What is Local SEO? – Location based SEO

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25 January 2021
Sonja Pototzki-Raymond
 

You might have heard the term ‘local SEO services’ thrown around and know it is something that can help grow your business but have zero ideas on what it entails. Rather than you scour the web to find out what local SEO is, we’ve not only done all the research, but we have tons of experience in all things SEO. Ultimately the goal of any search engine is to connect the searcher with the most useful results. Business owners should adopt the same mindset in serving the users needs. Keep reading to learn about the importance of and tools for local SEO you can employ to optimise your website, ultimately helping your business grow.  

What is SEO?

First things first, you need to understand what SEO is to understand local SEO services. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is the process of attracting traffic from search engine results. This type of traffic from searches is called organic search results.  

Google, or whichever search engine you use, uses algorithms to match the searcher with the best result possible. And these complicated formulas change, daily. Google uses over 200 ranking algorithms to rank individual pages (not whole websites). They do not disclose how their exact formula works, so it continues to produce high-quality results relevant to the searcher.  

However, we do know engaging in the correct SEO practices will place your website as more favourable to the search engine, thus ranking you higher and more likely to be found by your ideal market. Google, for example, sends out “Googlebots” to scour through web pages, analysing the content and discovering what it thinks is most relevant. Using SEO practices can help the “Googlebot” to see your webpage as credible and desirable.  

From this, we hope you have gathered that optimising is an ongoing improvement process. But just because it is always changing doesn’t mean you cannot use it to your advantage. 

What is Local SEO?

A Local SEO strategy works to help local businesses share their products or services with potential nearby customers. With a local SEO package, your business can be more visible in local search results on Google. It works to serve local brick-and-mortar businesses by connecting searches with their physical store location. The search engine takes into account the location of the user and matches them with the Google My Business listing. The listing includes necessary information of their website, ratings, reviews, phone number, address, and directions to get there.  

Local search results appear in the form of Google Maps or Bing Maps using localised search terms such as city, suburb, province or ‘near me.’ By engaging your business in local SEO services, this ensures you will appear in the maps section of the search results for your products and services. 

How important is Local SEO?

According to HubSpot, four out of five consumers use search to find local information. This means 80% of your potential customers are using a feature to find your business. Through a local SEO strategy, you can be more likely to connect with your customer. Every day people are conducting searches to find services on various devices, often what they are looking for needs to be nearby. It would be a disservice for your business not to feature in these local search results.  

You wouldn’t fail to market your business in its local area directly. Employing local SEO services is only going to increase the opportunity to connect those people searching for goods or services in their immediate proximity. Plus, local SEO tools work to ensure trust between the users and the search engine, and in turn, the search engine and your business.  

From a local SEO campaign, you are also able to review how many conversions your business had. Including how many calls were received, the number of website visits, how many requests of directions and total photo views.   

How to improve Local SEO

Your business needs to be in the results of a local search.  The most crucial tip for local SEO is having a Google My Business Account and ensuring it is optimised with as much relevant information as you can provide. The most basic information to be included is your business name, address and phone number. To improve your local SEO, you should also have your logo, opening hours and what product or service you provide.  

Our extra local SEO tips for your business is to encourage reviews, reply to reviews, add latest ‘’news/products or events’’ (in your Google My Business Account) and add photos of your business.  

The more accurate information provided, the more local SEO checklist items are ticked off.   

In local SEO strategy, content still reigns as king. For your website to rank well amongst Google, you must produce relevant and valuable content for your consumer with localised importance. Include the names of locations and areas you serve in your content regularly along with what your business offers to aid your local SEO strategy. At the forefront of your mind as a business owner, your main goal should be to help your customer. Search engine users are your potential customers; the content you are creating should be adding to their user journey by including relevant keywords in your text. This will also help Google rank you higher!  

Climbing higher and higher up the organic ranking on Google is not a quick, easy fix. It takes months to see the dramatic increase in rankings. Despite being in it for the long game, we know firsthand how incredible the results from a successful local SEO package can be. We hope this helps in improving your local SEO! Please reach out if you would like to know more.  

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