Local SEO is a specialised form of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) designed to help small businesses appear prominently in local search results. Dentons Digital excels at Local SEO strategy: this is why, and how, we do it …….
Explaining Local SEO
It’s a fact:
- 99% of consumers used the internet to find information about a local business in the last year.
- Local intent appears in around 46% of all website queries, this equates to billions of high value searches every day for local services.
- 80% of local searches convert into leads.
If your website is not ranking well locally you will not only be missing out on this valuable search traffic, you also risk the traffic going to your competitors.
The algorithms that sift search queries for Google (or other search engines) will always personalise the search results delivered based on the user’s country, but to narrow down the results to more specific locations requires a deep understanding of the local search algorithms and local ranking factors.
If you have a small business serving a relatively small geographical area, you are obviously interested in having your business discovered online by a relevant audience within your catchment area. This is particularly true if you have a physical business in the location – like a retail store, pub or guest house – or provide a service such as vehicle mechanics, plumbers or tree surgeons that depends on local custom.
What you need is for everyone in your area who searches for your goods or services on a search engine to be presented with your business as one of the first options they see when the search results are returned.
It’s the task of a local SEO expert to see that happens.
It’s a jungle out there in cyberspace, with hundreds of businesses like yours vying for top spot in the local search engine results – particularly in busy urban areas. Local SEO is, therefore, not a walk in the park or something that can be successfully achieved by an amateur. It’s also not a one-off fix – SEO is ever-evolving.
Your local SEO strategy must help Google understand where your business is operating and what it offers, at the same time ensuring the search engine perceives your business to be popular and trusted by users.
How Local SEO is Done
Do it right and local SEO can help you reach more people in your area, attract more foot traffic, drive conversions, build your reputation and grow your business.
So, what needs to be done?
Raising the local search visibility of your business involves carrying out a number of “best practice” tasks and actions. Don’t expect instant or overnight improvement in your local search rankings, but you should see results (quite literally) within a couple of months.
The aim of all this effort is to give your business prominence in the local search engine results (including the famous Google “Map Pack”). The work needs to be performed over, above and conjointly with the strategies and techniques already being employed for traditional, regular SEO, both on-page and off-page.
Don’t let your business get lost in the crowd – we’ll put you on the local Google map. Call 01373 482774, fill in a contact form or email us.
Here are some of the key components for conquering Local SEO:
- Google Business Profile: The foundation of local SEO is to claim and customise your free Google Business Profile (GBP). Google Business Profiles appear in 93% of all local searches, so claiming and optimising your profile is of vital importance in local SEO. Your GBP needs to be correctly set up, including essential information like name, address, phone number (NAP), website URL and opening hours. Make sure you optimise your profile to the fullest extent and keep it up to date.
- Location specific keyword research: Identifying and using relevant keyword phrases is a cornerstone of success for targeting greater visibility in local search results. The creation of local page copy focussed on locations and services is the corner stone of strong local SEO.
- On-Page Website optimisation: Provide a positive UX (user experience) for your website by optimising it with valuable, high quality content creation, internal links, mobile responsive design, and appropriate metadata. The majority of traffic to businesses offering services is via mobile. Mobile friendly design is key in driving conversions in local SEO.
- Citations: Submit your businesses NAP information consistently and accurately to worthy online directories or listings to boost your local search rankings. NAP citations are a key source of trust in Google and other search engines and help to improve Google Business Profile ranking and organic website rankings for local searches.
- Backlinks: Engage with as many high-quality backlinks from other websites to your business website as possible, to signal to search engines that your business is reputable and relevant. In local SEO these links need to be relevant to your services, locations or ideally both.
- Customer Reviews: 82% of consumers read online reviews before engaging a service provider or buying a product. A healthy set of positive reviews is vital, from as many reliable consumer platforms as possible, so establish yourself on appropriate review sites, encourage your customers to leave their comments – and respond politely to each one. Responding to reviews on your Google Business Profile will drive around 10% more reviews coming in. Positive reviews help to establish credibility, improve your visibility, increase conversion and therefore boost your revenue. Posting reviews from third party websites should also be placed on your website to increase trust and add conversions.
The list above is just the tip of the iceberg if you are serious about embarking on – and sticking to – a quest to locally target your SEO and find those potential customers in your area.
Local SEO Experts
If you don’t have the time, patience or inclination to get going on your own local SEO campaign, it is definitely worth the return on the investment to have professionals handle the work for you.
At Dentons Digital we have the knowledge and experience of the competitive local search landscape to keep your SEO on track. As Google Partners we stay informed and abreast of changes and updates in search algorithms and adjust strategies for our clients accordingly.
Contact us for a free website visibility report please call our friendly team on 01373 482774, fill in a contact form or email us.
