How to Build an Effective Local SEO Strategy?

What is Local SEO?

With thousands of different brands and businesses operating online and supporting their company through their online marketing efforts, it is becoming important that location be a factor that is considered in SEO. Local SEO refers to optimising web pages so that they are visible in location-specific searches, ensuring that if you are the nearest brand or business to where the search query originated from, you will rank highly for that search! So why does this matter and why should we consider local SEO factors as an important feature? The best traffic is the traffic that is hopefully going to result in either a purchase or even just an interaction with your website, and those in close proximity have a higher chance of using your business to fulfil their needs. 

An example of how this works is when a Google user searches for a locksmith near to them, if you are a locksmith in the area that the user is in, your webpage will be one of the first to show up, ensuring that you have a high chance of gaining a new client! Having a local SEO strategy can help to improve not only the number of visitors to your website but it goes a long way in securing customers that will purchase an item or service from you! local SEO importance has been growing over the years and it has become an important factor to consider if you own a business, particularly a small one that relies on a customer base in near proximity to you. 

What’s The Difference Between SEO and Local SEO?

Many marketers and website designers look at how local SEO vs global SEO can impact site visits and how these two elements influence one another. SEO and Local SEO work in a very similar way and they are both designed to improve where you rank on a search engine results page. The difference however comes in when you look at the market that you are targeting. While SEO efforts help you to improve your ranking on a global scale, local SEO ranking focuses on your area and helps to stream traffic within a certain location to your webpage. Local SEO tools help you to manage the traffic that makes its way to your website and ensure that those visiting your page have a high chance of making a purchase. Many businesses, restaurants and even doctors use this kind of SEO tool to help them promote their business to a specific portion of the population. 

Why Should We Care About Local SEO?

There are many local SEO benefits that come from using these search engine tactics and being able to strategise and hone in on a specific local population can go a long way to ensuring that you do not just receive traffic, but that you receive high-quality traffic. It is also important to remember that when it comes to standard SEO on a global scale, it can take months, if not years, it optimises your website and the content to rank highly. When it comes to local SEO, you are not only honing in on a specific customer base but you are also eliminating a large number of competitors. Instead of competing for tranks and site visits on a global scale, with local SEO you only have to compete with a small number of other businesses! This is why local SEO for restaurants and other smaller businesses is becoming more important than ever, and why local SEO should never be underestimated. Even just using the local SEO basics can help to increase the amount of high-quality traffic that makes its way to your webpage! 

Which Types of Businesses Need Local SEO Strategy?

Local SEO results show that this form of SEO has helped many different brands and businesses to become more active in their communities and gain more customers through effective local SEO channels. While other SEO tactics may help a brand or business achieve global recognition, many smaller companies are hoping to become visible within their community alone. local SEO for small businesses has changed the game and has helped many of these brands grow and exceed their wildest expectations, helping them to grow and gain a wide customer base within a specific area! For many smaller brands and businesses, this is all that you need and whether you are looking at local SEO for lawyers in your area or are trying to find the best Thai restaurant near you, it helps users to better use search engines more effectively! 

Not only is local SEO necessary for small businesses, but larger ones also have the ability to use this type of SEO to their advantage. Local SEO for multiple locations offers larger brands and businesses the opportunity to promote their webpage through local SEO tactics, without having to cut out areas where they may also have a market! For large brands like Nike or Addidas, having the opportunity to provide multiple options and stores within many different locations ensures that no target market is cut off or is not able to access your website. Local SEO can therefore be used for many different types of brands and businesses, both large and small! 

What are The Most Important Things to Focus on Local SEO?

There are many different local SEO tips and tricks that will help a brand or business manage and optimise their local SEO strategy, ensuring that they receive as much valuable traffic from the visits that they receive. The following is a local SEO guide that will help you gain a better understanding of what to focus on when it comes to local SEO tactics. 

Google My Business Optimizations

The local SEO google my business features allow for brands and businesses to make a free listing that leads to their details, with their business name, location, contact details and more freely available for users to use! It is important that every brand or business take advantage of this free feature as it can help to optimise your local SEO tactics and bring more users to your website. It is not only important that you fill in the details provided, but also make sure that the listing is presented well, with all possible information added to the listing. This Google business profile optimisation can help users to find out more information about who you are what you do without having to visit your page! The more information you provide, the better your chances of attracting customers! This feature should be thought of as your local SEO landing page and treated as you would any land page that you design! 

Reviews

Getting great reviews from happy customers is one way that you can better optimise your local SEO tactics! Not only do these reviews offer Google imperative information on you being a trustworthy web page but it also draws in customers themselves. By asking your customers to send a short review or even picture after they have received their item or you have completed a service for them, you are creating a buzz around your business and providing potential customers with vital information about your business! Local SEO reviews is an easy way to optimise your local SEO strategy and increase the number of visitors and potential clients to your webpage!

On-Page Optimization

through on-page optimisation tactics, businesses can help to improve their local SEO! Ensuring that your location is on your website and mentioned within the content on your web pages, you are ensuring that search engines have all the necessary data to correctly interpret your location and send search engine users in your area to your webpage. One thing to remain vigilant about when doing this is to make sure you avoid what we call keyword stuffing. Placing this important information in your content is important but it should never sound like you are forcing this information to fit. By structuring your content well and including things like your location in the content in ways that make sense, you are creating a better experience for users and are also providing valuable and insightful information to search engine crawlers. On-page local SEO can help a brand or business capitalise on local SEO and draw customers to their webpage! 

Backlinks From Local High-Authority Websites

Local SEO links are another way that brands and businesses can increase the number of visitors to their webpage. Having backlinks to your webpage from other local businesses websites can reiterate to search engines the area you are in and the users who you are hoping to visit your webpage. By gaining backlinks from other websites that are operating within your specific area, you are targeting the specific market you are hoping to gain links from. it is important to remember that the backlinks you gain should only be from authoritative websites as ones from spammy pages actually decrease your chances of ranking highly on search engine results pages. By putting in time and effort to find productive and authoritative sites that operate in your area, you are on your way to creating a great local SEO strategy. 

Local Listing From Online Business Directories (Not Spammy Ones)

Having your information in an online business directory can help to not only improve on the number of customers who find your website but it can also help to improve your local SEO. These types of websites are visited by tons of users each and every day, looking for specific brands and businesses or looking to find the best company to help them with something specific. Having your contact information, brand name and even a few lines on who you are and what you do will go a long way to increasing the number of visitors you have to your website and potential customers! Getting into as many online business directories as possible would be a fantastic way to increase your local SEO, though it should be noted that online professional directories should be used! 

Correct Location Information on Website

When it comes to local SEO google maps locations, it is important that you make sure that the location on your website is correct and updated if you move to another area. Providing incorrect information could confuse search engine crawlers who will then not know the correct location to use. through Google maps and other mapping tools, you can make sure that the locations provided on your page are as correct and accurate as possible. this also goes a long way in ensuring that your customers are not confused with multiple locations to your physical store. 

What Tools Can Help to Build a Local SEO Strategy?

Semrush Listing Management Tool

The SemRush listing management tool is one that can help you get noticed through multiple directories! One of the main problems with getting your information into these directories is knowing which ones are the best for your specific business, with many spammy directories offering you spaces that can actually harm the integrity of your webpage. The SemRush listing management tool can ensure that your information is placed on the best directory pages, offering you the chance to receive only high-quality and relevant visitors making their way to your page through using this information. 

Growthbar (Chrome Extension)

Growthbar is a great local SEO tool to use and it is well priced to ensure that even small brands and businesses can get in on the action. This tool has many different features, each one designed to provide you with feedback and constructive advice on how to improve your local SEO. One of the most popular local SEO features is the keyword tracker as allows for you to monitor the position of your website’s keywords and let you know how effective they are. This is important when you are doing a competitor analysis and when you are looking at improving the local SEO keyword research you are using on your webpage. 

Google Trends

Google trends is a fantastic tool that can help brands and businesses find the most valuable insights about the target market in specific locations that they are in. This tool can show users what the most popular topics are at a given point in time, ensuring that you will have th tools to not only create good content but content that is relevant within your location. This tool can be used for wide geographic locations, like across entire countries, or it can be scaled down to look at specific cities or parts of a city. This tool works by gathering data around Google searches, using this information to construct an idea of what the most researched things are at a point in time. This is a great way to improve on a brand or businesses local SEO efforts as it can help you to gain an idea of what your target market is interested in and what would be beneficial to discuss or include in your content. 

Synup

Synup defines itself as a local listing software that can help your brand increase recognition across digital platforms. These software users are able to publish unique profiles and listings across multiple platforms. By being able to create unique and customised listings, you are not only ensuring that your name gets out there, but you are able to present the listings in a way that represents who you are and what you do. With so many other brands and businesses getting involved with local SEO, Synup offers brands and businesses the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. The analysts that help you to work up a unique profile are able to then streamline this across many different platforms, including both Google and Facebook! 

Google My Business

Google My Business is one of the most effective free tools to use to increase your local SEO and help you to become more visible in your local target market! This free feature provided by Google lets you fill out your pertinent information, things like business location, hours and even your reviews are all things that can be seen clearly on this listing. As the search engine with the highest search market, taking up the free offer and placing your information on this platform can do you a world of good and can ensure that you receive a ton of traffic! 

Google Search Console and Google Analytics

If you are hoping to perform a local SEO audit and find out more about how you can improve on your local SEO efforts, one of the best local SEO audit tools to use are Google search console and Google analytics. these tools provide you with valuable information about the analytical elements within your area, offing you ways that you can better equip your webpage to draw in these specific customers. Each of these tools has many other features that can be used to help better understand SEO and offer information on how you can improve your content and technical features! 

How Can Our  Expert Team at Markethinkers Help Its Customers to Create Local SEO Strategy?

Local SEO is becoming more important than ever and with so many different companies looking to niche their local target market, having a good local SEO tactic can make all the difference! We here at Marketghinkers have a Professional SEO Consulting team that is ready and waiting to help you to chive your local SEO goals, with a number of different broad tactics and strategies that have proven to be effective, designed and implemented according to your own unique specifications. We have a local SEO checklist that we can use to help you design your local SEO plan, ensuring that features that have not been included or are perhaps not up to scratch, are redesigned and implemented according to your own unique requirements! As a constantly changing industry, we are also equipped with all of the latest local SEO updates to ensure that your business is always using the most effective and up to date tactics. For a marketing team that can help you achieve your local SEO goals, look no further than our group of highly trained experts here at Markethinkers!