Local SEO in Digital Marketing: Role and importance?
The Key to Unlocking Local Customers in Digital Marketing – Local SEO
Local SEO is an essential SEO strategy often underestimated by most brick-and-mortar businesses that serve a specific location. Well, Local SEO in Digital Marketing: Role and importance?
many might think, when there is a well-optimized business website through which you can target the entire online world with higher rankings on search engines, then what is the need for local SEO? But, according to Google, almost 46% of its searches have a ‘local intent’ included.
That’s why every business needs to get found in local search results to reach its full potential. And there are high chances to scale up the businesses when found by their local audience searching online for their products/services.
This article will take you through the ins and outs to understand its role and significance in improving businesses by increasing the chances of ranking higher for local search results.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is a branch of SEO that mainly focuses on optimizing a business’s website on search engines to rank higher for search terms that include a local intent. The local intent in the search terms can be either the physical location of a business or the specific region.
Who should adopt Local SEO?
Any business with a local storefront either at a single or multiple locations or which serves a set of specific local areas should use local SEO. In addition, serviced-based businesses where the workers can travel to the customer’s location in a specified geographic area can use this to improve their business. Some of the examples which fall under service-based businesses include plumbing, construction, electrical services, etc.
What are the benefits of Local SEO?
Investing in local SEO is beneficial for both brick-and-mortar and service-based businesses as well. To run with the pace of the digital world, today’s businesses should maintain both physical and digital storefronts. It helps you make your digital storefront visible online and attracts more customers. Apart from this, it brings many advantages that help even small businesses turn big with continuous efforts.
The benefits of local SEO include:
- Increased footfall to storefronts with the customers who are either local or searching for the products/service in the specific locations.
- Helps to establish business’s brand image
- Boosts website traffic for the most relevant searches
- Bridges the gap between the businesses and customers with increased accessibility
- Improves lead count with calls/bookings and thus results in higher ROI
- Reduces the need for paid advertising
- Builds trust and authority by elevating the level of appeal in the local market
Step-by-Step Guide for Local SEO
Optimize Google My Business (GMB):
This is crucial for local SEO. In Google My Business create the business profile and verify your GMB listing. Ensure that your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are accurate and consistent across the web and match exactly with GMB. Add relevant categories, services, and products. Frequently upload latest high-quality photos. Encourage and respond to reviews for Local SEO. Key point is regular update of the profile with photos, descriptions, and customer reviews.
Optimize Your Website for Local SEO:
Include in the title tags the city and state of the business. Meta descriptions, headers, and content should target the local area specific place name. Create location-based Local SEO pages if you serve multiple areas. Embed a Google Map on your contact page. Ensure your Network Access Point (NAP) information is consistent across your site. Include relevant location keywords throughout your website content, including titles, Meta descriptions, headers, and image alt tags. Create local landing pages targeting specific areas you serve.
Build Local Citations:
Citations are online mentions of your business name, NAP, and website URL across directories, local business listings, and industry websites for Local SEO. Ensure your business is listed in online directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and local business directories. Check for consistency in your NAP across all listings. Use tools like Moz Local or Yext to manage citations and ensure consistency.
Get Reviews:
Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other relevant platforms for Local SEO. Respond to all positive and negative reviews professionally and promptly in a timely manner.
Create Local Content:
Write blog posts about local events, news, or activities. Create content that resonates with your local audience for increasing the Local SEO. Participate in local online forums, Facebook groups, and social media conversations relevant to your industry. Offer helpful advice and establish yourself as a local expert.
Use Local Keywords:
Research local keywords using tools like Google Keyword Planner. Include these keywords naturally in your content. Consider running local PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Google Ads or social media platforms to target users searching for products or services in your area for Local SEO.
Build Backlinks:
Obtain backlinks from local newspapers, blogs, and business associations. Engage with local influencers to generate backlinks for Local SEO.
Leverage Social Media:
Create Engaging Social Media Profiles: Craft compelling profiles on relevant platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and local community pages. Include high-quality visuals, a clear description of your business, and a call to action (CTA) to encourage followers.
Post Regularly: Share valuable content consistently, showcasing your products, services, expertise, and unique selling points.
Target Local Audiences: Utilize location tags, geofilters, and local event hashtags to reach potential customers in your area.
Run Local Social Media Contests: Encourage user-generated content and local engagement through contests or giveaways centered on your business and community.
Respond to Comments and Messages: Actively engage with your audience, answer questions promptly, and address concerns to build trust and loyalty.
Promote Local Events and Offers: Use social media to announce special promotions, discounts, or events happening at your local business.
Link to Valuable Content: Share blog posts, articles, or videos relevant to your local audience and link back to your website to drive traffic.
Integrate Social Media with Your Website: Include social media buttons on your website to encourage sharing and following.
Optimizing Your Social Profiles: Include Location Information: Ensure your address and phone number are consistent across all your social media profiles.
Optimize Bios and Descriptions: Use relevant local keywords in your bios and descriptions to improve discoverability in local searches.
Partner with Local Influencers: Collaborate with local influencers to promote your business and reach a wider local audience.
Run Social Media Ads: Consider targeted social media advertising campaigns to reach potential customers in your specific area based on demographics and interests.
Track Your Results: Monitor your social media analytics to understand what resonates with your audience and refine your strategy accordingly.
Mobile Optimization:
Ensure your website is mobile-friendly as many local searches are conducted on mobile devices.
Tools for Local SEO
Google My Business: Free tool to manage your online presence on Google, including Search and Maps. The cornerstone of local SEO, GMB allows you to claim and manage your free business profile on Google Search and Maps. It’s crucial for optimizing local search results and attracting customers.
Moz Local: Helps manage your local listings and ensures consistency across various directories. This freemium tool helps manage your online citations across various directories. The free plan offers basic citation management and rank tracking, while paid plans provide more advanced features.
SEMrush: Provides keyword research, competitor analysis, and local ranking tracking. This comprehensive SEO platform offers a suite of local SEO tools, including listing management, rank tracking specifically for local keywords, and competitor analysis to understand your local SEO landscape
Ahrefs: Useful for backlink analysis and identifying local SEO opportunities. While not solely focused on local SEO, Ahrefs provides valuable tools for building backlinks, a crucial factor in local rankings. You can also identify local keyword opportunities and track local SEO performance
BrightLocal: Comprehensive local SEO tool for managing citations, monitoring reviews, and tracking local search rankings. This local SEO platform offers a comprehensive toolkit, including local search ranking tracking, citation building, review management, and local SEO audits to identify areas for improvement
Whitespark: Offers tools for local citation building, reputation management, and rank tracking. This tool focuses on citation management and local search ranking tracking. It helps you build citations across relevant platforms and monitor your local search performance.
Social Media Management Tools: Platforms like Hootsuite or Buffer can help manage your social media presence, a key aspect of local SEO. Schedule posts, engage with your local audience, and promote local events and offers. (Free and Paid plans)
Website Analytics Tools: Tools like Google Analytics or Matomo provide insights into website traffic sources, user behaviour, and local audience demographics. Understanding how local users interact with your website helps refine your local SEO strategy.
Implementing these strategies and using the right tools will help improve your local SEO, making your business more visible to potential customers in your area.
How different is local SEO from SEO?
While general SEO mainly focuses on achieving higher rankings for niche-specific queries on SERPs, local SEO aims to rank the websites in higher positions in specific geographical locations for the searches with a local component. Small businesses can benefit from the local audience, who often perform online searches.
In addition to this, Google can also understand to a certain extent whether the audience is looking for a local solution or not based on the search term, even if the local component is not included. Therefore optimizing a website for local SEO with location-specific keywords and building quality backlinks to the local events pages can boost its online presence in relevant areas; where the storefront is physically located or in the set of specific areas a business serves its customers.
Conclusion:
Finally, Local SEO in Digital Marketing: Role and importance refers to all the search engines and not Google alone. Though Google is the most used search engine worldwide with a whopping 92% of its search engine market share, it is also important for businesses to optimize on other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Apple.
StartupIcons provides services and the course on Local SEO in Digital Marketing: Role and importance in a detailed information.
FAQs:
- What is Local SEO?
A: Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a subset of SEO that focuses on optimizing a business’s website to rank higher in search engine results for queries with local intent. It aims to improve a business’s visibility for local searches, helping them connect with customers in specific geographic areas. - Why is Local SEO important for businesses?
A: It is crucial for businesses that have physical storefronts or serve specific local areas. It helps increase foot traffic to physical stores, establishes brand image, boosts website traffic for relevant local searches, improves accessibility to local customers, generates leads, builds trust and authority, and reduces the need for paid advertising. - Who should adopt Local SEO?
A: It is beneficial for businesses with physical storefronts, multi-locations, or those that serve specific local areas. Service-based businesses that offer services in specific geographic regions, such as plumbers, electricians, and contractors, can also benefit from this. - How is Local SEO different from general SEO?
A: General SEO focuses on achieving higher rankings for niche-specific queries, while local SEO targets specific geographic locations for searches with local intent. It aims to connect businesses with their local audience by optimizing for location-specific keywords and building quality backlinks to local events pages. - What are the benefits?
A: The benefits include increased footfall to storefronts, improved brand image, boosted website traffic for relevant searches, enhanced accessibility to local customers, and increased lead count and ROI, reduced reliance on paid advertising, and elevated trust and authority in the local market. - Does Local SEO only apply to Google?
A: No, it applies to all search engines, not just Google. While Google is the most used search engine, businesses should optimize for this on other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Apple as well.
