It is vital that businesses understand the importance of local SEO in order to build their customer base. With the popularity and emphasis on location based searches in recent years, business efforts must also be put towards optimising websites for local searches. Let’s take a look at just why local SEO is so effective for many organisations.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO refers to how businesses rank on Google in local searches. Google allows any business that has a physical location to be found by people searching for services within that geographical area. Even as a small business, local SEO can heighten your sales enormously, with local results on Google being primarily based on 3 topics:
Relevance – By adding detailed business information, Google can better match your services with keywords searched for
Distance – By adding your location details, Google considers how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search
Prominence – This refers to how well known a business is, however, if you are a small business with many top rated reviews you can rank highly
Why Is It important?
With local SEO your business can easily attract customers by giving them instant results including directions to you via Google Maps. As these are location based searches, this also gives you the chance to build a wider audience including out of town visitors, enabling your customer base to grow. Studies have shown that 50 percent of people who did a local search on their phone went to a physical store within one day, which is proof of just how important local SEO is for your profit.
Local SEO 3-Pack / Snack Pack
This is the area that appears at the top of the SERP above organic results when you search for keywords such as ‘Cafe near me’. The 3-pack displays the top 3 local business listings that Google considers to match your search the best based on your location and service of highest quality. Having your business placed in the snack pack will give your business a much higher CTR and help to build your website traffic.
How Your Business Can Improve Your Local SEO:
- Get regular reviews
- Register on all business directories
- Optimise for voice search
- Use location specific pages
- Create regular content based on your local area
- List your business on Google My Business
Google My Business
Google My Business is a free tool any business looking to rank in their local area should use. This tool enables you to manage your website based on your location and helps customers find your business. From here you are able to choose how your business will display on Google Maps, select your business category and enter your number and website URL.
As well as managing your information, you are able to interact with your customers through the platform by responding to reviews and comments. You can also learn about where your searches are coming from and who is contacting you directly through a local search result on Google Maps, enabling you to track your performance effectively.
