What Is Local SEO And How It Can Help You
Local SEO is a type of SEO where special techniques are applied in order to increase the visibility of your business in the local marketplace. When you are relying on SEO to gain more visibility, it is really important to consider the target customer base that you have to focus on.
As a large number of businesses rely on local customers, local SEO remains one of the most beneficial techniques even today. We are going to consider different aspects of this technique. Let us dive right in as we discuss far more than just the basics like what is local SEO?
What is local SEO and how is it different?
Local SEO serves the same purpose as that of SEO but it benefits the users on a local level. If you own a business that serves people of a certain geographical region, you can harness the benefits of local SEO.
Suppose you search about something based on a particular location and see some of the results from Google Maps, the local SEO is in action at that point in time. The local SEO works quite differently as compared to the usual SEO process.
Let us start understanding it by decoding the working of Google first.
A brief introduction to the working of Google search engine
Google makes a list of websites, pages based on several ranking factors. Those ranking factors include the relevance of content and other things like that. This collection of pages is called the index. So, the search engine doesn’t look for relevant pages in the entire database when someone searches for a query.
It simply takes and gives the results from the index pages. New pieces of the content and pages are indexed based on the user’s queries that have never been asked before. Now that you know the working of search engines, it is time to know more about local SEO and its working.
The ranking process of search engines and the working of local SEO
The search engines have a set of algorithms to operate on the collection of web pages in order to find the relevant sites and pages. Once the pages are indexed based on those factors. The search engine is able to present the results to the audiences from index pages.
Broadly speaking, relevance, prominence, and popularity of the content are the major factors to index pages.
The local SEO works a bit differently
Since you are well aware of the basics of local SEO, taking a look at its works would be a nice decision. Google examined the search queries from a large number of people around the world and found out several people look for things in a specific region.
In order to fulfil these demands, Google started considering location as a factor for indexing pages for such queries. The search results in this case vary a lot based on your location.
Suppose you search the best restaurants while sitting in your office, you will get some results. However, if you search the same query from your home, you will get totally different results. The case was not so in earlier times when the majority of internet users were accessing it via desktop.
That is, their location remained unchanged for the most part.
Getting started with local SEO
As we have come a long way beyond local SEO, it is time to talk a bit about your way to getting benefits from the local SEO process. If you get it done in the right way, your page has the right chances of getting listed in local search results.
It is quite tough for beginners to know about the essentials. You need to focus in order to get maximum benefits from local SEO.
There are prominent brands and experts who release the list of local SEO factors on a yearly basis. Those pieces of information will give you insights into this process and ways to get maximum benefits from it.
Location-based content and local links are the major contributors in this process. In order to gain audiences from this dimension, you need to incorporate the factors. Then your content will be displayed in the search results for local searches.
In case your business runs its shops or offices at multiple locations, you will have to create content for all those locations. Your page should have enough information about the location of your business. Like the address and other relevant pieces of information. Apart from adding information like phone numbers and other such things. You have to modify the title tags and meta descriptions accordingly.
Make sure you are incorporating these tips in every aspect of your SEO strategies. Several other factors are worth considering like signing up for Google Search Console, proper utilisation of data aggregators, and review signals.
Apart from this, you can also opt for special tools to enhance your local SEO performance. Using these tools will help you very much in doing several things. Like getting keywords based on local SEO, taking care of your Google My Business listings, your business posts, and profiles, citation building, etc. Such tools make this process very easy for business owners.
Start your journey of gaining more customers right from here
I imagine that you now known far more than just what is local SEO with the help of this article so far. You are now ready to land in this field and harness the benefits. Irrespective if you are a pizzeria planning a big national pizza day promotion, or a local mechanic looking for more regular customers, local SEO can really help. It is time to make use of the signals mentioned above in order to gain maximum benefits. Once you are set on the right track, you will be able to get more customers to your business.
When you are engaged in SEO, it is very essential to examine your progress. Make sure you compare the facts and figures with the annual survey results from prominent SEO experts. It will help you modify your strategy based on varying needs. This is very necessary as the needs and demands of the customers keep on fluctuating over time.
For more information on local SEO check out this infographic by Ronkot:
