Local SEO for Service-Based Businesses: What You Need to Know
Running a service based business means relying on your local community to hire your services. Local service providers such as plumbers, wedding photographers, doctors, lawyers, cleaners, and more all need to focus on local SEO to improve their business visibility in search results.
In today's digital world, when someone needs to hire a service, they search on the internet. You want to ensure you are visible in search results when someone from your community searches for a service you offer.
Local search engine optimisation (SEO) is optimising your online presence to help you reach your local community, driving more foot and website traffic to your business. This means focusing on a specific geographical location where you provide your services, ensuring your business stands out.
It's important to note that 46% of Google searches these days have local intent.
E-commerce businesses are able to target their audience globally, in a specific country, or city. Service-based businesses, on the other hand, rely on local customers. When your business is not visible in search results, you are losing out on valuable customers who are using your competitors.
It's important to note that 78% of local mobile searches result in a purchase within 24 hours.
Incorporating local SEO into your digital marketing strategy will help you reach your local community, driving them through the door, and helping to improve sales. There are some local SEO tips you can use to improve your visibility in search results:
Google Business Profile, formerly Google My Business, is a free tool provided by Google where you can list your business to improve your visibility in local search and Google Maps results.
In order to optimise your Google Business Profile for local SEO, you will want to complete all sections, ensuring accuracy. Your name, address, and phone number (NAP) needs to remain consistent across all platforms. Upload high quality images, encourage reviews, and respond to questions.
Your website is often the first impression a customer has of your business. In order to attract visitors and convert them into paying customers, you need to ensure your website is optimised for local SEO. This means creating location-specific pages, ensuring your NAP information is consistent, while optimising your website for mobile traffic. Use local business schema markup to help search engines understand your content.
Local citations are mentions of your NAP information. They are used to build trust with search engines to improve your ranking in local results. This includes adding your business to Yelp, TripAdvisor, HomeAdvisor, and other industry-specific directories
Customer reviews are essential to your local SEO success as a service based business. Reviews help to build credibility and trust with potential customers and search engines. Encourage happy customers to leave online reviews, while taking the time to respond to both positive and negative reviews in a professional and timely manner.
Link building is an important part of any successful SEO strategy, including your local strategy. Backlinks from local websites tell search engines that your business is an important part of your community.
Social media platforms do not directly impact your local SEO ranking, but they can help boost visibility and community engagement. Ensure you remain active and engaged on social media, respond to questions and reviews, along with comments. Use insights to learn more about your local customers, helping you tailor your local SEO strategy effectively.
Local SEO is essential for service based businesses that want to reach their local community. With an effective strategy in place you can improve your online visibility, driving foot and website traffic to your business, boosting conversions. If you want expert and professional local SEO assistance, then get in touch with the Genie Crawl team today.
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