There is a huge shift in online searches and customer behavior. Consumers today are changing their buying preferences and are focusing more on engagement. To ensure that you are the first choice that your customers or target audience think of whenever they need a product or service, you have to put a lot of effort into your marketing and brand awareness campaigns.
Now that you have what your customer needs and are ready to offer them an interactive and engaging experience, the question is, how can they find you? This is where Local SEO comes in.
What is Local SEO?
Local Search Engine Optimization, also known as local search engine marketing, is one of the ways of marketing your business online. If you want to promote your products or services to consumers near you, then you need to invest in this marketing strategy.
Local search engine marketing focuses on optimizing a website so that it can be found in local search results. Your target will be able to find you at the exact time that they are looking for your products or services.
Local searches include search terms that target a local area like:
- Doctors near me
- Lawyers in (city name)
- Urgent Care Near Me
- Italian restaurant near more
Local SEO focuses on highlighting the optimization efforts of local businesses. If your potential customers only want to engage with local businesses and are also using Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) to find what they need, you need to focus more on your SEO strategy locally so that you can improve your placement.
Local SEO also includes claiming your business profiles on the various public listings. Such as Google My Business, Yelp Business Profile, Facebook Local Page, Bing Places for Business, and more. If you want to read more about how to promote your business locally for FREE read “10 Ways to Market your business for FREE”.
Why Local SEO is Important
There are several reasons why businesses should optimize their websites locally. Let us take a look at some of the main reasons:
It Will Benefits Your Customers
You want your customers to have a memorable experience when they engage with you so that they can be loyal to your brand. This experience does not start from the time they walk into your store or office, but it all starts with the search engine.
Give your customers an easy and convenient way of locating you. When your customers or target audience have to try so hard to get your business information online, they are most likely going to give up and choose one that is easily available.
Consumers, always look up and confirm the location of a business and more information about it, before visiting it for the first time. Do not be comfortable that your local clientele can see your signs or posters whenever they leave their homes, they will still want to know more about you and probably read some reviews too.
You want to make sure that you guide your customers through the process of finding the perfect product or service that they need. Local SEO will also increase the number of people that discover your business including tourists or visitors in your area.
Make sure that your information is available and consistent. Remember, search engines like Google focus on the customer and what they need. At least half of the mobile searches are for business information. If you fail to provide your proper NAP you are reducing your chances of getting local customers.
You Will Rank Higher in Local Search Engine Results
A good number of customers use search engines as the main way of locating local businesses. Half of these searches result in same-day visits. If your business deals with face to face transactions, you might be losing several customers by not utilizing Local SEO.
Take a look at a search engine like Google for example. 93% of its search results show the ‘Google 3 Pack’. This is the first three results that Google has considered to be the most valuable according to the search. Your business should be among the three and using Local SEO well, can get you there.
In as much as you do not have the power to determine who gets in the 3 pack, you have the power of affecting your ranking in search results. This is determined by the consistency of NAP, domain authority factors, and keywords.
Search engines only giver searches results that are relevant to their search terms and physical location, therefore if your NAP is inconsistent or you do not have the keywords that your potential customers can use, SERP’s will overlook you and move to a website that has what the searcher needs or is consistent.
You Will Not Lose Money
Consumers make most of their buying decisions according to what they find online. If your business is nor proactive you are definitely limiting your conversation rates. Businesses that you inbound and local SEO increase their lead generation.
To add to this, people visiting your local areas are most likely to search for what they need online. If they are able to find you, they are most likely going to buy from you. This means if you ignore your local strategy, you are only giving business to your competitors.
They are Free Sources of Advertisement
When you use Local SEO, you get a platform of promoting your products and services locally to consumers who are looking for them online. A huge factor that helps websites rank higher in search engines is signal like the presence of NAP. This also helps businesses advertise their products or services.
Unless you are in the three-pack, you have to put more effort into ranking higher in local searches. The effort you put will benefit your business in the long run because you will be able to advertise your brand for free.
Once you start your local search engine marketing strategy. Search for keywords that can relate to your business so that you can know the right keywords to use. In as much as it offers free advertisement, you should optimize your strategy to use the most relevant keywords.
Use keywords like restaurants Near Me, restaurants (location name), and more. Such words will increase your visibility
Wrap Up!
Local SEO is a strategy that has a lot to offer businesses that target consumers in their local areas. One of the biggest challenges of marketing is generating leads and traffic. Implementing tactics such as the local search engine strategy will help improve your SEO and visibility. This is what your business needs for it to achieve both customer satisfaction and profitability.
