Local SEO helps brick-and-mortar businesses increase their online visibility in a specific geographical area. Its ultimate goal is to improve multi-channel sales by converting more online searches into store visits.
However, optimizing your online presence for your local audience goes beyond just working on your website.
In this article, we will delve into local SEO, why it is important, and how to create a local SEO strategy for your business.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO, or local search engine optimization, helps local shoppers find your retail store in search engine results. You might think you only need to worry about SEO for your online store, but local SEO is crucial in attracting local customers to your physical location.
Local SEO vs. National SEO
Local SEO focuses heavily on the specific location of your retail store. It is used to enhance your online presence and drive traffic from a local area to your website and foot traffic to your retail store. National SEO is used to reach customers on a national or global level.
Local SEO vs. Paid Search
The main difference between local SEO and paid search is that SEO is organic while paid search is paid. Both come with a cost, as creating SEO content, listing businesses, and optimizing product pages takes time and effort. However, unlike paid search, there is no direct cost for ranking in search engines.
Benefits of Local SEO
The ultimate goal of local businesses for SEO is to help bring more traffic to your store so you can sell more. As the demand for multi-channel shopping options increases, most retailers run both a physical store and a digital store – also known as digital retail.
Developing a local SEO strategy will help you differentiate your digital store, but it also has several benefits for your physical store.
Let’s take a look at all the benefits of local SEO:
Increased traffic to your website and overall reach.
Local SEO increases the number of people finding your website, leading to greater overall reach and increased brand awareness.
Increased foot traffic to your physical store.
Local SEO helps more people find your store and browse your website to learn more about your business. Once they find this information, consumers are more likely to shop in-store. In fact, mobile searches conducted away from home increase the likelihood of a purchase by 38%.
Building your brand’s reputation.
When local SEO helps potential customers find your business online first, it builds brand awareness and trust, explaining why your products are unique. This allows you to make a great impression and encourages shoppers to visit your store.
Growing a loyal customer base and community.
Using local SEO to attract the attention of nearby shoppers can help you build a loyal customer base and a community of social media followers. A more engaged audience helps build trust in your business and increases brand awareness.
Standing out from the competition.
The majority of local retailers miss out on leveraging local SEO. Though it’s unfortunate they don’t, this gives you the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and outshine your competitors.
Getting more leads.
Optimizing your online presence for local SEO makes it easier for customers to find your business. If it’s easy to locate, you’re more likely to receive more inquiries from potential customers, whether by phone, email, or social media. And after the initial contact, it’s easy to nurture leads and convert them into paying customers.
How
Does Local SEO Work?
Google uses an algorithm to determine what to show in search results for specific queries or keywords. The organic Google algorithm governs most search results, but with local search results, it works a bit differently and displays search results based on more factors than the regular search algorithm.
When you conduct a local search on Google, there are three key elements that Google considers:
Relevance.
Is your content relevant to the search query or keyword?
Prominence.
Does your business stand out, is it trustworthy, and is your content accurate?
Proximity.
Is your business actually close to the searcher?
Let’s take a detailed look at each of them.
Relevance
Google’s goal is to show results that are relevant to the search query of the searcher. This is not only a key factor for local SEO – relevance is vital for regular search as well. It is a fundamental aspect to consider when creating content for local search.
But how can you ensure that Google and other search engines find your business relevant? Start by making sure you are targeting the keywords or phrases that potential local shoppers might search for.
For example, if you sell kitchen accessories at your small store in Brooklyn, New York, you may want to focus on keywords and phrases like “kitchen accessories store Brooklyn” or “kitchen accessories Brooklyn,” or you can go for more specific details about the particular products that your target customers might be searching for. “Wood cutting board Brooklyn,” “salad bowl Brooklyn,” and “ceramic bowl Brooklyn” are some examples.
The best ways to signal to Google the relevance of your business are:
- Integrating relevant keywords in your business descriptions and content
- Creating content that is relevant to your business and customers
- Selecting the appropriate category when listing your business in directories
- Taking time to optimize your page’s SEO (more on this below)
- Adding schema markup to your website to help search engines display informative results to users
- Building links from local sites and other relevant sites
Prominence
In the context of local SEO, prominence refers to how well-known your local business is compared to your competitors. Google also looks at whether your business is trustworthy and whether the information and content you publish are accurate.
The more prominent your business is online, the better it is for local SEO. This makes it easier for Google and other search engines to find and verify your business, and a strong active online presence helps Google classify your business as a trustworthy and reliable entity. All these factors can help improve your ranking in organic search results.
Here are some ways you can improve and maintain your business’s prominence:
- Getting more customer reviews on your website and on other sites like Google and Facebook
- Being active on social media and getting your profiles verified if possible
- Getting local coverage and/or working with bloggers so that there are more mentions of your business online
- Building links from local or other relevant news sites
- Creating relevant content that lives on your website and sharing it through social media
- Curating and sharing content from other sources that relate to your business
- Listing your business in directories that are relevant to your business
Proximity
After relevance and prominence, proximity is the last ranking factor for local SEO. It is also the most important factor for local ranking.
As a local business, you’ll want to ensure that Google shows your store in local results when people in your city search for relevant topics.
There are three ways that shoppers can search for a local business including:
- Without
- Geographic Modification
- Geographic Modification
- Near Me
To inform Google of your business location, it is important to consider user search intent and optimize for the various ways local customers may search for your products.
Here are examples of each type of search:
Search without Geographic Modification
In this type of search, the user does not include the location in their query. It is a more general search, but it should be considered when optimizing content. For example, “kitchen accessories” could be a targeted keyword for your kitchen accessories store.
Geographically Modified Search
This type of search includes the location, such as a city, general area, or neighborhood, that the shopper is using. For example, “kitchen accessories in Brooklyn” could be a targeted local keyword that potential customers would use if they live in Brooklyn and are looking for kitchen accessories.
“Near Me” Search
In a “near me” search, the user indicates they want search results for nearby businesses. For instance, “kitchen accessories near me” or “buy kitchen accessories near me” could be phrases shoppers input in Google search.
?Professional Tip: Use the Ubersuggest browser extension for Chrome, so you can get a quick look at the monthly search volume of the keyword when typing search queries into Google.
The key is to ensure Google knows your business location by including your address on your website and adding location details to your business listings and social media, as well as anywhere else you have an online presence.
As mentioned above, building local links, creating local content, listing your business in local directories, and more will help you appear in local search results.
What is Local Pack vs. Organic Results?
When a user types a query into Google search, different types of results appear on the first page. These include paid ads, organic results, local pack results, and more.
Since they appear at the top of the page and both are shown in local search, there is common confusion between local pack results and organic results. Let’s look at the differences.
Local Pack Results
These results are referred to as 3 Pack results and appear above the organic results in the top Google search results. This section includes local businesses based on the search query.
Search results display on the map and show specific details about each business, such as address, hours of operation, and contact information. Each result also has a star rating, making the 3 Pack section crucial for attracting local customers.
Here’s what appears in the 3 Pack section when I type “kitchen accessories near me” in Google search:
How to Optimize Your Website for Google Local Pack Results:
- Claim your Google My Business (GMB) profile
- Add detailed information about your business to your GMB
- Verify your business location
- Keep your business information up-to-date
- Respond to online reviews, whether positive or negative
- Add photos of your store and products to your profile
Organic Results
Similar to local pack results, organic results also appear based on the user’s search query. However, these listings typically appear below the 3 Pack results. Unlike local pack results, these listings do not include detailed information about your business, such as contact details, hours of operation, and star ratings.
Here are the organic search results that appear below the 3 Pack results for the same query “kitchen accessories near me”:
When
When most people think of SEO, they envision organic results, and that’s not wrong. Improving organic search results is the foundation of SEO.
So, what type of results should you focus on? Generally, both. It is possible to rank in both sections, so it’s worth the effort, as it provides your business with more visibility in search results. Each type of result requires different strategies, but both are equally important for attracting customers to your local store.
5 Tips for Creating a Local SEO Strategy
Now that you understand what local SEO is and why it’s important for local businesses, it’s time to start building a local SEO strategy.
We don’t expect you to implement all these tips in one day, but now you will have the knowledge to gain a competitive edge over businesses that don’t understand the importance of SEO.
1. Optimize Your Website for Local Search
In North America, over a third of consumers discover brands through their website. Optimizing your website for local search is essential to make it easy for customers to find the products they are looking for.
But what does this actually mean? Optimizing your website may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be.
Here are some tips to get started:
- Create locally relevant content and publish it on your blog
- Update your on-page SEO
- Add your business name, address, and phone number to the HTML of your website
- Add your business name, address, and phone number to the “Find Us” page or in the footer
- Build local links
- Post images of your store and products on your site
2. Conduct Local Keyword Research for SEO
If you are creating content for your website or updating your business listings for organic search, it is important to conduct keyword research to identify which words are relevant to your business, the average monthly search volume, and the competitiveness of each word or phrase.
Most importantly, during the brainstorming phase, you should always consider the search intent of the user. What might the target customer be searching for on Google? Create a list of 50 to 100 keywords and/or phrases, and then you can easily start conducting keyword research without needing expensive tools or applications. All you need is Google.
You can start by doing the following:
- Conduct competitor research to see which keywords similar businesses are targeting
- You can do this by visiting the brand’s website and studying each page to see what type of content they are focusing on. You can also enter links from different pages into this SERP simulator tool to see which keywords are included in the meta details. (SERP means Search Engine Results Pages.)
- There are also tools you can use to spy on your competitors to see which keywords they are ranking for, keywords they are also ranking for, and whether there are keyword gaps. I’ll explain more about these tools below.
- Type the keywords or phrases into Google Search to see what comes up. This will give you a good idea of what type of content Google loves, as you will already know it’s what Google likes.
- You can also use Google’s “Related Searches” feature to see common questions being asked about your keywords. If you are writing a blog post, you can incorporate some or all of these questions into the article.
- When you center on your target audience and their search intentions, determine the keywords you will target. What information will be useful to them? Is it relevant? Will the content you create benefit your target audience? This is part of creating your content marketing strategy.
- On
For example, if you are targeting busy parents looking for kitchen gadgets to make meal prep easier, writing an article about a meal that takes four hours to prepare and cook is unlikely to attract the right audience.
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