Spoiler Alert: About 88% of consumers search for local businesses on a mobile device, either call or visit local businesses within 24 hours. Nearly 46% of all Google searches are seeking local information. This means that without local SEO, your business can lose out on a considerable amount of traffic.
Basically, local SEO is about optimizing for local search engine results. It leads to more website traffic, leads, and conversions as the strategy is more relatable to your local mass.
It’s a focused strategy that helps you to compete more effectively against huge national brands. Local SEO can neutralize the advantage of bigger brands that optimize for broader keywords and depend on keyword recognition rather than value propositions.
Local SEO is the best alternative to avoid the rat race of reaching the top search engine rankings at a national level. It’s useful only if you do it right.
Are you struggling to get your local SEO campaign off the ground?
Incorporate strategies that allow you to compete with more domestic brands.
There are a few factors that can help you to improve your local SEO game:
Flexibility: Small businesses are agile; it’s vital to make quick decisions and implement updates to increase online visibility without going through a host of departments for approval.
Personality: Consumers prefer small and local businesses. They don’t rely on doing business with established and franchised businesses.
Focus: Prominent brands have varying metrics to analyze and glean insights from. On the contrary, small businesses eye on local SEO tactics to excel in their industry.
To get success, you need to have a laser focus on local SEO tactics. This is what I have done to promote my products and services to local prospects.
After years of trial and error, I have succeeded in positioning my brand in the local arena. I want to share my local SEO strategy to help many people thriving in this industry.
- Try optimizing your GMB listing and your website
- Create consistent citations
- Publish high-quality content
- Garner better views
By doing this, your business will eventually catch up and surpass the local competition in the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs). Let me introduce you to some more effective ways for local businesses to amp up your local SEO game without breaking the bank.
1. Reviews, previews, and reviews
This is something you need to sustain in this industry.
Let me tell you this: Quality, quantity and velocity of online reviews plays a vital role in determining your business rank in Google Maps and Google’s Local Pack. Here, you need reviews.
If you don’t have the budget to bring in a review management system or agency to manage your business, then you don’t need to worry. The simple rule to grow reviews is to ask for it.
Positive reviews are a good signal for search engine optimization. Thankfully, you have directories to host them. To cultivate as many as possible, you can send an email or a feedback form for a review.
You can also create a short link and place it on cash register receipts, invoices, email footers, in-store kiosks, business cards, in-store signage, etc.
Don’t hesitate to ask in person at the end of the transaction. Keep asking for reviews and never let the fear of negative feedback stop your journey. This takes me to the next point.
2. Respond to reviews
Customers are more likely to leave a review if they know they will get a ‘thank you’. If you want your customers to be responsive, then you’ve to take the time to reply to them too.
Make sure you respond to all reviews and focus on reviews asking questions or comments with a lot of details. Take the effort to go through all the reviews and leave a satisfying answer.
3. Claim your business directories
 The mantra for a successful local SEO strategy lies in your Google My Business (GMB) account.
Providing and updating your business information on GMB will help in improving your business’s local ranking on Google, including your presence on Google Search and Maps.
It’s an important business directory that includes accurate business hours, business photos to help first-time customers locate your business, and a relevant call to action to ask customers to check your redirect business link. Opt for popular outlets like Yelp and Google My Business to generate more citations and backlinks.
4. Determine local keywords
You’ve to go through the process of collecting effective local keywords used in the local marketplace. Get a healthy mix of broad, long-tail and competitive keywords to attract your potential target audience.
After getting your desired keywords, take things closer and use your existing customer data to identify the regions that are worthy of your local SEO marketing strategy.
Refrain from taking things to a state-level unless you’ve to deal with multiple locations.
For example: If you’re running a local bakery named ‘Yorkville Bakery’, then this becomes the specific broad keyword while ‘best bakery shop in Yorkville’ would be our long-tail keywords.
5.Use ‘Contact Us’ page
The location page like the ‘Contact Us’ page is vital if your business has more than one location in the desired area. These pages should have all the required details like the name, address, phone numbers, store hours, promotions, testimonials, parking availability and a Google Map attached at the end.
Disclaimer: In case of multiple locations, create unique content on each page.
The ‘About Us’ page is a must (if you have only one location) that focuses on local and relevant information. For instance: If you have a bakery shop, then your ‘About Us’ page is the perfect spot to write about the availability of your cake supplies for any function in your town or city.
Local SEO is more important than ever!
There are many things small businesses can do to improve their site and Google ranking. Start by focusing on your niche and focus on portraying your uniqueness. Your brand, logo, banners, taglines should reflect who you’re as a business.
It can be useful to partner up with SEO manufacturing companies. They can significantly accelerate your business growth by optimizing your online presence, increasing your page’s visibility and attracting the target audience for the services you offer.
Google is ever-changing, and you never know when it will introduce new features on its SERPs for local searches. As a marketer, you need to count on these changes and stay on top of local SEO.
I hope these 5 tips will make sure your business doesn’t take advantage of lucrative local searches but also set a solid foundation whenever a new SEO feature is introduced. Try and enjoy it!
 Author Bio: Hemal Bhatt works as a Digital Marketing Specialist at e-Intelligence. e-Intelligence provides SEO and web development services. They are equipped with the right innovative strategy, technical knowledge, and a professional team to help achieve business goals.
Digital Web Services (DWS) is a leading IT company specializing in Software Development, Web Application Development, Website Designing, and Digital Marketing. Here are providing all kinds of services and solutions for the digital transformation of any business and website.
