Local Search Marketing allows businesses to optimize their online presence for specific geographical markets. Whether your company operates one physical location or multiple, optimizing Google for local searches can help your business serve more customers faster while expanding faster.
Relevance is one of the cornerstones of local search rankings, determined by your Business Profile, online content and citations. Review management also plays a vital role in local search ranking and developing consumer trust.
Local SEO
Local SEO (LSO) refers to optimizing both your Google Business Profile (formerly GMB) and website content to increase its chances of being discovered in local searches. As opposed to traditional SEO techniques that involve improving specific keywords with keywords that rank higher on search engines, LSO focuses on signalling online prominence instead.
Consistency across the web with your name, address and phone number as well as an onslaught of new reviews on your Google Business Profile is critical for growth and expansion of any company. In addition, other marketing activities such as blogging, guest posting and social media posts as well as interviews with you or staff members must also take place for success.
Linking to local websites is an invaluable component of local search optimization. When linking, choose authoritative websites relevant to your area such as industry associations and chambers of commerce. Also consider partnership opportunities like sponsoring local events or offering scholarships – Moz has some fantastic tools that can help you develop an SEO playbook specifically designed for local SEO.
Google Business Profile
Google My Business (GMB), previously known as a Google Business Profile, should form an integral part of your local SEO strategy. By optimizing it properly, your GMB can increase visibility within Local Pack and Maps results.
GMB listings can help improve organic rankings if optimized properly and supported with ongoing SEO efforts. Ranking factors for GMBs include proximity, relevance and prominence.
Your listing’s relevance can be increased by providing clear descriptions of your products and services, uploading photos, updating opening hours of locations, using the Info tab to edit company details like name, address, phone number, website address etc. as well as setting whether your home address should be displayed and whether customers can book appointments online (Location Settings).
Selecting primary and secondary business categories is another essential aspect. As there is such a large range of choices available to you, taking time to carefully select them can only prove beneficial to your venture.
Local Listings
Local listings are compilations of business information derived from user submissions, publicly accessible sources and third party sources. They appear in search results (such as Google Local 3-Pack ) and maps searches to help online consumers quickly locate businesses that meet their needs.
Companies who manage their own local listings gain more control of the data presented and can respond more quickly to reviews, increasing their chances of ranking well in search results. Google considers website content when ranking local businesses; however, managing local listings gives businesses access to potential customers who might otherwise never visit.
Consistent business listings on the web help Google trust their information and verify a business as legitimate, making this one of the best ways to increase search ranking on Google. A local listing that’s right can include images, video, virtual tours and click-to-call buttons – giving your business a competitive edge that radio or TV ads alone cannot.
Local Content
Content creation and management are crucial components of success for digital marketing efforts, from paid ads and organic search marketing, through to websites and local Business Profiles. But they can be daunting tasks to master!
Google’s local search algorithms remain a closely guarded secret, yet their relevancy ranking criteria is abundantly clear. You can help Google understand and rank your business higher by adding accurate details to your Business Profile, claiming and updating listings across major platforms, and providing keyword optimized citations on popular directories.
As an example, when selecting categories for your listing, be more specific such as “pizza delivery restaurant.” This will increase your local ranking performance significantly and CCSI has profiles of country practices on local content for use as a resource tool.