Local SEO is the process of ensuring that your web pages appear in city and state-specific search results. Some of these localized search terms could be, “Kentucky movie theatre”, “Charleston bowling”, and “window repair near me”. These are all searches that people in the area, that are likely ready to conduct business, will be making. Really, we’re just talking about an ordinary search, paired with a city name, state name, or phrase like “near me” or “close by”.
Why This Matters for Your Business
Interestingly enough, 78% of local mobile searches result in an offline purchase. And when you get a web page ranking on the first page of search results for a local search, people are very likely to conduct business with you. Potential leads compare and contrast the first 5-10 results on the page before making their final decision, so win your reader over with the answers they need, and make your offer clear and compelling.
A recent study revealed these stats about local SEO:
- 96% of PC owners conduct local searches
- 46% of all Google searches are local
- 64% of local customers use search engines and directories as their main way to find local businesses
- 50% of local mobile searchers look for business information (like a company’s address or phone number)
4 Local SEO Solutions For Your Business
1. “Localize” Your Webpages
This is the starting point on the journey to appearing in local search results. The good thing is that it means just about exactly what it sounds like: including the city, state, and region name across your site. However, there’s a bit more to the equation and we want to help you get a head start. Let’s paint an example so you can better understand.
Localization Example:
Company Name: Bert’s iPhone Repair
Location: San Francisco
The first thing to decide is which local search term (keyword) is the most valuable for your web page. Likely, there will be a few, but the goal of the page should be to pick the one most important one (higher search volume, lower competitive difficulty) and very relevant to your offer.
Let’s go with… “San Francisco iPhone Repair”
This means that the ultimate goal of this service page is to appear on the first page of results when people in San Francisco search for iphone repairs. How do you work to make that happen? Start with these easy steps:
- Include “San Francisco iPhone repair” in your H1 and further elaborate with a phrase like “Best phone repair in San Francisco” in your H2 tag
- Include “San Francisco iPhone Repair” naturally through paragraphs
- Include “San Francisco iPhone Repair” in the url
- Include “San Francisco iPhone Repair” in the alt text of the images on the page, your title tag, and meta description
- Include several synonyms like “iphone specialist”, “iphone restoration in California”, and “San Francisco phone repair” throughout your body copy
Essentially, this is the groundwork for setting yourself up for success when it comes to ranking well for the desired local search term.
2. Set Up a Google My Business Listing
Another crucial local SEO solution is your Google My Business listing. Your business listing will help you gain better placement in Google search, along with appearing in Google maps. The process of setting up your listing is free, fairly simple, and it will benefit your business in a number of ways in the long-term:
- Taking up more space in search results
- Providing customers with needed info
- Allowing for interaction with customers
3. Gain High-Quality Backlinks
Search engines will begin to recognize your website as a trusted source, if you have backlinks coming from other well-regarded websites. In turn, this leads to better placement on the results page. While earning backlinks can be tedious, the payoff is certainly worth the effort. We suggest approaching local news publications, blogging websites, and earning citations from business directories like Yelp and Yellowpages.
4. Stay On Top of Your Google Reviews
Your Google reviews are highly important to local SEO. First, they work as an easy way to display real-world testimonies of the quality of service you provide. Second, they send signals to search engines about whether they should uprank you or not. Four and five-star reviews = higher placements on the local search results page and in the Google map pack. In addition, just gaining more reviews and responding to your reviews with a simple “thanks for the review” or “we’re sorry for your experience” is another positive signal to search engines.
If you have more questions about Local SEO solutions, or would like to improve the presence of your Business online, reach out to our team.
