Local search is similar to, or a slight variation of, search engine optimization. It functions similarly to SEO but with minor differences. Local search is for small businesses that focus on regional customers, whereas search engine optimization is for businesses that work on a national level or target audiences from all over the world.
If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s important to understand how search engines work. Local search is a huge part of this equation—and if your business isn’t optimally positioned in local listings, then it may not rank well in search results pages (SERPs). In this article, we’ll look at some tips for optimizing your website for local search and becoming more visible online.
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Steps To Optimize Website for Local Search
Local SEO is an excellent strategy for increasing organic website traffic, leads, and conversions in the region where your business is established and relevant to customers looking for similar products. You should try to optimise local search, and the steps below will help you do so.
1 – Make a Google My Business Account
- Add your business to Google My Business.
- Verify Your Business.
- Optimize Your Business Listing (see notes below).
- Claim Your Business Page: This is not necessary, but if you have a local business and want to claim it as yours online, this is how you do it.
- Add Photos and Videos: The more information about your product or service that’s available on Google, the better! Photos are especially important because they’re often used by searchers when searching for businesses near them—so having high-resolution images helps increase visibility overall. If possible, include a video showing off what makes your business unique; if not possible yet then consider adding one later down the line after building out social media presence!
2 – Reviews from happy customers
When you have completed the sale with a customer, you can ask them to visit your profile and write a helpful review about their experience. This will increase your goodwill in the local market and bring you more local visitors.
Then, don’t forget to respond to their review in a professional manner via post-purchase mail or text. It will have a positive influence on other local audiences.
3 – Voice search optimization
Voice search is on the rise, and it’s a good way to find local businesses. If you have an app or website that can be accessed by voice, you should optimize for it. Voice search is especially popular for finding restaurants when you’re out with friends: instead of typing in your phone number and location, just say “what’s around here?” or “where can we go eat now?” You can use Google Assistant on Android devices or Apple Siri on iPhones—or any other smart speaker like Amazon Echo—to ask these questions from your phone screen then get directions from Maps or Yelp (or even Uber).
4 – Provide content based on local news and events
Nowadays, when everyone is preoccupied with their own lives, you can enlighten them on what is going on around them.
Because you have a business profile that functions as a platform, you can use it to spread awareness about all local news and events, and it will portray you as a responsible citizen in the region where you work.
Create blogs, videos, and distribute local event information through your profile.
5 – Improvise your website for mobile
You can use the same techniques that make your website responsive to optimize it for mobile devices. For example, you should make sure that your website looks good and works well on all kinds of computers, tablets and smartphones:
- Make sure that your site is responsive. This means that it will look good whether you’re coming from a desktop or from a phone screen (or even an iPad).
- Make sure your site is fast—especially if you’re trying to rank in local search results! Speed is key when someone searches for something nearby because they expect fast results so they can get back home quickly instead of having wasted time waiting around while their web browser loads everything up again after clicking on another link or scrolling down through several pages first before finding what they were looking for at last place.”
6 – Determine and Target the Right Local Search Keywords.
Determine and Target the Right Local Search Keywords.
It’s important to know what people are searching for locally because that will help you decide which keywords are most relevant. You can also use this knowledge to better understand their intent and determine if a keyword is properly targeted or not. For example, if you’re selling books online but want more traffic from people who live in New York City (NYC), then “New York City” won’t be a good option because there are too many other cities that have that name: NYC itself, New Jersey…the list goes on! So instead try something like “New York City suburbs.” Or perhaps even better: “New York City apartments.” This way visitors looking for an apartment in NYC can find exactly what they’re looking for—and not just apartments but also neighborhoods like Tribeca or Chelsea too!
The same thing goes with local search engines like Yelp or Google Places; these services allow users who perform searches within certain geographic boundaries (i.e., within your own city) access data on local businesses within those areas which would otherwise not be available through other means such as newspapers articles published by national publications about their findings during visits overseas where none exist…
7 – Add location pages
This is a must for any company that has more than one store in the same location. If you don’t provide information about your multiple stores and where they are located, how will people know about them?
You must include location pages with store hours, address, contact information, testimonials, promotions, descriptions, and Google maps. This will increase your audience in all regions where you have stores and will build goodwill in that city.
8 – Participate in online business directories
Take advantage of the numerous online business directories that are available to you. Websites such as Yelp, Foursquare, Mapquest, and the yellow pages will improve your local search results and increase your visibility in the area.
9 – Optimize Your Titles, Descriptions, and Content for Local Keywords.
The title, description and content of your website are all critical to optimizing it for local search.
To be successful at local SEO, you must use the right keywords in the right places. It’s not enough to just include those keywords in the URL; you also need them in titles and descriptions so that they appear on SERPs (search engine result pages).
10 – Build Online Reviews and Citations in Local Directories.
You can use a variety of methods to get reviews and citations. To start, you should have an online presence that people know about so they’re more likely to visit your website when searching for local business listings.
- Ask for reviews from customers who have purchased from you. Offer them incentives if the review mentions your company in any way—for example, “If you leave us a 5-star review on Google My Business, we’ll give you $10 off next time.”
- Promote local directory listings by posting links on social media accounts and email newsletters; share with friends who might be interested in buying something from one of your competitors.
- Make sure all relevant contact information is included on all sales receipts (address, phone number) so consumers can easily reach out if necessary
11 – Reach out to Relevant Local Websites and Directories.
- Reach out to Relevant Local Websites and Directories.
- Use the right keywords in your email subject line.
- Be sure to include your website URL in the email.
- Include a link to your website in the body of the email, preferably as a hyperlink that can be clicked on by users who are reading it on their mobile phones or tablets, so they don’t have to click around trying different links before finding what they’re looking for (which can lead people away from your site).
- Include another link within this first paragraph that leads directly back into your site (and not just back at an anchor text). This will help people find their way around quickly after clicking through from one piece of content into another without having any trouble getting where they need go next!
12 – Make Sure Google Maps Finds You.
One of the first places people look for local businesses is Google Maps. It’s incredibly important to make sure your business is listed on Google Maps so that you can be found by people searching for your location or looking at satellite images of where you’ll be running your event.
- Make sure your business is listed in the right place: If someone searches for a type of service near them, they want to find something that’s close by. So if there are two restaurants within 100 yards (roughly three minutes), but one has more reviews than another, they’ll likely go with the restaurant with more reviews!
- Be consistent: If someone looks up their address in Google Maps and finds an empty lot, then they may assume that it must be a defunct restaurant/business—and why would anyone build something if no one will use it? However—and this may seem obvious—if these businesses don’t have any physical presence whatsoever on either side of Interstate Highway 415 (which runs through SF) anymore because all those buildings were torn down years ago due to urban renewal projects aimed specifically at creating affordable housing units…well then those spaces look very different from how they used be when compared side-by-side with today’s photos taken during construction projects funded by private donations rather than tax dollars.”
13 – Include Location-Specific Content on Your Site.
Including location-specific content on your site can boost the visibility of your business and help you rank for local search results. You’ll improve click-through rates, build trust with potential customers, and make them more likely to convert.
Conclusion
There you have it, a comprehensive list of ways to optimize your website for local search. It may seem like a lot of work, but the results can be well worth it in the long run. A well-optimized site will help you capture more leads and drive sales from local customers. Get started now by following these tips and we wish you success!
