At a time when locality is increasingly important to search engines, no comprehensive approach to effective search engine optimisation (SEO) will ever be truly complete without a local SEO strategy.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is a subset of SEO focused on optimising a website to rank highly in local search results. Everything from ‘doctors near me’ to ‘supermarket in [town name]’ is a local search term. These strategies and actions help businesses to maintain visibility on Google Maps and in important search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords and phrases.
Although this might sound intricate and nuanced, at its core, local SEO aims to boost the number of sales a local business is driving by building its online visibility.
Why is local SEO so important?
SEO for local businesses is such a hot topic because almost 50% of all Google searches are local. Almost 90% of smartphone users searching for local businesses do so at least weekly, with more than 50% searching every day.
Which businesses will benefit from local SEO?
There are, of course, some businesses that won’t see any benefits from a local search strategy, such as online-only ecommerce retailers. However, the exciting thing about local SEO is that it has inherent value for businesses of all sizes with a physical presence and/or those serving a particular geographical location. So, if this sounds like you and you aren’t paying close attention to your local SEO ranking, you are almost certainly failing to make valuable connections with potential customers in your community.
Everything from bars to grocery stores, restaurants, and doctors’ surgeries should be using local SEO. Businesses that cover a particular service area, such as locksmiths, builders and plumbers, are also in a prime position to leverage the power of local SEO. This is clearly not an exhaustive list, or we would be here all year, but we hope you get the idea!
Remaining competitive with local SEO
It can be easy for small local business owners to feel disheartened by the current landscape, which seems to favour large corporations. Big businesses have large budgets to funnel into their digital marketing strategies, and although you might not have the funds to compete, the good news is that local SEO actively favours small businesses.
Investing in this strategy will boost your local discoverability and help you make meaningful connections with consumers already interested in the products and/or services you offer. Not only do search engines understand the value of local businesses, but consumers do too. In fact, more than 90% of consumers prefer to shop locally and won’t travel more than 20 minutes to purchase their everyday essentials.
In today’s fast-paced, digital-focused world, local businesses should focus on managing two storefronts: one physical and one digital.
Understanding the intent behind local search
Organic SERPs are largely based on relevance, although quality obviously plays a key role. As such, results are designed to serve a broad audience, most notably both transactional and informational searchers. Local SERPs, however, take more ranking factors into consideration and although informational searchers are still served, search engines recognise that the purchasing intent is often higher amongst searchers conducting local queries.
So, many local search queries will include modifiers, such as: “[search term] + near me” or “[search term] + city”. These modifiers will filter searches based on the user’s location, how far they are willing to travel, and the urgency of their query.
Interestingly, search engines have recognised that local search is so important that they are working to understand intent even when modifiers aren’t used. Essentially, this means that search engines are working to deliver the same localised search results to users searching for both “local coffee shops near me” and, simply, “coffee”.
The Importance of both traditional and local SEO
More than 90% of all online experiences today start with search engines, so the importance of SEO really cannot be overstated.
When searchers want to locate services, products, and specific businesses, their quest more often than not begins with an online search. When implemented correctly, a robust SEO strategy will help your business to sit at the top of SERPs for your target keywords and phrases. Don’t forget, more than 60% of all clicks will be divided amongst the first five organic results on a SERP.
There are a variety of traditional SEO techniques that you might choose to integrate into your digital strategy, including:
- conducting comprehensive keyword research and implementing these terms strategically across your website
- creating in-depth, high-quality content on topics relevant to your business
- improving the load time of your website
- building your backlink profile from reputable, relevant, and highly authoritative sites
But if one of your core objectives as a local business owner is to drive footfall to your physical store, SEO alone just isn’t going to cut it.
The purpose of local SEO
As its name suggests, local business SEO strategies are designed to attract customers in hyper-focused areas. Whereas standard SEO gives businesses a global reach, local SEO is shaped to connect with people living in or visiting a particular town or city. For many local businesses, local customers are the most valuable for several reasons. Not only are they easier to connect with, but they are also more likely to be brand-loyal and to return consistently if they receive the service they expect.
Robust strategies designed to boost local SEO for small businesses should be carefully constructed to drive the best possible outcomes and return on investment (ROI). As with traditional SEO, there are a number of tactics you could choose to employ, including:
- claiming your Google My Business page
- conducting local keyword research and integrating them into relevant on-site content
- earning and effectively managing online reviews
- ensuring your name, address and contact phone number (NAP) information is clearly displayed on your website
- building your backlink profile from authoritative, relevant and reputable local websites
- publishing on-site copy that is location-specific
