Local search strategies are essential for small businesses to succeed in the digital age. To maximize your local search rankings, you need to optimize your page SEO elements, access local directories and Google Maps, be visible on social media profiles, and ensure your website is mobile-friendly. Recent studies show that 88% of consumers who perform a local search on their phone will call or visit a business within a day, and nearly half of all Google searches are for local information. To make sure your website is optimized for local search, check URLs, title tags, headers, meta descriptions, and content to ensure they incorporate your most important keywords, including local keywords.
Additionally, create location pages for each of your company's locations and include geographically segmented content such as blog posts, case studies, and customer success stories. To further improve your profile in local search, include an "About Us" page with a Google Map. Research shows that 49% of the highest-ranked local pages include a local image and 17% have an embedded Google map. Additionally, use tools such as GTMetrix and PageSpeed Insights to determine ways to increase page speed.
Google increased the width of the main search results area to 600 pixels last year. As such, title tags should be approximately 50-60 characters long and description tags should be approximately 160-200 characters long. Take advantage of this space and use it wisely; only 31.3 percent of websites use this markup and most only use the basics. You can make your local business stand out by adding structured data markers to your site when appropriate.
To begin devising a local SEO strategy, identify terms that summarize what your company offers and research your competitors to see what keywords they are targeting. When creating landing pages, optimize H1, H2 and H3 headers, write body content optimized for keywords, include internal links, add images, and optimize for mobile search. Local SEO strategies are beneficial for all types of companies; they help you reach your audience and give you a competitive advantage. Competition between online stores and physical stores is intensifying; optimizing local searches can become a decisive factor in positioning a site locally and in the amount of traffic and customers you get from on-the-go local searches.
Make sure you use Google My Business (GMB) to your advantage by fully optimizing your ad to improve your local SEO over time. You can audit your site and establish a data-based SEO plan to improve your rankings, boost traffic and dominate local search. Connect with local publications, media sites and bloggers to offer content that alleviates local consumers' pain points. Later, use local SEO tools to search for terms, identify geospecific keywords, assess the volume of searches, and decide which keywords you want to target on your website. Monitoring social media boosts local SEO while building a strong online reputation; link building is also an important part of SEO in general but building localized links may look different from building links for other sites.
Local SEO helps you position yourself as a "bookstore near me" or "bookstore in Los Angeles", if that's where you are. Technical SEO ensures that Google and other search engines can crawl and index your site; it's an extension of on-site SEO. Local search marketing is about putting your business on the map in local searches when customers are looking for a company like yours; follow on-page SEO best practices to ensure that your site is optimized for local search. A big part of local search marketing involves making your business appear in that local package so that consumers can find and choose you. Competition between online stores and physical stores is intensifying; optimizing local searches can become a decisive factor in positioning a site locally and in the amount of traffic and customers you get from on-the-go local searches.
