What Is Local SEO? A Guide for Beginners

Author: | Posted in Blogging, SEO No comments
What Is Local SEO? A Guide for Beginners

Local search engine optimization is one of the key technological innovations that play a critical role in business transformation. Businesses focusing on a smaller or particular geographical area can leverage on local SEO to get more prospects. 

What is local SEO? Local SEO improves your search engines’ visibility locally. 

Optimizing local SEO  is critical in improving website traffic, conversions, and leads. Achieving maximum Returns on investment (ROI) through the strategy is easier than the blanket normal SEO approach that focuses on a wider area. 

Entrepreneurs and e-commerce platforms across the world continue to invest heavily in local SEO services to improve their online presence. Recent reports indicate that SEO spending is likely to hit $80 billion by the end of this year. 

This article spotlights a few insights into how you can leverage on local SEO to boost your online ranking. 

Understanding Local SEO

Typically, local SEO is an online search engine optimization technique that aims to boost your business’s visibility on local google search results. In other words, local SEO is ideal for improving the visibility of your business in your local area. This is important in businesses that have a physical location since local SEO techniques help improve online visibility. 

Therefore, you get several impressions and conversions should you hire a qualified local SEO expert to work on your local SEO. Though most businesses invest a lot of resources in local SEO, a number of techniques can easily be applied without the need for too much investment. 

The following are a few local SEO techniques you can apply to boost your local SEO ranking on Google searches:

Create a Google My Business account

Basically, as you focus on your business to rank online, the main goal is ensuring the website ranks on Google results based on various keywords and content strategy. 

Google My Business ensures prospects can easily get details about your business upon searching using various keywords. An example is where you search bookshops near me. The search results will display information about your business if you own one. 

The details include your website, contact telephone numbers, address, and a review of your business. Google My Business profile is, therefore, important to help in displaying your company information to prospects via search engines. Ideally, the information never comes from your website, but through the Google business page.

To create a Google My Business, follow these steps:

  • Create Google My Business  account and verify  
  • Submit accurate business information
  • Include logo, working hours, mode of payment, images and services or products you deal with
  • Request customers to offer reviews for your business on various platforms
  • Respond to client reviews
  • Use Google My Business dashboard to promote various offers you may have for your prospects

Get Customer Reviews

Customer reviews play a critical role in promoting your brand and improving customer confidence. This is why it is important to encourage as many prospects as possible to offer your product or service reviews. 

In the long run, local prospects are more likely to locate and purchase your product based on the reviews seen on your Google My Business page.

To encourage clients to leave a review. You can apply the following concepts:

  • Request for a review after the sales deal has been closed
  • Send clients emails or texts requesting them to write reviews about the product or service you may have offered them
  • Be professional in responding to reviews acknowledging them after purchasing

Invest in Writing Local Content

How do you invest in content to achieve maximum results for a local SEO?

  • Write content, especially blog posts focusing on local events or news
  • Create multimedia content about the events you support in your area

Set up local specific webpages for the website by adding high-quality content. An example is designing a site that focuses on a certain field and then creates a segment that focuses on local news or events you sponsor around your area. 

The approach is ideal in helping your site rank in various locations that you intend to focus on around your area. You are likely to get more local clients since the majority easily gets swayed to associate themselves with products or services that are close to them. The spirit of feeling part and parcel of the content is perfect in luring action from potential prospects.

Get High-Quality Backlinks

High authority sites pointing to your site play an integral role in improving your local SEO. Though getting links to your site is important, the quality of the backlinks matters.

The following tips are important to get quality backlinks:

  • Publish high-quality content so that high authority sites will agree to link exchange
  • Guest blog on high authority sites
  • Engage with prospects via social media or email for them to link back to you

Invest in Local Keywords

Invest in keywords that are relevant to local clients.

You can use Google keyword planner to filter and get popular keywords in your location. This is critical to get relevant local keywords that you may target for your business. After finding them, they should appear in your URLs and your content. 

Also, read on here more innovative ways your business can improve rankings through local SEO.

What Is Local SEO? Get Started With Local SEO Today

What is local SEO? What do you need to succeed in it? This article offers some of the information that you need to turn around the fortunes of your business through local SEO strategies. 

Are you looking for key information about digital marketing? Check out our other articles.