Following the SEO campaigns for a longer period of time makes one thing very clear: SEO changes all the time. And when it comes to local SEO the changes happen even more rapidly, due to the rising competition. It is your job to make sure you stay on the top of your rankings or it will not be long before a local competitor will surpass you. So, How to do Local SEO For your Business?
Differences between local SEO and organic SEO
It might seem all the same to some people, but there are some significant differences between organic and local SEO, and you should be aware of them, or your local SEO campaign may not give you the results you are hoping for.
-
Location, location, location
Local SEO is essentially connected with a business that is running from an actual, physical building, and has a geographical component. For instance, if someone searches for ‘’hard disk data recovery in L.A.’’, the search engines would get that they want a local business in L.A.that can help them with the issue, therefore the search engines are looking for dependable businesses that offer that kind of service in the user’s location.
With organic SEO the website might or might not have a location specified, because the business is not tied to a stationary location. Pure organic results are usually a blend of articles, blogs, businesses, social media profiles and more, and the search results are not related to any location.
-
Citations of Local SEO and Organic SEO Links
Links are not treated the traditional way when it comes to local SEO, instead there is a big role of citations that needs to played well. Citations are merely mentions of your business’ name, phone numbers and physical address across the internet. Being regularly mentioned at all the important places, relevant to your business, will increase the authority of your line of work in the eyes of search engines, therefore also raise the chances of your brand’s name to show up, if any queries, associated to similar businesses and nearby locations, come up.
And while citations play the main role in the local SEO, in the world of organic SEO quality links are doing the same job; here, links are the thing that helps you boost the relevance and legitimacy of your website from the search engines’ standpoint.
-
Local and Organic SEO may not aim for the same position on the SERPs
Organic SEO is targeting for high rankings on the SERPs based on a thoroughly planned set of keywords, while Local SEO is aiming to get on the local listings and wants to be presented in any possible place where a potential client might look (including forums and niche directories), all with consistent citations.
-
Approaches on doing Local and Organic SEO
As stated earlier, local SEO aims to displays on local listings, and for this to happen a search engine listing needs to be created, right next optimizing your title tags and keyword frequency. The next step should be getting listed at the important directories (within your niche), checking for the consistency of citation mentions across the web, encouraging your clients to leave positive reviews and focusing on publishing local content.
When it comes to organic SEO, the objective is to reach the top rankings on the SERPs, and this requires a lot of on-page, off-page optimization, working on good keywords, meta-descriptions, creating outstanding content, optimizing anchor texts, building a bullet-proof link building strategy and a lot more.
As you can see, there are quite a few very important differences you have to take into account, when you are trying to accomplish a good SEO strategy; always think about the objective, and then work the magic.
Recommended pointers to follow when doing local SEO
There are many different strategies you can execute to get the results you are aiming for, depending on what you want and what you already achieved and learnt from past experiences. Here is a bouquet of great suggestions you can follow, when you are starting a business in a local area;
1. Physical address
Make sure you have a consistent address that is within the area you are targeting or at least as close as possible.
2. Google My Business
Any business information added to GMB are reflected on other Google branches (Google Search, Google+ and Google Maps). This way the clients can locate you regardless of the device they use.
3. Additional information
Having contact information is essential; Name, Address and Phone number. But your website should also include a map that points to your location, so that clients know where to find you. It also would not hurt to have the opening and closing hours, additional cellphone numbers and driving directions. This way potential clients won’t have any troubles reaching you.
4. Distinct websites for your services or products
Having a distinct website for each of your products or services containing specific details is very beneficial, as it helps the client to see the bigger picture of what you have to offer, without having a ton of incoherent information cluttered up on the main site.
5. Website content
Unique, high-quality et attractive content is significant for two reasons;
- you can get penalized if you simply copy the ideas from other sites
- a site with attractive photos and engaging articles will keep the audience interested
6. Online reviews
The majority of people trust the reviews they read about a product or service, and they would also leave a comment, if asked by the company. Many of these people turn to social media to check on the feedbacks their friend gave, so having a Facebook page for your business can give you a helping hand on acquiring customers.
And then there is GMB (Google My Business); the reviews from this site show up on Google when someone searches for your business, which makes the GMB reviews the most crucial ones.
Positive reviews may also improve the visibility of your business, which is even more important when it comes to local SEO, so make sure you give your customers a chance to leave a feedback.
7. Keywords and additional links
When you input the company name or the business title in GMB, make sure to use keywords relevant to the theme. The use of the themed keywords is also important in any website contents and reviews, because they link the search to your site, therefor be sure you only apply keywords connected directly to the offer of your website.
With the local business it is also important to be recognized by other businesses in the area. Help your business by linking it from other sites; this can be achieved by promoting something you like locally, hosting events or making donations.
Mobile-friendly or responsive website design when doing Local SEO
We are living in an era, where practically everybody owns a smart phone, or a similar device, and relies on it. Now, when a person needs a question answered or a location of some sort, they usually just use their device to get them what they need, so when you are trying to execute a good local SEO campaign, think about how you want to design your internet site. Let me help you with clearing up the two options;
Responsive website; this is a site that responds or, in other words, changes based on the users’ needs and on the device they are viewing it on. Images and texts change here to a single column display and any unnecessary images are hidden so they do not interfere with the more important information.
With a responsive design you can achieve a more customized mobile experience, but it does require proper planning, expertise and quite a budget. So think about going with responsive if:
- you have a complex site content or any features that might be difficult to use on a mobile device
- a majority of your internet traffic is coming from a mobile device
- you are planning for your website to be up-to-date for a longer period of time
Mobile-friendly website; this type of site is designed to function the exact same way across all the devices. No flash animation is used here, along with some other features, because they can be difficult to use on a mobile device. The internet site is literally the same, with no usability worries, across the panel regardless of the device someone is using.
These types of sites may not have all the crazy features or functionality, but they just seem to work. Think about choosing mobile-friendly if:
- you have a simple internet site, constructed mostly by text and images, with no complex functionality
- you do not have a big web traffic coming from mobile devices
- the size of your images are small, to allow fast loading over mobile connections
So, here you have two types of websites, and both work just fine, you simply need to think about what is that you want and what could be best for your website, when targeting the local crowd.
Having a well-thought plan means a lot, when you are trying to accomplish something as big as dominating the local SEO in your business niche, therefore you need to do the necessary homework, and stick to certain rules and guides, because blindly pushing through a brick wall will most definitely not get you the wanted results.
FAQs on Local SEO
1. What is a citation and why is it so important?
A citation is any online reference to your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number). No links are needed here, but the search engine does evaluate them as a local signal to determine an individual’s online authority. Having inaccurate and inconsistent NAP, or if there are too many variations of your NAP scattered across the web, it can affect your local SEO in a very negative way; clients and Google will find it hard to trust you, and this can affect your local search ranking.
2. Is it necessary to get listed on Google My Business?
It is not necessary, no, in fact quite a lot of businesses skip this part. But this is a FREE listing we are talking about, and it can help you increase the chances of ranking higher in the local search results on Google. And additionally, because many companies have not figure out the importance on online advertising, the doors are open much wider for you to get a head start before any competitor comes to their senses and gives you a run for your money. Do not hesitate, list your business on GMB and find out for yourself how much does that help.
3. What should I be careful about with local SEO when inputting keywords?
Be sure you optimize your title tags with the local keyword, for example, ‘’SEO service London’’. This signals to the search engines that this page is tied directly to London, therefore it is more likely to show up in searches from your local area.
4. Is it really recommended to also run a blog on the same domain than my website sits?
Yes, it is. Hosting a blog on your business’ domain can help with the optimum SEO benefits. Go with something like www.mylocalwebsite.com/blog. No, not literally, of course, come up with an actual name and add /blog at the end, and yes, I had to emphasize that, so that there won’t be any weird confusions later on.
And when you write posts, make sure to include the name of your city and any neighborhood names whenever you can, and just try to provide people with useful information, not necessarily just about your business.
So there you have it, tips and thoughts on executing proper local SEO. I hope I could help, but if there are any unanswered questions, feel free to contact us, and we will try our best to help you out.
