Why You Should Be Taking Advantage of Local SEO

Posted by Tyler Wailes

Tyler is a Marketing Manager at Fable Heart Media.

Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, we saw many consumers and local businesses shift to online shopping out of necessity. Though the restrictions that came from the pandemic have lessened in recent months, we still see many consumers and businesses continuing to choose to turn to the internet when completing their shopping lists.

That is why it’s important for local businesses to invest in local SEO. Local SEO directly benefits local businesses/industries such as retail, doctors & lawyers, and restaurants

Let’s take a deeper look into the advantages of SEO and how you can implement local SEO into your business.

An Introduction to Local SEO

What is Local SEO and How Does it Work?

Local SEO, also known as local search engine optimization, is a marketing strategy that works to promote your business locally usually through Google. As mentioned above, any business with a physical location or one that specializes in a certain geographic area can benefit from local SEO. The main goal of a local SEO strategy is to drive traffic to your physical location and connect you with potential customers in your area. This is a great way to boost brand awareness both in-store and online to increase sales.

The way local SEO works is that when someone is searching for something that is related to your business and they are in proximity to your location, Google will give them your physical store location as well as locations similar to yours.

For example, let’s say you run a local coffee shop in Miami, Florida. Your shop serves coffee and other related products such as pastries and drinks. If someone was nearby your coffee shop and searched “coffee shops near me,” or “coffee shops in Miami,” your physical location would most likely pop up in their search results. When a customer views your store online, they will most likely see your basic business information (address, hours, website, etc.).

It’s important to provide the most up-to-date information on your page in order to get the most out of your rankings. You can create or modify your business profile through Google My Business.

The Difference Between Local SEO and SEO

Although local SEO and SEO work in very similar ways, they are not exactly the same. SEO by itself can help you promote your business no matter where you are in the world, whereas local SEO is solely dependent on location. Businesses can promote themselves based on their physical store location and when potential customers search for them, similar businesses nearby will show up in search results. In both, many of the same metrics apply such as landing page/website optimization, keywords, content, etc. It’s important to invest in both in order to drive traffic to your website and to your physical location/s.

Why is Local SEO Important?

Local SEO is important because it can help your business stand out from the competition and allows customers to easily learn about your business, thus increasing traffic to your stores and online. Here are just a few of the many benefits you can receive when investing in local SEO:

Expand your customer reach
Drive traffic
Improve conversion rates
Increase customer loyalty
Increase sales
Reach your customers across multiple channels

How to Take Advantage of Local SEO

1. Use Keyword Research to Learn What Your Target Audience is Searching

Keyword research, when done correctly, can offer great insight into what your target audience is searching for. To get your keyword research started, use tools such as SEMrush and Ahrefs to analyze which keywords are best associated with your target audience. These tools will provide you with all the necessary information such as cost per click (CPC), volume per month, keyword difficulty, etc. These metrics are important to take into consideration when choosing which keywords you want to rank for.

In addition, you’ll want to rank for keywords within multiple categories. In other words, you should include keywords that are easy, medium, and hard to rank for. Only going for the medium or hard keyword may put you at a disadvantage because you will not be able to rank at the top of the search results every time. Having keywords in multiple categories will help your ranking and you can easily rank higher in some categories, therefore further expanding your reach.

2. Invest in Google Ads and Google My Business Profile

Google Ads and Google My Business work to promote your business online. Google Ads is a paid platform where businesses can promote their services or products online by paying per click or impression on an ad created. Google Ads are a great tool for increasing your brand reach and can increase traffic both in-store and online.

Google My Business, on the other hand, is a free service offered by Google where businesses can list their information such as location, website, hours, reviews, etc. Having a Google My Business profile for your business will ensure that customers can easily find basic information about your business. If not, customers may be confused about how to contact you or how to find your business, so be diligent about updating your information on a regular basis.

Bonus tip: if you would like to learn more about how to create a Google My Business profile or Google Ads, check out our blogs. Our blogs feature various marketing topics from keyword research to email marketing.

3. Encourage Customers to Leave an Online Review

One factor Google takes into account when placing your business at the top of search results is the number of stars and amount of reviews your business has. How many times have you searched for a product or service and looked at the reviews before purchasing said product or service? Potential customers will more than likely look at your reviews when researching your product/service. The key thing to remember here is that reviews are valuable.

Having a good amount of reviews on your Google My Business page is great for attracting new customers and increasing your rank. In turn, the better the reviews, the better the rank! Customer reviews provide insight into what your customers enjoy about your business and sometimes more importantly, what they don’t enjoy about your business. This can pave the way for improvements and who knows, maybe customers will offer a new perspective.

Try a few of these incentives to encourage customers to leave a review:

Offer customers a discount if they leave a review online. This could be a small discount of 5% off, however, one important thing to remember when promoting discounts such as these is to provide rules. For example, try to limit the discount to one review per customer, that way, your profile has a variety of reviews.
Give customers a discount code linked to them. Many businesses will provide customers with a personalized link that they (customers) can send others to refer them to your business. For example, the company Venmo offers customers a $10 reward if they refer a friend using their personalized code and on top of that, the friend receives a $10 reward. These types of offers work to increase your business via word of mouth.
Run a contest or multiple contests. You can run a contest where a customer must fill out a survey and/or leave a review to enter the contest. This can entice customers because they will want to win a prize and you are able to gain reviews in a short period of time.

Bonus tip: Do you already have a well-written review or better yet, multiple reviews? Feature it on your website and/or social media pages. Testimonials are a simple yet highly effective way to gain customers.

4. Focus on Listing Your Website on Local Directories and Industry-Related Local Websites

Depending on where your business is located, you’ll have access to multiple directories. A directory helps potential customers find your business. Furthermore, directories can be categorized by industry. For example, if your business offers entertainment for tourists and locals, you could add your business to various tourist directories. Doing so can expand your reach because you are targeting customers beyond your local consumer base and channels. You can find directories by searching “directories in my area” or you narrow your search to “[industry] directories near me.”

An important aspect to remember about directories is quality over quantity. It may be enticing to list your business under every directory you find, but this can become problematic. Google will often flag businesses that have too many external links or even worse, broken links and in turn, may rank those businesses lower. You’ll want to focus on listing your business on qualified directories that way you have a higher chance of reaching your preferred target audience.

5. Feature Content That is Linked to Your Location

Beyond having optimized content to increase rankings, you can post or feature content that relates to your physical store location. For instance, let’s go back to the coffee shop in Miami, Florida example from before. If you wanted to rank for the keywords “coffee shops near me” or “coffee shops in Miami Florida,” in addition to implementing those keywords on your website, you could include a blog about how your business is different from others in your location. These types of content are perfect for increasing your local and overall SEO because you are including those critical keywords in your content.

Again, like in directories, it is about quality over quantity. Google will know when you are simply dumping keywords into your blogs or other types of content, so make sure the content is readable but still includes those keywords you want. These types of blogs/content can also give you the opportunity to showcase your value to your customers. Here is where you can share what makes your business unique and in turn, gain those new customers who are researching your business.

Conclusion

And that’s a wrap! You have just been given the best practices created by our team of experts to begin investing in local SEO. Ready to continue making your business the best it can be?

Local SEO can be highly beneficial for many businesses and it is important to periodically check on your strategy in order to keep your business updated. In local SEO, you strive to drive traffic to your physical location/s and online, stay on top of the process, and make improvements along the way if needed. Want more tips from our team of experts? Check out more of our blogs here. We offer advice on email marketing, SEO, best practices, and more!

If the old website design doesn’t scare off your visitors, it could deter potential customers. Conversion-optimized website design, on the other hand, pays your investment forward. As a result, you’re improving your conversion rate, sales, and ROI by making one big change. A happy website experience can also keep people coming back for more!