall experience with your business and warrants a clickthrough. 

2. Collect (positive) online reviews

Online reviews help your business rank higher in local search, convert customers by building their trust in your business, and showcase your brand identity based on your responses to customer reviews. 

Considering the fact that 93% of customers read online reviews before buying a product, reviews carry tremendous power in influencing a customer’s purchase decisions. Since there is a risk that negative reviews would repel customers, many businesses are hesitant to collect online reviews as it is either the “make or break” of their success. 

However, we are here to assure you that you’ll be awarded better search engine rankings and consumer trust with online reviews. In fact, you can regard negative reviews as constructive criticism to further improve your business operation. 

Before you open the vault and start collecting online reviews, it is vital to ensure that your business is worthy of excellent reviews. While a few negative reviews are inevitable, you need to remember that your end goal is to make your business more reliable and appealing to prospects. You do not want to rank lower because of the sub-standard products or services that you provided. As such, you should do your best to maintain a positive experience for all of your customers. 

3. Improve your local linking structure.

Local link building is a little different from the standard link-building practice for SEO. The locational aspect requires a deeper involvement in the local community. This means gaining backlinks from local websites to your business’s web pages. These local websites include your community/neighbourhood groups, local church groups, cultural groups, or local tour service companies. All you have to do is write to these local community organizations and request trading links. So in exchange for them putting your link on their website, you can include theirs on your website too. 

EZ Ranking’s case study found that local link building helped their website’s traffic improve by 48%, which led to twice as many sales, and as a bonus, the bounce rate on their site reduced to 25%. 

This practice is definitely valuable for raising brand awareness and strengthening your local SEO. A robust linking structure will improve your page authority, thus boosting your authority rankings on Google. 

4. Create local content.

As a content creator, your priority should be to upload content that will resonate with your target audience. Think about what types of content would attract your local consumers. While general topics will attract a wide crowd, sometimes it's more fruitful to hone your focus. For example, you can provide information related to your local community: Is there an event happening this month that the locals should anticipate? Can you partner with a local influencer to promote your brand?

There are many ways to go about creating local content. You can easily gain authority by promoting local content that is relevant to your industry. 

5. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly.

It’s important to note that local Google searches are performed on various apps and devices. Local searches and mobile searches go hand in hand. Just last year, mobile users account for more than half of the global traffic. Furthermore, 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they offer a mobile-friendly website.

Ways to make your website compatible on mobile devices include responsive web design, faster loading pages, navigation buttons that are large enough to be clicked on a small screen, and readable text sizes. You can also audit your website on Google Analytics to calculate its mobile optimization level. 

Conclusion

Congratulations, you’re all set for your local SEO journey! We know that was a lot of information to digest, but take it one step at a time and trust the process. Don’t forget that you’ll need to draft out a digital marketing plan and SMART goals to guide you along the process. 

Optimizing these local SEO tricks correctly, your business is bound to climb to higher ranks on result pages, leading to more potential customers for your business.

FAQs

What is local SEO?

Unlike usual SEO methods, local search engine optimization focuses on optimizing a website to be found in local search results. These are unpaid results that are commonly referred to as “organic traffic.” Part of local SEO is building a local link structure, creating local content, and optimizing your Google My Business profile. 

Why is local SEO important?

As this blog has shown, there is a surge in local-based searches. Optimizing your business website for local search gives you a headstart against competitors, especially if you are a small or new business in the area.

When executed properly, local SEO can be a strong asset to your company’s growth. It allows intent buyers to find your business quickly and easily, increasing your chances of another transaction. 

Are there any tools I can use to optimize my business for local SEO?

Yes, there are several free and cost-friendly SEO tools that you can use to simplify your initiatives. Some of the top-rated tools include Moz Local, BrightLocal, and GrowthBar. 

These tools help you analyze local search performance, monitor online reviews and even offer keyword research to boost your SEO rankings further. 

Would you like us to boost your local search engine optimization?

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