How To Do Local SEO For Online Businesses

Local SEO is a vital SEO strategy for businesses looking to make it online, particularly small and medium sized businesses. With approximately 20% of local searches resulting in a sale within 24 hours, its potential to boost conversions is vastly underrated.

Let’s dive into the details.

Why Is Local SEO Important For Businesses?

Local SEO ensures that your site appears at the top of the search results whenever people near you search for keywords related to your business.

You will find yourself conducting local searches with phrases similar to "best gyms near me" or "ice cream shops in Orange County"; local SEO will be furnishing results for these queries.

Dominating local searches can help you attract customers in proximity. These clients are more likely to bring regular business to your establishment.

Local SEO packages are different from traditional SEO because they include something known as Google 3-pack. This method helps produce the top three local results on the search engine results page.

When customers type in keywords like "XYZ near me," Google will return a local SEO 3-pack.

For these local searches, Google will generate 3 top local businesses that relevantly match the query. These results will appear at the top of the page, making them more visible.

You might be wondering how local SEO works. Well, to put it concisely, it depends on a few factors:

• How relevant is your business to the search query?
• How close is your business to the searcher's location?
• How reputable is your business?

Moving on, let's discuss how local SEO marketing services optimize for these factors:

1. Create A Google My Business Account
2. Encourage Reviews From Local Customers
3. Pay Special Attention To Keyword Research
4. Focus On Location-Specific Content
5. Earn High-Quality Backlinks
6. Optimize For Voice Search
7. Make Your Site Mobile-Responsive

Create A Google My Business Account

The first step a local SEO expert will take to optimize your site's ranking is to create a Google My Business Account.

It's an all-inclusive suite that can make you visible to people in Google Maps, local searches on Google, and Google Search Knowledge Panel, among other apps. To optimize your brand on GMB, you will need to verify your business ownership.

After that, you will need to fill in relevant information about the product alongside your business information and images.

Once you're done, you must post regular updates about your business and respond to Google reviews. Doing all this will help optimize your GMB listing and increase your visibility in local search results.

Besides enhancing your GMB listing, it's a good idea to build local citations on related sites, such as Bing Places, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Yahoo Small Business and more.

Follow the same procedure for these platforms, and be sure to include your business information along with a short description and a link to your website.

Encourage Reviews From Local Customers

Positive customer reviews help establish authority. They add social reinforcement that can encourage prospective customers to bring business to you. Also, earning reviews can help increase your GMB rankings.

So how do you earn reviews on Google? Here's how:

• Make it easy for customers to find and review your business by adding a link to your site
• Add your URL to your marketing materials and ask clients to review your business
• Respond favorably to customer reviews to build trust

Your reviews do not have to remain restricted to Google. You can prompt customers to review your business on your website, social media platforms, and third-party review sites.

Any search engine marketing expert can vouch for the importance of reviews. They're even more essential in local SEO because they help establish your trustworthiness in the area.

Pay Special Attention To Keyword Research

Keyword research is essential for any on-page SEO strategy; it is the same for local search engine optimization.

Adequate keyword research will help you discover words and phrases that local customers use when Googling for products or services similar to your business.

You can use several keyword research tools, such as Ahrefs and KeywordsTool, to find the keywords most relevant to your business.

They can also provide you with useful metrics – such as cost per click and monthly search volume – to help you decide which keywords are the most valuable for your business.

Long-tail keywords are preferable because they have lower competition and are easy to rank. Also, they're more specific, and it's easier to gauge the searcher's intent.

If someone searches "New Jersey restaurants", you don't know what they're specifically looking for. But if they type in "best pasta restaurants in New Jersey", it's immediately clear what they're looking for and whether their search query relates to your business.

Focus On Location-Specific Content

Since we're gearing ourselves for local SEO, our content must be specific to our location. If your establishment has outlets in multiple locations, be sure to change your content for each site so that local searchers can find their nearest outlet.

To do this, you must use local keywords and improve your rankings in local search results. To keep your content location-specific, you can share local industry news and events while updating searchers about events happening at a specific outlet.

Local searchers have the potential to become regular customers since they are in your area. Try to inspire loyalty and incentivize purchases to make sure they stay with your brand.

Content is among the most crucial elements that influence your local SEO rankings.

Earn High-Quality Backlinks

Google considers the number and quality of backlinks to your website to determine your rankings. Therefore, it's crucial to earn backlinks from high-authority sites.

If you display high-quality content, local websites and businesses will link to pages on your site naturally.

To enhance your links' quality, reach out to influencers, bloggers, and industry leaders in your area and ask them to link to your content.

Reputable backlinks establish your authority and improve your rankings in the local search results.

Optimize For Voice Search

According to Adobe, users searching on their smartphones are thrice as likely to use voice search. As the scope of voice search is growing, you don't want to miss out on valuable leads and business opportunities by failing to optimize voice searches.

People generally tend to use voice search when driving around or walking in the vicinity; this is also when they are actively looking for a specific establishment. If your site is optimized for voice search, you can increase your search engine visibility drastically.

Be sure to focus on long-tail keywords, with the phrase "near me" featuring in the keyword. Generally, voice search optimization overlaps with local search engine optimization tactics, and any SEO expert can help you with it.

Make Your Site Mobile-Responsive

According to research, up to 70% of total internet search happens through a phone. Therefore, it's imperative that your site is optimized for mobile usage and features a responsive layout.

Responsive design entails having your content displayed in a readable and interactable way, regardless of the device used. Mobile users commonly complain that websites are not optimized for handheld devices.

A user-friendly interface that is optimized for mobile devices can not only improve your local SEO rankings but also boost your conversion rate.

Wrapping Up

These are ways to optimize your website to cater to local search queries and enhance visibility in your area.

While traditional SEO does work wonders for online businesses, sometimes you must customize your online efforts to boost your presence in your local arena.

If you got too much on your plate, and can't dedicate time and effort towards local SEO initiatives, hire an expert to do your bidding.

For close to a decade Epitome Digital Marketing has been helping businesses reach their true potential by enhancing their digital footprint. With us in your corner, results are guaranteed while you take a back seat, concentrating on other parts of your business.

From keyword research to writing location-specific content to handling your Google My Business account — we can do it all and much more in a timely and cost-effective manner.

To know more about how we can help you with local SEO, get in touch with us TODAY!