Local SEO involves optimizing your website to rank well on Google’s search results for local searches. It is a subset of the overall SEO strategy, which also takes into account the keywords people use to find your products or services, and ensuring your website is set up properly in terms of its local relevance. This includes things like ensuring your business’s name, address, and phone number are correct in Google My Business, focusing on local long-tail keywords, and submitting to local directories.
Unlike regular SEO, where a combination of on-page and off-page signals dictate rankings, local search rankings are determined by a different algorithm. There are a few key factors in this, including relevance, prominence, and distance. Relevance focuses on how closely your website matches the search query or keyword, and prominence focuses on how prominent your website is in the eyes of search engines.
Proximity is the last factor in the local search algorithm, and this focuses on how close you are to the person searching. This is a very important factor for many businesses, as it ensures that their business will be shown to those in the area who are looking for what they offer.
While there are many ways to optimize your website for local SEO, the most important is ensuring that your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is correct in your Google My Business listing, on your website, and in a citation on another online directory. This is crucial for establishing credibility with Google and ensuring that searchers can easily find you when they are in need of what your business offers.
Getting positive reviews is also important for local SEO, as this is one of the top factors that Google looks at when ranking websites in their “map pack” and organic blue link search results. This means that your business needs to have a process in place to encourage customers to leave reviews on your site and other consumer directories such as Yelp, Thumbtack, Foursquare, Angie’s List, etc.
It’s also important to focus on integrating relevant keywords into your website content, as this is another of the top ranking factors in both the map pack and organic search results. This can be done by using keyword research tools to find out what phrases people are typing into Google when looking for a business in your industry and then incorporating those into your website.
Finally, getting links from other websites is also a top ranking factor for local SEO, so this should be a part of any online marketing strategy. This can be done through guest blogging, participating in industry events, and reaching out to other local businesses with whom you have a connection to ask for a link. Another great way to get these links is to join your local Chamber of Commerce, which often provides a high-quality link and helps your business be seen as an important member of the community. For more information about how to improve your local SEO, contact us for a free consultation.