Many internet marketers are aware of SEO and some basic techniques. However, local SEO is quite different and requires a strategy that is focused on your city or country. This post explains what you need to know about local SEO and how to get started.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the strategies and the actions you take to improve the rankings of a website or a business to a specific location. It focuses on keywords that mention a location or users that live in this location.
For example, if you have a restaurant in Los Angeles, you want to appear on the first page of Google when potential customers use a search term like “Los Angeles restaurants“. Also, the same user can type “restaurants near me” but expect to get similar results.
When you boost your local SEO rankings, you can also get traffic and views from people that visit your location for a few hours or days and search for a relevant product.
What Is Local Search?
While we mentioned two common examples above, these are not the only type of local searches. People can use many types of keywords that don’t include the name of your city, but Google does a great job figuring out what they want and showing the right results. 46% of the total searches on Google are local.
If we use the example above about searching for restaurants, a user can type different terms. For example, they can search for delivery, the type of restaurant, or a specific food. All these keywords count as local searches.
What Are Local SERPs?
The term SERP stands for the search engine results page, and you can understand that Local SERPs are different from the standard SERPs.
When you search for a local keyword, you will see the map pack and the organic results. The standard SERP results include featured snippets and organic results.
What Is The Local Map Pack?
When you search for a local keyword and Google figures out that you need a business in this area, it will show the local map pack. It includes three business listings and a map that shows their locations. These three businesses have a big advantage to get customers from Google and are ranked on these places based on different ranking factors.
Google uses this system because it wants to give you relevant results right away without clicking on a website. So, it shows us the name of the business and some helpful contact details. If you click on these listings, you can get more information. Google finds their contact details in their Google My Business listings, and this is why you need to create one for your business.
You can easily notice that the organic results are quite different. They include articles like the top businesses in your area and include more content. However, most views will go to the local map pack because it is more relevant and at the top of the page.
Who Is Local SEO For?
Local SEO is for businesses that want to target potential customers in their area. If your target audience uses search engines to find information and products, you should add local SEO to your strategy.
Today 87% of the US population uses the internet. This percentage varies in other countries, but most people use the internet worldwide. So, we can’t ignore all these people and let them go to our competitors. Also, there are many local SEO benefits, that you can read below:
9 Local SEO Benefits For Your Business
1. Improve Online Reach
The first results of any search page get most of the views and clicks. It means that even if some of these people don’t become your customers, they still see your business. So, more people will remember it and have chances to come back in the future.
It is important to reach more people because they will recognize you as a top business in your industry. This process improves your branding and will bring more customers in the future.
2. Get Targeted Traffic
Most internet marketers love SEO because it generates targeted traffic. It means that your visitors will be interested in your brand or your products. When people search for restaurants near them, they want to visit a restaurant most of the time.
Other traffic sources are not so targeted. For example, social media traffic does not show any buying intention. A user can see your profile and recognize a local business, so they check your posts or follow you. It does not mean that they will visit a restaurant in the near future. Businesses can work with both types of traffic, but targeted traffic from search engines has more value.
3. Increase Sales
Local SEO can improve your sales directly. 28% of all local searches will result in a purchase. Also, 78% of local searches on mobile will bring a customer to your store. These stats show how powerful it can be for your business to have an effective local SEO strategy.
The standard SEO strategies focus on getting potential customers in the early stages of the customer journey. The users who search for tips and guides are on a stage of their customer journey that needs more information. When they type brands, products, and services, it’s a sign that they will make a purchase soon.
4. Get Repeat Customers
Your existing customers search for information on Google as well. If they have already visited your business and had a positive experience, they will click on your listings instantly. They will skip other pages on the search results because they already trust you.
5. Build More Internet Marketing Channels
When people can find you online, they will also check your website and social media profiles. Local SEO can boost all your marketing channels. When they visit your website, some of them will subscribe to your email list. Then, you can send your updates and offers to generate more sales.
The same applies when they check your social media profiles. They will follow you and get your content over and over again. Big social media followings will attract more followers and engagement. So, you don’t have to make a sale to gain something from your local SEO traffic.
6. Build Trust
You can build trust in two ways. First, people that find you on Google assume that you have a great business that is worth visiting. They trust Google, so they will trust you because Google suggests your business. Also, you are above other competitors, and this is a sign of quality.
The second way to build trust is by gaining brand recognition. Your potential customers will see the name of your business over and over again. If they follow you in other channels, you can gain even more benefits while increasing trust between you and your audience.
7. Cheaper Than Ads
While it can cost some money to create a nice local SEO campaign, you will get free traffic for years. Free traffic is always better and cheaper than paid traffic. Also, free traffic comes in larger quantities when you are on the first few positions of the search page.
Paid ads can work well with local SEO, but you constantly need to invest money. It can be a problem when you have a negative ROI for a while, and the costs can go up on specific dates like Christmas and Black Friday. However, local SEO is a constant traffic source that is not affected by short-term changes.
8. Outrank Your Competitors
Your competitors are online as well. They will get ranked under different local keywords and get some traffic. You compete for the same share on the market, and any better rankings will bring more customers to your business.
The minimum that you want to achieve from your local SEO strategy is to be in the first position for keywords relevant to your brand. When customers search for your business or contact details, they must be able to find them. If you don’t have an SEO presence at all, this traffic will go to your competitors.
9. Get More Reviews
People who search on Google for products and businesses tend to read online reviews. When you create a Google My Business listing, you can get reviews and reply to them. So, the customers who read these reviews have many chances to share their experience at the same place.
More reviews will improve your rankings and bring more customers. It’s a cycle where you drive customers to your business, get more reviews, and earn more social proof. You can also encourage some happy customers to leave reviews and increase your rankings. Usually, the businesses on the local map pack have hundreds or thousands of reviews. The right number depends on the location and the industry.
Investing time and energy into local SEO can only benefit your brand. If you don’t get ranked on the first page, you can figure out what you did wrong and try again. In some cases, you need a little more patience. But you can generate tons of traffic and customers when you get on the first page of Google and at the top of the Google Map Pack.
