Why Is Local SEO Important for Your Online Marketing?

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is one of the search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that helps businesses to be more visible and searchable in local search results on Google.

In other words, local search is more specific to a certain location compared to general Google searches. And Local SEO refers to the process of trying to optimize your online visibility to show up in those local search results.

Local SEO is crucial because it helps you:

☑ Boost your online visibility

☑ Bring in more foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar location

☑ Attract more targeted traffic, which improves your chances of conversion

☑ Enhance your credibility and build trust

The goal of your local SEO strategy should be to rank on the first page of organic local searches as well as in your local snack pack. This ensures optimum visibility and improves your chances of attracting targeted traffic.

What is the Difference Between SEO and Local SEO?

While traditional SEO focuses on improving your website’s organic visibility on a national or global scale level, local SEO focuses on finding local keywords and optimizing your website so that you can capture the organic traffic in your area. Although both traditional SEO and local SEO uses many of the same strategies, there are still differences between them, especially in the area of keywords selection.

Why is Local SEO Important?

According to the statistics, local searches make up a huge chuck of the organic traffic. As researched by Google, 76% of people who conduct a local search in their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours and 28% of those searches result in a purchase. Also, according to another report from Google, searches for local places without the qualifier “near me” have grown 150%, faster than comparable searches that do not include “near me”.

This shows that people increasingly expect to get results that are tailored accordingly without the need to spell out their request. Hence, this data proves that local relevance is expected, and google’s algorithms will be tailored accordingly to deliver the local results.

Why Google My Business Is a Big Part of Local SEO

Google My Business is a free marketing tool powered by Google that allows marketers to manage how their brand information is presented on Google Search and Google Maps. Your Google My Business page shows valuable business details – such as your company’s NAP, hours of operation, website link and customer reviews – to assist potential customers with their online search.

Why should you prioritize Google My Business SEO? Google My Business optimization is a crucial aspect of local SEO marketing. Your Google My Business page serves as one of the local SEO ranking factors, which dictate your online success. By claiming your Google My Business listing, you allow search engines to verify your brand’s existence and authenticity.

Here are more reasons you need to include Google My Business optimization in your local SEO marketing efforts:

Google My Business Optimisation

☑ Build brand recognition

☑ Provide accurate business information

☑ Drive customer engagement

☑ Boost your online credibility

☑ Tap into potential revenue

☑ Gain customer trust

☑ Increase your chances of getting in the Google Local 3 Pack

☑ Drive qualified leads and traffic

☑ Get targeted exposure

☑ Post important news and updates

☑ Manage your reputation

1. Google My Business optimization

The listings at the top of search results make up Google’s local SEO 3-pack. Searchers can see the locations of these pizza shops on the above map, and clicking the results displays the restaurants’ Google My Business listings.

These listings contain key information like a company’s address, hours, website, phone number, and even images.

2. Local citation building

In addition to claiming your Google My Business listing, you’ll also want to build local citations.

These citations contain information like your company’s name, address, phone number, and website.

Citation building campaigns can help you earn local listings on sites like Bing, Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook, Apple Maps, TripAdvisor, and more.

3. Keyword targeting

To rank at the top of local search results, you’ll also need to target local keywords on your website and in your site content.

Let’s look at an example.

If a dental practice in the Harrisburg area wants to rank in more local search results, they could optimize their page titles, meta descriptions, and site copy to include the keywords “Top Harrisburg Dentist” or “Award-winning Harrisburg Dentistry.”

4. Rating and Review Management

For local businesses, it’s extremely important to monitor and respond to online reviews.

Ratings and reviews can appear on your website, as well as third-party sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Facebook. Positive or negative, it’s important that you reply to all reviews in order to show customers you take their needs seriously.

5. Link building

Earning backlinks from other reputable, local businesses can also help to boost your local search rankings.

How do you earn links?

Start by creating valuable content that targets local keywords related to your business. If other sites like what they see, they can link back to your site in their own content.

6. User experience analysis ➕ Mobile friendly features

It’s also important to provide a great user experience (UX) on your site if you want to attract more local traffic.

If your website doesn’t provide a positive UX, visitors will waste no time hitting the back button — and your bounce rate will soar. High bounce rates signal a poor user experience, and search engines won’t rank your site highly if it provides a less-than-desirable UX.

Benefits of local SEO services

With the long list of services My Marketing Fox provides, it’s hard to understand how it will all work together to impact your business. The short answer is — your local SEO campaign will impact your business in amazing ways.

Searches including the words “near me” have increased by two times over the past year. That means that more and more people are looking for an easier way to find businesses close to them.

In-House SEO Team to Work on Your Local SEO

By having an in-house SEO team, we are able to control every part of the local SEO process to deliver the highest quality work for you. Our highly-skilled and competent SEO team knows what works for you so that you can rest assured and leave the heavy lifting to us!