What Is Local SEO? What Can It Do For Your Company?
How It Works
If you are marketing your business online these days you want to make yourself as visible as possible, capitalize on all resources and maximize your potential market reach and audience. There are many strategies and methods to help develop an online presence and grow your network. One of these strategies is observing and developing your content for SEO.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is an algorithm used by search engine companies like google and others to determine qualifying factors about what makes content either relevant or credible. Basically, it means a set of standards to determine how visible your content will appear.
There are several metrics and factors assessed to determine the qualities of content. Google will analyze key word usage but also repetition, the encryption and domain hosting, topic expertise and authority, links to reliable pages or other credible sources.
They analyze all these metrics together and combine them to give your website or web content a search engine ranking. That covers have relevant your page is when the content is searched for online. High ranked content will be seen first, being the most relevant, most credible and knowledgeable sources.
If your business is you are listed online it does not necessarily mean you will have lots of web traffic or viewers, if you are not highly ranked in the Search Engine Results Page you won’t be on the first page of listed results and the odds are you won’t be seen by the average web user.
Search Engine Optimization means getting your content to the top of the first page for listed results.
So, What Exactly is Local SEO?
It refers to the local network aspect of Search Engine Optimization. One of the best ways you can greatly increase your overall visibility and outreach is by putting yourself on the map and registering your location online to increase the traffic to your online marketing.
As search algorithms develop and become more complex and intuitive, search formats have also changed over time too. More often people search by proximity and local area. Like “Cafes and restaurants in Brooklyn”.
Configuring your content for local SEO means placing yourself on the digital map and connecting with your local network. Local SEO will drive traffic from your area specifically to your content and increase your overall visibility and legitimacy and building a place in the community network.
Social study research by Access Development say that roughly 90% of income is spent on amenities within 20 miles of home. This goes to show what a large role location plays in business and why you should be implementing strategies to improve your own local SEO visibility.
Not all business can truly benefit from local SEO. Companies that use physical retail locations can always take advantage of local SEO to improve their market outreach but other companies like online giants such as Amazon and a growing number of ecommerce and virtual businesses do not utilize physical locations to serve clients and operate their marketing outside the local community.
How do you Improve Local SEO?
There are a couple key elements you can use to improve your local SEO ranking.
Local Visibility
One of the primary ways to affect your Local SEO is by creating links to local events, local newspapers, local media and other local businesses. The related links to all the community business, events and services will ramp up your own relevance and visibility and drive more traffic to your website. Just make sure the links you use are from credible, reputable sources or this in turn reflects on your overall search ranking.
Optimizing for Image and Video Searches
Millions of search queries are for images or video through platforms like YouTube. When you create video or image content make sure you label and title the content appropriately to boost your relevance and gain higher outreach. This is an important strategy where you can put pictures of your building or local area and label them as such, driving your Local SEO.
Use Several Media / Marketing Platforms
There are already dozens of companies that specialize in local marketing platforms for businesses. Upload your company contact and information to services like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Yellow Pages and of course Google and Apple Maps. Using services like Yelp and Trip advisor are very budget friendly ways of increasing your companies’ online profile and bringing in local traffic from internet queries.
Google my Business
One of the most essential elements of creating a strategy for Local SEO is utilizing google my business.
This will add your company to googles directory to make sure your company’s name, location, operating hours and contact information is readily available when searched for through google.
Google my business will also increase your credibility and trustworthiness to prospective clients, verifying you as a local business. Today gaining customers trust is crucial, especially when dealing online or remotely. Having an authority verify you is a great opportunity to earn some of that initial trust.
You can also use google my business to share news, update, images, changes to operating hours and potential closures.
When used in tangent with Google maps the two services contribute to drastically improve your online visibility.
Furthermore, people can leave reviews and testimonials online which is an incredible way to gain other customer’s trust. Be warned, they can potentially leave a negative review so make sure your service is great.
Putting your contact information and operating hours on Google my business can also help streamline the contact process and drive in more customers organically.
Building Citations.
You probably heard the term building citations if you have researched Search Engines and SERP’s. While Google my business, trip advisor yelp and others are technically a building citation what it really means is any online mention of your company that includes the location, name and contact number also known as the ZAP set of data.
You can actively create many other building citations though other platforms like social media posts on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Is employing a Local SEO strategy right for you?
In most cases absolutely. Developing a wider online market outreach is becoming a primary method of generating sales and operating business in today’s day and age. While some businesses are not able to benefit from local marketing most are. The exceptions are just that generally, exceptions to the rule where their physical location has no effect on their business strategy. Research more on how to improve your own local SEO.
