What is Local SEO and Why Is it Important?
When you're a small business owner, it's easy to assume that the only thing people are looking for online is your local address and phone number. This isn't true. In fact, people are increasingly turning to Google's search engine when they're in need of a local business or service provider. If you want your business to appear on the first page of results when someone searches for keywords that describe what you do, then you need to start doing some work on your local SEO strategy.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO can help your business grow. Why? Because it makes your business easier to find in Google's local search results. In fact, the most recent local SEO statistics from Google Maps show that 86% of users are using the platform to find businesses in their area, and if you're not showing up on those lists, you could be missing out on a lot of revenue from customers who are just a click away!
Local SEO ranking factors include:
Your Google Business Profile
Your online reputation Reviews left by customers
Citations in directories such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Foursquare
On-page signals (what’s happening on your website)
Backlink Profile (Links from other websites that connect to a page on your website)
If you want a more advanced view of each of your business’s Local SEO ranking Factors, you can request an online analysis here
Why Is Local SEO Important?
Local SEO is important because it builds your brand and authority in your industry, which leads to more qualified prospects contacting you and making purchases from you directly (so they don't have to go through a middleman). It helps you rank higher in online searches, drive traffic to your website, and get more customers who are looking for your product or service.
Local SEO ranking factors are different from generic search engine optimization, organic search engine optimization, and Google Search Engine Optimization. Local SEO ranking factors are concerned with the user experience of a website based on the location of the user.
Local businesses need to understand these local SEO ranking factors in order to succeed on Google Maps. The NAP data (Name, Address, Phone Number) you provide about your business should be accurate. If Google finds out that there's inaccurate information about you (like an address or phone number), they may remove your listing completely or penalize it by dropping its ranking on SERPs (search engine results pages). This means that no one will see your listing when they search for similar keywords related to the type of service you provide - and this is what we call "blackout mode."
How to Rank Your Business on the First Page of Google
If you want to rank on the first page of Google, you need to make sure that your business is using keywords in all of these places:
Title: Your title tag should include a keyword or a key phrase that describes your website. For example, "Acme Corporation — The Best Online Store for Everything!"
Description: The meta description is the snippet of text displayed beneath the link for your website when someone searches for something on Google. It's also shown in Facebook's search results and any other places where people might find links to your site. When writing this description, make sure that it includes one or two relevant keywords from what people are searching for. For example, “Acme Corporation sells all kinds of products at low prices!”
URL: The URL (i.e., web address) for this page should contain relevant keywords as well—for instance, perhaps "mystoreurl/aboutus" instead of just "mystoreurl". This will help search engines know what each page is about without having to read through each individual word in your content before deciding whether or not it's relevant enough!
Make Sure Your Website Is Optimized for Mobile
To rank well in local SEO, you need to make sure your website is optimized for mobile. A responsive website design is a good place to start and will allow the user to easily read the content on their phone or tablet. Here are some other tips:
Use a template that’s mobile friendly. Having this type of template will automatically optimize your site for multiple different devices, which allows visitors with smartphones and tablets to see all of your content regardless of what device they are using at that moment in time.
Make sure navigation is easy on mobile too. If users can't navigate through your site easily because it's too long or complex, they'll quickly give up looking around and leave! Plus, if there are multiple pages within each section (e.g., categories) then make sure they're all linked together so people can jump between sections without having any problems moving around within them - otherwise, all those extra clicks could add up fast!
Create a Google Business Profile
Create a Google Business Profile for your business so you can manage your business information and keep it consistent. To do this, you will need to verify the address and phone number of your business as well as input contact information, hours of operation and website address. You can find instructions on how to create a Google Business Profile here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en
Once created, you'll want to make sure that all of the information in this profile is correct by checking it against your other marketing materials (such as print ads or brochures). If any of these details are wrong, fix them before continuing!
Take Advantage of Online Reviews and Customer Testimonials
The more positive reviews you have, the better. The same goes for testimonials, which are basically a more formalized version of reviews. When someone writes a testimonial about your business, it proves that others trust you and that your services are worth their money. This can help convince potential customers to do the same—and if they're impressed by what other people have said, they'll be even more likely to choose you over your competition. Reviews also tell Google that your business is reputable! If you want to dive deeper into reputation management you can read our blog “Why Reputation Management Is Important For Your Business” here
Good, Consistent NAP Data Matters
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. This is an important part of local SEO because it’s the way that Google maps your business location and contact information. If you want to rank in local search results, having consistent NAP data across all of your online listings is critical.
This includes making sure that each location has its own unique address, phone number, and website URL (if possible). If you own multiple businesses or locations but only have one brand name then the easiest thing to do is use this same brand name across all listings for those businesses or locations in order to be consistent with their NAP data.
Get Some Backlinks and Internal Linking Set Up
A good amount of backlinks and internal links are essential to ranking well in local SEO.
Backlinks are links that point to your website from other websites, so when Google sees a lot of these pointing at your site from authoritative sources it knows you're important or popular and will rank you higher in search results. Internal linking is the process of linking between different pages on your own website, making sure all the pages on your site have enough link juice to send signals out about them individually (for example if the page about coffee machines has an internal link pointing at a page about bean grinders).
Internal links should also be built with strategic intent so people using assisted browsing features such as screen readers or mobile devices can navigate easily through content without getting lost in long lists of articles or blog posts.
Local SEO is something that small businesses cannot ignore.
Local SEO is a major part of optimizing your business for online success, and it should be a top priority for any business owner.
Here are 5 reasons why local SEO is important for small businesses:
Local search helps you rank on Google Maps
It helps get more customers in your store
It helps get more customers in your email list
It also improves your social media engagement and following
Conclusion
The time to get started with local SEO is now. If you are a small business owner, local SEO can be a powerful tool for building your brand and attracting new customers. To learn more about how to rank your business on Google Maps and in the search results, contact our team of SEO experts today! At Simply Better Marketing, we can help you improve your online presence so that it's visible to potential clients and strong enough to attract them to your business.
