What is local SEO?
Search engine optimization is a marketing term that is commonly referenced but little understood. It is likely that you have heard of it, but you may not know how it works, and why it is so valuable to businesses.
What makes SEO harder to get your head around is that there are different variants - such as local SEO.
Local SEO is SEO which focuses on making a local business more prominent in search engine results for the local area.
This is what you need to know about local SEO, and how you can harness it to further your goals:
SEO: a brief definition
Before you learn about Local SEO, it is important to have a thorough understanding of what search engine optimization is as a concept.
SEO is a digital marketing technique which helps to develop website domain authority and build the trust of the search engine algorithms which decide the ranking order of their results pages.
It does this in a few ways:
Firstly, an effective SEO campaign should help make your website more prominent to algorithms online. This might involve optimising your web pages and integrating keywords into your landing pages and blog posts.
Once you have an established presence and your website is noticeable to algorithms, you will need to start demonstrating value to your target audience. This means matching searcher intent – which is when you answer the questions they are searching for, through blog posts or other forms of web-based content.
As you start to attract more readers and offer them genuine value, these algorithms will start to push you up the rankings. You should then repeat this process until you reach the top (if possible).
Local SEO is just like ‘normal’ SEO, but localised
Local SEO is just like normal SEO but centred around your local area. Therefore, you will typically see local businesses pop up on local rankings when you search for services in a certain area, rather than far larger websites which would usually hog the majority of search ranking space. This is why Local SEO is so powerful for small businesses.
The same rules apply for being successful with a Local SEO strategy as normal SEO, but you should focus your attention more on local keywords (such as location names and local phrases), which will tighten your net on local intent in the immediate vicinity, helping you stand out to potential customers.
How can you improve your local SEO performance?
You can boost your position in local search results in several ways.
Firstly, you should create localized content, which will boost the user experience for those interested in services similar to yours in the local area and help improve your ranking position.
These blog posts should contain key details like meta descriptions to make your website more searchable, as well as keyword research which ensures your content is peppered with location-specific keywords.
The local search ranking factors are also influenced by local citations – such as through social media or a business listing, which can boost your local SEO performance.
You should also focus on building your google my business page and local packs, which will help customers find your company details, such as your location through google maps.