What is Local SEO?
If you are looking to rank your local business in Google or other search engines to drive more traffic to your business, the standard SEO is not enough. You will need to perform some of the methods to implement the local SEO on your website. Local SEO is a method which includes ranking your business in Google places and local search. Whenever people are searching related to your business, your business should pop up at the right time. This is how you drive traffic to your local business. Local SEO is for the same, it is all about ranking in all places where your potential customers are searching.
Local Search
The first thing in the local SEO method is about the local search. If you are wondering what is local search, it is a type of a search that people perform to find places near them.
For instance, if someone is looking for the "Best hair salon near me", the phrase "near me" will term the search as a local search. it means the visitor is looking for the place with the specific address. Your business should pop up right there in front of your customer's eye in the first position.
Once you have done the right local SEO, your chances of ranking in local search will increase. 90% of the people will prefer to open the first place that they will see. Therefore, it is necessary for any business to get there.
Google My Business
When you search for any of the specific places on Gooogle. You might see there is an infobox that on the sidebar that shows each and every information about the place. To get there and let the visitors see the details, you will need to register for Google My Business.
Make sure you fill up all the details including your phone number, your website, the number of days you are open for business, social media handles, etc. The more information you enter there, higher are chances of your ranking. The other thing that you need to give special attention to is the address of the place. You should enter the full exact address for your business. Try to extend it and give the proper address.
It will benefit you in two ways. If someone searches a place with the phrase "near me", there are more chances of your business to be seen there. The other benefit is, it will be easier for your customers to find your shop. Remember, you are in local business, if people can't find your place, they won't buy from you. You will lose not only one but many customers if you do not provide special attention to the details. Also, pin the exact location on Google map.
Before you jump right into the directory, you will need to set up a GMB account and verify all the details. Google My business is the first thing that you should register before you go to any of the local directories. Not just Google, the same thing goes for Bing and Yahoo.
Although you might not get as many results as Google you will surely get some of the results. Therefore, it is necessary to submit your listing to all the other search engines. It is not a long process, most of the companies will include the listing of Google my business along with the other directories as well as search engines. So, you can leave the entire process on them and do not worry about anything.
Make sure you provide all the accurate details and verify them. The details won't appear on the search if you don't verify them. Once you have done the process, you can continue with sending the listing to the directories.
Important things to get in SERP
As you know for the standard SEO, you will need the right keyword, keyword in the title, content length, and there are various other things that should be taken into consideration. You might be thinking, what are some of the crucial things needed to get in SERP of local SEO.
There are several things that are important when it comes to local search optimization. Here are some of the things that will tell you how well you will rank.
Precision is checked where if someone searches for the places near them and your business is close to the range, your business will appear there.
Not to mention, the search must be related to the business you are working in. Title and keywords the most important thing whether it is standard SEO or SEO for the local business.
Reviews and the engagement to your listing also plays an important role in ranking. If you have a good amount of reviews, your listing will be ranked higher.
Local SEO services
Now, you surely have understood that you will need to implement some of the Local SEO techniques in order to rank higher and convert more visitors into your customers. For doing that, you will need Local SEO services.
Unlike standard regular SEO, here the services are a little different. You won't have to create backlinks for the service. Instead, you will have to optimize the citations and also submit your listing to various other directories. We will discuss each one of these services in details.
Building Business Citations
If you are wondering what are situations and how the service can help you with the rankings. Here's everything that you should know. Citations are basically NAPW of website. NAPW means Name, Address, Phone number, and a website link. Whenever you see any of the listings, whether they are on Google or on any other directories. You will see all of this information written over there. These are called citations.
You might be thinking why you w0uold need service for that if it is just about entering the details. Actually, you will have to optimize the citations a bit. Whenever someone search for a shop near any area, and your shop falls on the same area, your business should be listed over there.
For this, you will need to add all the details that you are asked for. Once you enter all the details, you are ready to go for.
If you are thinking where you will have to enter the details, it's on all the places whether is any of local directory or Google My Business page. The more citations you create, the higher are the chances of ranking.
Make sure the details enters are correct and try to enter the maximum amount of information possible. When you claim a listing in the directory, it is called structure citations. Others are called unstructured citations.
You should send you citations to each and every local directory out there who are accepting the new business on their website. You can get the local SEO service for the same. They will create the citations for you and submit it everywhere and to all the directories, which brings us to the next service you can use.
Directory submission
This is the local SEO services just like in standard SEO. The only difference here is that in standard SEO we used to submit website to all the directories. Whereas in the local SEO, we will only submit the website to the local directories This will not only help you in ranking higher in search engines but also there are hundreds of people who are searching for businesses like yours on the local directory.
Having an updated listing in the directories along with the structured data, you will get more customers. The is the reason why you need to submit your website to not only one but all the local directories out there and start generating revenue from the customers you get. You can order the local directory submission service.
Website Localization
You are not targeting each and every person in the world but only the people who are living around your business place area. Therefore, you won't have to add the websites to each and every website. Instead, you need to make your website more local. The best way is the add the websites on directories which we have already discussed.
Coming to the next point, you can participate in the events that are help near your area. Even virtual participation or adding a comment will give you a lot more customers. Even if you don't get any of the customers by this, you will create a brand among the people by engaging with them.
Managing the reviews
Reviews and ratings that your customers provide are not only beneficial for the customers who view your listing but even Google gives more priority to it. Search Engines want to give their users the best experience and provide them the results that they are looking for. Therefore, it is necessary to have some of the amazing reviews for your business.
You can get the service for the reviews and the ratings, where they will encourage your customers to leave feedback for your place. The more feedback and the ratings they provide, the better it is for your business. Make sure you provide quality service. In this way, they will provide the 5-star ratings along with a positive review of your business. The same thing can benefit you a lot in getting more customers and even in SERP.
All about the backlinks
People have this huge misconception going on in their mind. They think creating more and more backlinks will get you higher ranks. Although, the number of backlinks does play an important role when it comes to ranking one thing that people don't know is Google focuses more on quality rather than quantity.
You will have to get some of the backlinks for your business but you will also have to keep an eye on the quality of the backlinks you are getting. Quality backlinks mean to get the backlinks from reputed source or from the domain with high domain authority. Such websites are will give you more rankings and you could easily rank in the top with these.
Also, along with this, the one thing that you should pay attention to is where you post the backlinks. For local websites, you should always target the bloggers who are blogging on the same niche or the same area. You can also try adding a press release or advertising on a digital news website for your city. in this way, you will get more genuine customers.
The whole backlink process is very completed as you will have to create a link juice in order to get on the top of Google. For that reason, it is recommended that you should get the service from the professionals, They will do the work and you can enjoy the new customers.
Do I need local SEO if I did Standard SEO?
The one common question that we get is whether a business owner should do the local SEO if they have already paid for the standard SEO. Your simple answer over here is Yes, you should do the local SEO along with the regular SEO of your websites.
Talking about the numbers, there are approximately 46% of the total searches in Google that are local searches. More than 64% of the people who buy the products offline have first searched about the business online using Google business places.
There are many people who will first call the local business for some queries and then actually buy the product from them.
Don't you think you need to leverage the power of local SEO now?
If you are still having some of the doubts about whether you should get the local SEO service or not, here are a few more reasons you should do it.
Less competition
The right time is now. There are only 46% of total businesses who have claimed their business in directories and on Google. For the same reason, the competition is low and you should act right now to get on top. If you are still looking for some numbers, a total of 78% of the local searches done on mobile will result in an offline purchase.
Now, just imagine, when someone searches on Google and then see your listing at the top page on 1st Rank along with amazing positive reviews, and the place is also convenient for them. Why would they choose to go with any other place?
Reviews and Online presence
Everybody wants quality these days. No one can tell about the quality unless they buy from them. However, to get the idea about it, one can simply perform a search and they will come to know everything about it. They can see other people reviews in there and also go to the official website from there.
In short, it has become necessary for you to have an online presence no matter if you are selling items online or you are selling items offline. Therefore, you will need to get some local SEO services and optimize your listings in such a way that it ranks.
Timing is everything
As mentioned above, you will need to pop up into your customer's screen at the right time. There are many people out there who are urgently looking to get things done. They will simply run a Google search and go to the place that comes first. There are only a few people who will actually run a search with a business name. Most of the people will search with the activity. For instance, one will run a search "Spas near me" rather than the specific name of the spa.
This is your time to get one permanent customer. If you have applied all the techniques and strategies of the SEO, your business will be seen in top place. The customers are more likely to covert on the top page. You will get the customers even if you rank 2nd or 3rd. For the same reason, you need local SEO.
Choosing the right company or tool for local SEO
Now, if you are have made your mind to purchase the SEO services for local business. It's time to select a company. Here are some of the things that you should see in a company before you buy anything from them. The same thing goes if you are using a tool for local SEO instead of a company. below are some necessary features or service that you should be provided.
Reports
You surely need to know what they are doing with the money you gave them. The results might take more time to appear as Google takes its own time to rank the listing. Till then, you should have regular reports on what are the progress made for your local listing.
Analyze the rankings
SEO is not about putting the efforts blindly, you also need to check and analyze your ranking. Along with this, you need to keep an eye on the competition. Make sure all of these things are done by the company you are planning to go with. Take a close look at the competitors and see if they have added anything extra.
Accuracy
The other thing that you need to give you a special focus on is accuracy. This goes on every single detail you add on the directory or the listing including the website link and the number of hours you operate. The main focus that you should pay attention to is the address of your shop. You might get a huge profit as there are thousands of people who are searching for the places with "near me" tag. If you manage to appear on the top of the results, you will get more customers.
Reputation and reviews
The other thing that you will need to see is the ratings and the reputation of your business. The tool or the company you are planning to with should be able to manage all the reputations and the reviews If you are planning to use a tool, it should automatically show you the reviews and overall reputations from the directory websites. The tools will help you to manage all the reviews wisely.
Accurate Creations
As said, citations are one of the most important parts of the local SEO. You need to make sure all the citations are added properly and accurately. Make sure the NAPW are properly mentioned and also see if there is verification needed, you need to verify your phone number or any other details. If you are not verified, your listing won't be seen. So, it is mandatory to verify your details once you enter them. This depends on the website you are registering with or the directory you are going with.
Final words
When you are managing the SEO, make sure you take a close look at your rankings, you will need to keep an eye on how they perform and also on how you can increase them for your profit. Make sure you see all the feature list when you are planning to go with the tool. You should surely go for some of the tools or the service that provide all the above-mentioned things. Moreover, make sure to regularly maintain your SEO score. Regularly maintaining an updating all the citations will surely get you ranked in Gooogle and you will see a huge increase in your revenue and customer base. All you have to do us follow all the tactics given over here.
