How do you optimise for local search?
When you focus on local search engine optimisation (SEO), you can benefit from general internet searches, along with local searches. When you have a physical location, targeting your local audience is essential to driving foot and website traffic.
Forty six percent of all searches on Google are for local businesses, seventy eight percent result in an offline purchase.
There are some differences between local SEO and organic SEO. Local SEO takes the searchers location and your location into consideration when selecting rankings. Ranking for keywords is still important, but you need to add your geographical information, making long-tail keywords, helping your audience find your business and walk through your door.
Create high quality, unique, and relevant content that adds value to your visitor. This means well-written, in-depth, and optimised content, going into specific detail about what services you offer. Your landing pages should be tailored to your local customers, showing them you are part of their community.
When people search for a product or service in their local area, they are likely to add the neighbourhood name or city name. This means you need to use these in your keywords on your web pages. Ensure you add the specific areas of a city where you provide your services or sell your products.
More people are relying on their mobile devices to search for products and services online. As a result, it's important to ensure you focus on a mobile first design. Eighty nine percent of people search for something on their mobile device once a week with sixteen percent of them likely to travel to your physical location within twenty four hours. Eighteen percent of mobile local searches result in a sale within twenty four hours.
Now that your website is optimised for local SEO, you need to focus on other important elements, such as claiming your Google My Business listing. When someone searches Google for anything related to your business, your Google My Business listing is one of the first things they see.
Ensure you optimise your listing for success, providing accurate contact information, high quality images, and use your keywords.
Similar to your Google My Business listing, well known review sites, such as TripAdvisor, Airbnb, Facebook, and Yelp, all enable you to claim your business page, optimising it for local SEO success. Encourage your customers to leave reviews on independent review sites to boost your local SEO efforts. Remember Google loves reviews when it comes to local SEO.
Online directories are a great opportunity to get your business information out to your local audience. Adding your NAP (Name, address, phone number) information, not only helps to boost your ranking in local searches, but ensures your audience can contact your business. Double check your NAP information is consistent in local directories, review sites, and on your Google My Business listing, avoiding the risk of confusion.
Local SEO is such a valuable tool that can be used by businesses in all industries and any location. It helps you reach your audience when they search for products and services in your local area. Adding your NAP information on your website, in local directories, review sites, and on your Google My Business listing is one of the steps to boost visibility in online searches.
What we love about local SEO is it puts all businesses on an even playing field, helping small businesses improve their ranking and reach their audience with confidence.
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