In the digital world, SEO is crucial for the positioning and success of websites online. Search engine optimization is a popular marketing tool that combines various techniques and tools to improve the visibility of every business.
An important part of SEO is focused on local search, also known as Local SEO. Local SEO is a preferred direction of SEO suitable for both large and small businesses, and it is a mandatory component in the portfolio of any reputable digital marketing agency.
In this article, we will familiarize ourselves with Local SEO, its fundamental aspects, and its importance for every business and its online presence.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is a marketing strategy that aims to enhance the online presence of a business in search engines for a specific location. The primary goal of this tool is to improve the website’s ranking and position it among the top results on the SERP (search engine results page), focusing primarily on the location.
Local SEO is carried out with the aim of attracting local potential customers and users who are searching for a product or service in a specific geographic region.
Why is Local SEO Important for Every Business?
Local SEO is of immense importance for every business, particularly beneficial for small firms offering products and services at a local level. According to a study by BrightLocal, 98% of consumers use search engines to find information about local businesses.
The primary benefit of local SEO lies in the business’s ability to rank in the top search results for local searches. This improves visibility and traffic to the company’s website. Local SEO contributes to a significant 22.6% of the organic traffic to websites.
Appearing in the top local search results helps attract local customers and enhances the competitiveness of the business. It is observed that 88% of Google users with local queries through smartphones visit the physical business location within a week of conducting the online search.
Good local ranking is crucial for the company’s authority and customer trust. Local SEO helps businesses connect with the local audience and thrive successfully in the local market.
The article ‘10 Benefits of SEO Optimization for an Online Store‘ is ideal for all users interested in SEO and its benefits.
How Local SEO works?
Local SEO is used in every online search engine, but it is most commonly applied in Google, as the company dominates with an 83.49% market share.
Google increasingly utilizes users’ locations when generating search results. This is due to the specially developed algorithm for local search on the search engine.
Google understands when a search is local, for example, when the user’s query includes a location (such as Sofia, Plovdiv, or another city name) or phrases like “near me” or “close by.” Upon receiving a local search, the search engine begins to generate local results that it deems relevant.
In local SEO, the results on the search engine page are ranked in two different ways – the map pack and organic results.
Local results, also known as the “map pack,” are visualized prominently in the SERP. This section features a snippet from Google Maps, the first three local businesses, along with brief information about them. This section always includes the name, location (address) of the establishments, contact phone, website link, directions, operating hours, and reviews.
Ranking in the map with local results is accomplished through their profiles in Google Business Profile. According to Backlinko, for almost half of local searches (42%), users click on one of the results in the Google Maps field.
Immediately following this section, the organic local results begin to be arranged in the form of blue links. Here, websites of businesses, social media profiles, and various industry directories and catalogs are typically placed.
Who can use local SEO? Local SEO can be utilized by any business, as long as it has a physical location. Most commonly, local optimization is utilized by stores, establishments, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, medical centers, and other brick-and-mortar services.
Local SEO Basics
Local SEO optimization utilizes a set of techniques to help businesses appear in local results on SERP and climb to top positions.
Keywords:
Keywords are crucial for SEO as a whole. Researching those related to the local area is extremely important for the representation and ranking of the business in local results.
Popular keywords and phrases with local intent illustrate various ways users search for products or services on search engines. For example, users might search for “medical center Sofia,” but at the same time, they may look for “doctors near me,” as well as “specialist [disease],” and so on.
Analyzing all keywords and phrases helps discover new ways to position the business by adding new key expressions.
Tip: An easy way to find suitable keywords is by searching on Google (in the “Related Searches” field) or using specialized SEO platforms and tools such as Ahrefs, Serpstat, Google Keyword Planner, and others.
Google Business Profile (Google My Business)
An essential part of any local SEO is creating an updated and detailed Google Business Profile. The business profile on Google can be created in just a few steps. It can contain all the essential information about the company – from the name and address to contact phones, website, operating hours, and even offered products and services. It is crucial that the information in the profile is described in detail and comprehensively.
Tip: Optimize the content in the Google Business Profile – conduct in-depth analysis of keywords with local search and use them in the text of your business profile.
Business Website:
Having a business website is not a mandatory element of local optimization, but it provides an additional chance for indexing in local results. A well-optimized site has a greater chance of ranking in the top positions of local organic results.
Local Business Directories and Social Media:
For ranking in local SERP results, it is of immense importance that the basic business information matches across different sources. The most important data includes the name, address, and contact phone. This information shows the search engine and users that the company is legitimate, creating a connection between all individual online sources, such as Google Business Profile, social media profiles, and registrations in business directories and catalogs.
Local SEO is a powerful tool that enables every business to enhance its online presence and attract new local customers. Local SEO not only increases the visibility of the company and its website in SERP but also aids in establishing connections with users from the same geographic region.
As easy as it may sound, local SEO requires significant expertise in the field of digital marketing and search engine optimization. The best advice for local optimization that we can give you is to start working with a digital agency.