How Does Local SEO Work?

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(Newswire.net — March 26, 2021) — Are you a small business with slow-growing website pages?

Local SEO is one of the most powerful strategies for small businesses. As of now, Google has a 900% growth in mobile searches with the qualifier “near me.” This shows how important local SEO is for many businesses that want to increase visibility and traffic.

In this local SEO guide, we’ll talk you through its benefits, how it works, with a few tips.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO focuses on optimizing your website on local search results. All the content, link building, and on-page optimizations need to have localized intent. It’s a great start for many small businesses that want to focus on a certain location with specific needs.

SEO, in general, focuses on ranking your pages without using a local component. Local SEO uses more local citations, keywords, and other SEO basic elements.

How Does Local SEO Work

When you optimize your website for local searches, you’re letting Google know that you only want certain customers in your area to see you. However, local SEO still works similarly to “normal” Google searches. When a user searches, Google scans the index to give the best results for the user’s query.

What makes local SEO so different? Google makes use of a diverse set of criteria to rank for a person’s query. This includes:

  • NAP citations
  • Amount of “check-ins” in a location
  • Google Maps rating
  • Google My Business profile keywords
  • Online reviews sentiment and keywords
  • Social media shares
  • Presence of your Google My Business listing

Google and other search engines also view the technical part of your website pages. They look through your LocalBusiness Schema Markup. This element makes it clear to Google that you’re a local business aiming for the areas you serve.

Is Local SEO Important?

Investing in a local SEO company for small businesses is worth the visibility and benefits. Many consumers who search for local businesses will want to visit a store that’s close by. If your customers can find you on Google Maps, then you have a higher chance of getting new leads.

It’s a great strategy to grab the attention of customers who are ready to buy. All types of businesses can benefit from local SEO, from law firms to restaurants. After all, 88% of consumers conducting a local search will visit a related search within a week.

Local SEO Tips You Need to Know

A great way to emphasize your location is by embedding Google Maps on your About page. You should also take advantage of location-focused keywords in your blogs and articles. This helps raise your local organic rankings in multiple search engines.

An old-school but effective approach is by adding your location on the headings or title. You can also place your location in the meta descriptions to narrow down a user’s search. Don’t forget to join your local community to get more visibility and loyal customers.

All You Need to Know About Local SEO

Along with local SEO optimization, you also need to create relevant and helpful information. Tell your customers your proper and full address with the areas that you serve.

Get to know more about local SEO by searching our other guides! We have more helpful local SEO tips that may encourage you to apply local SEO to your website.