Visibility is one of the major challenges that small businesses face, and it gets worse with local businesses. For context, there are over 33 million small businesses in the US alone, and each of these businesses are vying for visibility. While all of these businesses won't be in the same market as you, a good percentage of them, say half a million, would be in the same or alternate market. To stay ahead of these businesses, you should leverage Local SEO.
This article will take you step-by-step through leveraging local SEO to dominate Google's map pack and maximize your small business's online presence. You'll learn how to create a comprehensive Google My Business listing and optimize your website for local SEO and keywords.
Local search engine optimization (SEO) is an important strategy for small businesses to increase their visibility and ranking in local search engines like Google. As opposed to traditional SEO, local SEO involves optimizing the website, local citations, and other online content to target specific geographic locations. Local SEO focuses on ensuring that your business's website appears in local search results when customers search for products and services within your business area.
For example, if someone searches for "best pizza near me," local SEO ensures that any local pizza businesses appear in their search results. This will enable searchers to quickly find the best pizza place near them without sifting through irrelevant listings from across the country or overseas.
Local SEO is an invaluable tool for any small business. Here are a few of the benefits that Local SEO can bring to your small business:
Local SEO is the key to unlocking your small business's potential in dominating local markets. Local businesses can use SEO strategies, such as leveraging schema markup and geo-modifiers along with optimizing Google Maps, to increase their online presence and visibility among competitors vying for attention in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Local SEO helps to draw more leads and boost sales for small businesses. In 2020, 93% of customers used online searches to find a local business. Local SEO ensures that your business will come up when these customers search for a local business in your niche. This is great as potential customers can find you easily when looking for relevant products and services in their area.
Local SEO also helps to strengthen a small business's online reputation by providing additional information about the company, such as user reviews, address details, and opening hours on SERPs. This makes it easier for potential customers to learn more about a company before deciding whether they want to purchase.
Local SEO also helps small businesses to target better customers who are more likely to be interested in their products and services. Geo-targeted keywords, local citations, and structured data help small businesses reach people within the vicinity of their business location.
Local SEO helps to build trust and credibility for small businesses by establishing them as an authority in the local market. This gives potential customers more confidence in the company they are considering doing business with, leading to an increase in conversions.
Local SEO requires a few steps to ensure that your small businesses can maximize their online presence and visibility. Here is a step-by-step local SEO guide to that can help optimize your website:
The first step in local SEO is creating a comprehensive Google My Business listing. This listing helps customers find businesses easily within their local area, as it provides all the necessary information about the business, such as location, hours of operation, reviews, and more. By ensuring that all of this information is up-to-date and accurate, you will increase your chances of appearing on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Once you've created your Google My Business listing, optimizing your website for local SEO and keywords is next. Geo-modifiers such as "near me" or "in my area" are important to include in your content so that it can appear in local searches. You should also include relevant geographic tags on all of your images, videos, and other media to ensure that they can be found by potential customers searching for services in their area.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great tools to use for local SEO. Having a presence on these platforms will help you reach more potential customers in your local area and increase the visibility of your business. You should also include geo-targeted keywords in your social media posts to improve your chances of appearing in SERPs.
Link building is another important aspect of local SEO. Building links to your website from other local businesses or websites in your area will help to increase its authority in the eyes of search engines and improve its rankings on SERPs.
Local SEO citations refer to listings on third-party websites such as Yellow Pages or Yelp, which provide additional information about a business. To get listed on local directories, you must create a profile for your business on these sites and include all necessary information such as contact details, address, opening hours, etc.
User reviews play an important role in local SEO as they help to build trust and credibility with potential customers. Encouraging customers to leave positive reviews on your website or social media pages will help you to stand out from the competition and improve your search engine rankings.
Schema markup is a code that can be added to your website to help search engines understand the content and improve its visibility on SERPs. This markup can include details such as business name, address, contact information, reviews, and more. Using Schema Markup, you can ensure that your business's details are displayed in search results and easily found by potential customers.
To ensure that your local SEO efforts remain effective, monitoring and updating them regularly is important. This includes monitoring SEO citations and directories to ensure that all of the information is up-to-date, regularly reviewing your website's SEO performance, and conducting a Local SEO audit.
This local SEO checklist should help you optimize your website for local searches and get found by potential customers in your area.
If you want to enlist the help of local SEO agencies, it is important to do your research and find a company that is experienced in this field. Look for a local SEO agency that offers comprehensive services such as keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, content creation, and more. Additionally, make sure you read reviews from other customers to get an idea of the quality of service they provide.
Local SEO is a powerful tool for businesses looking to gain visibility in their local area. By ensuring that all of the necessary SEO elements are in place, you can increase your chances of appearing on SERPs and reaching more potential customers. If you're still struggling with visibility on your website we recommend hiring a local SEO consultant or agency like us! UADV offers a range of Local SEO services, including an SEO audit – contact us today to find out how we can help!
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