Local SEO has become a hugely important strategy for businesses operating in a defined location. We Make Media explains why, and shows you how to optimise your website for local search
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a necessary part of a website redesign to ensure a small business can be easily found on the Internet. SEO helps to get free traffic from search engines like Google and Bing to move a website further up the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS).
For those small businesses that operate in a defined geographic location and offer products and services specifically to customers who live and shop in that area, local SEO has become a hugely important strategy.
Local SEO is a way of optimising the web presence of your business to become more visible in local search engine results. It is particularly useful if you have a brick-and-mortar business like a restaurant or retail outlet, or offer a service like kitchen fitter to a localised audience.
When you search on Google for something like “roast dinners near me”, you will likely see a panel of three businesses appear at the top of the results under the heading ‘Places’. This is the Google Map Pack. It will show the address, telephone number, possibly the star rating, maybe the opening hours, the price range and customer reviews. Searchers can view all this information without having to click through to your website.
If the keywords that you want to rank for returns the Google Map Pack in the search engine results, this is a clear sign that local SEO will work for your business and can help you to get more organic traffic from potential customers in your local area.
These are the three main pillars that influence local SEO.
1. Proximity
Google takes your location into account when people search for local keywords. They don’t even need to search for your town or city or include the words ‘near me’. Google simply uses their current location to show the nearest results. Generally, the closer you are to the searcher, the higher up you will be on their list of results.
2. Prominence
This refers to how popular your business is with its online users. If it is popular with customers, you shouldn’t have too much trouble translating this online.
3. Relevance
This is a huge priority, as Google wants to return the most relevant results when people search for something. If your website and your Google My Business profile contain relevant keywords that match the search intent of the user, you will appear higher up in the search results.
All small businesses need to be discoverable online. Optimising your business for local SEO allows people to find the information they need quickly and easily, and removes any obstacles that may prevent them from choosing to buy from your business.
According to data from Think with Google, 76% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase.
Local SEO, when done well, allows you to attract more customers in your local area, by increasing the amount of organic traffic coming to your website. An estimated 83% of people use Google Search to learn more about businesses in their local area and their intent to purchase is high. Local SEO allows you to attract these people.
Furthermore, if you optimise well for local SEO and are showing up organically on page one of Google, you are less likely to need to pay for ads.
Use local SEO to increase brand awareness and build trust with your potential customers. When they see you consistently appearing on page one of Google, this is a strong signal to them that Google sees you as an authority.
1. On page SEO
Firstly, make sure you have a good quality website that is free from spelling and grammar mistakes. It should be fast, secure and responsive. Ensure your company name, address and phone number appear on the website.
2. Google Business Profile
Next, set up a Google Business Profile. Add your business title, category, website URL, and accurate opening hours, making sure the business name, address and phone number match those listed on your own website.
3. Reviews
Reviews help you to build authority. Google looks at your reviews not only on Google itself, but also on review sites and on your own website. It likes to see reviews being shared frequently and it especially likes recent reviews. A good star rating immediately makes visitors see your business in a positive light.
4. Citations
Citations are mentions of your business in various listings and directories. It is important to make sure your business name, address and phone number match what is listed on your website. Try to get included in as many directories as possible, especially those with a local leaning.
5. Links
These fall into two categories. External links are where other websites link to your site and internal links are those between the pages of your own site. Focus on getting external links from sites with high domain and page authority. Make sure the links are relevant, are from several other domains, and have appropriate anchor text.
6. Behaviour
Finally, Google will look at how people interact with your listings. How long are they spending on your listing? Are they clicking the call button or asking for directions? And are they clicking through to your website? All of these behaviours send signals to Google to tell them how popular and effective your listing is.
We Make Media is a Devon-based web design company. We’ve been helping small businesses grow in the West Country since 2010. If you’re interested in a website design for your business, we would be happy to discuss what you’re looking for and how we can help. Book your free discovery call.
Jeff Cooper. 22 November 2022
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