Local SEO is a subset of search engine optimization aimed at ranking higher for local search queries by means of your online presence.
Along with controlling your online reputation, boosting foot and web traffic, and properly competing with other surrounding companies,
The Transformational Power of Local SEO for Your Company
Local search is used by people looking for everything, including plumbers and restaurants. Therefore, the people living nearby most certainly are looking for goods or services you provide.
Furthermore, optimizing for local searches might help to guarantee that your company appears up for these search terms.
Why should this be significant?
People conducting local searches usually have a high purchase intent, which is a kind of search intent indicating the reason for their search. Thus, ranking for local keywords can be a very effective approach to draw consumers ready for purchase.
Local SEO also enables you to effectively compete with nearby companies of a same nature. And can provide you a competitive advantage over those just concerned with conventional organic search results.
Let’s examine what practical local search optimization looks like.
Three companies above are ideal for the keyword “italian restaurant near pike st seattle.”
Among these companies, some show up in the typical blue links in the normal search results.
More significantly, though, they show up on a map indicating their positions. Potential consumers can therefore readily find directions.
Important business information including working hours and reviews is also displayed here.
Strengthen Your Google Business Profile
One free company listing from Google is Google company Profile. And starting your local SEO improvement with building and enhancing your profile is quite smart.
Your Google Business Profile greatly influences local search ranking of your company.
Google displays three local search result types:
At first are sponsored advertising.
Next Organic search results (the clickable blue links) come below the local pack, which shows local businesses closely matching the search term together with a map showing their location.
The local pack, sometimes referred to as the map pack, is a perfect substitute if you wish not to pay for adverts. And a good Google Business Profile will enable you to show up in it.
This is so because, via your Google Business Profile and other sources, Google compiles data on you.
Thus, be sure your profile is thorough and precise. To enable Google know your company’s operations and customer base.
Important data to add consists in:
Business closing hours
Business logo; phone number; street address; inside and outside pictures of your company; services provided; website link; service areas.
Selecting the business category that most fits your company is also crucial. Google Business Profile offers several thousand category choices.
First you will decide on a main category based on which best fits your company.
For a restaurant specialized on Ethiopian cuisine, for instance, “Ethiopian restaurant” is a preferable category choice than just “Restaurant.”
Get Local Relevant Citations
Local citations are internet references to your company found on websites, social media, and local business directories. This covers notes of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).
And if Google notes that your information shows up in several reliable sources, it is more likely to serve your company in local search results. Particularly more so if your NAP data matches those of several sources.
Semrush’s Listing Management tool can help you create local citations—and guarantee they all include the same NAP information.
First, the search bar should show your company name. Then click the search symbol.
You may start looking for fresh listings right now. And fix anything is incorrect with the ones you already show.
Not all local listings call for you to show up. Rather, concentrate on the those most likely to be useful.
Consider a restaurant for instance.
The best references would be niche-specific. For example, Grubhub if you provide takeout or OpenTable should your restaurant take bookings.
Of course, you should also visit the more broad reference sites including Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Foursquare. since they are generally acknowledged. Also have a large user base, which will help you to get more noticed.
Share company data via local data aggregators.
A data aggregator is a tool or website that forward your NAP and other company data to third-party directories on your behalf. You can thus concurrently list your company in several directories.
To prevent entering the incorrect information into several directories, simply make sure your Google Business Profile is accurate and consistent.
As long as you do that, data aggregators help reduce human error that can occur when manually listing your business information.
Semrush partners with Yext to automatically add your business information to directories through the Listing Management tool.
Run a search for your company then, scroll down and select “Try it now.”
Track and Manage Your Online Reviews
- Good reviews can also help local SEO; simply look at the ratings of the companies that are at the top of the local pack.
- Reviews also assist clients develop confidence. Especially when you make an effort to respond to them.
- So, keep a close eye on your reviews across platforms.
- Our Review Management report (part of the Listing Management tool) can help you with this. Because it scans 70+ directories.
- Enter your business name in the search bar to get started. See what customers say about your business on different platforms.
- And be sure to respond to reviews. To show customers you care.
- It also signals to Google that you’re engaged with your customers and value their feedback.
- That’s true even for negative reviews. In fact, a good response to a negative review can favorably effect your brand image.
Some easy tips for responding to unfavorable reviews:
- Respond swiftly
- Offer to repair the situation, such as offering a reimbursement
- State your dedication to enhancing your product or service
- Finally, encourage your consumers to submit reviews. And make the procedure easy for them by offering clear instructions and direct links to your review page.
Add Local Business Schema to Your Website Schema markup (a type of structured data) is a technique of adding code to your webpages to provide more information. This will enable search engines to better grasp the material on your websites.
Furthermore, important knowledge regarding local companies is presented using a local business schema. Including the kind of business, running hours, and location.
Though schema is not a direct ranking criterion, everything you do to enable search engines to grasp your website could perhaps improve your ranking for relevant searches. And show up in the local pack as well.
Schema.org offers a standard vocabulary you might use to specify the type of business you run and the salient features of it.
This is the markup shown with JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data (JSON-LD) script—the kind of script Google advises using.