Is local SEO necessary for your business?
The popular opinion is YES!
Before we take a deep dive into what and how significant is local SEO, let’s discuss it with a simple example and possibly you might agree with the popular opinion.
If you want to join Zumba classes, would you book a flight regularly and attend classes in some other city? No!!! Apparently, you’ll look for classes in your vicinity itself and most probably search for it online. Right?
Your customers are no different from you! Whether any customer wants to get the customised cake baked or is looking for a dentist, in case of severe tooth pain, local service is what they would predominantly prefer and there is no handy way than Google search to get business easily found.
So, are you convinced by the fact that when a customer is eagerly looking for any product or service served by your business, you should ideally be found or else you can miss out on a great opportunity? Local SEO holds a dominant position in making your local business visible online.
How important is Local SEO?
Are you someone who believes in detail analysis?
Then let’s talk in facts and figures. This might prove to you how important is Local SEO for your business:
46% of Google searches are related to local
97% of people use the internet to get information about any local company
Over 72% of people who searched for a local business online, visited the store/business
Around 71% of the potential customers, first search for the particular local business online, confirm its presence and then visit the store
When it comes to local business search via mobile 61% ended up instantly calling business while 59% visited the store
18% of local business search via smartphones turned to sales within one day
*(All the facts are collected from trusted sources)
I guess these are enough facts as of now that proves the significance of local SEO.
Okay, fine local SEO is incredibly effective.
But what is it exactly?
What is local SEO?
If you are familiar with the organic SEO then local SEO is just the same but with an additional geographical element. Basically, it means to optimize your local business website to get found easily in the local search results.
For example, if you are a hairdresser in Pune what is the point if you appear in the search result of hairdressers in Mumbai. Only people searching for you in Pune will drop down to your address. So, if you want to improve your organic site traffic, local SEO is the name of the game.
Local searches such as dentist near me, plumber near me, dentist in Pune (city name) are some of the common searches and right local SEO strategies and practices will help your business to get found, effortlessly.
Over 130% increase in search volume for the keyword ‘near me’
500% increase in ‘near me’ mobile searches
Factors influencing local SEO rankings
No matter what product you sell or what service you offer to get famous in your locality via the internet, below are the key factors that are surefire to boost your local SEO rankings:
Google my business
Your local SEO probably is just incomplete without claiming your business on Google my business page. Afterall your main goal is to get your business listed in google search results and Google my business is the stepping stone which you surely can’t miss.
- While claiming for your business, do not forget to:
- Verify your listing
- Choose a suitable business category
- Add photos of business, products, staff and location
- Include relevant keywords in business title
- Add working hours and address accurately
- Add your website link
- Pin your address on Google map
Links
Whether it’s SEO or local SEO, links can have a great impact on the rankings. The more links you have for arriving at your pages, the more it’s effective on your rankings. Some link-building factors, you need to consider are:
Inbound link authority
It is a key factor that conveys to Google that how valuable your business site is to people.
Link quantity
Quality content plays a vital role in driving link quantity. Only if the content is worth sharing, guest blogs and affiliate networks will help to generate a good number of quality backlinks.
Link quality
When high-quality sites link to your site, it improves your credibility and convinces search engines that you are trustworthy.
Outbound links
The links on your pages that lead the visitors to other websites can also have an impact on your site ranking.
Creating and sharing content is the best and most effective way of link-building.
Citations
Almost all your competitors have claimed their local business on business listings/directories. Frankly, you might stand a strong chance to get noticed but at least claiming your business will help you to be in the race and it is very important.
Make sure you list your business on more authoritative web directories like Foursquare, YellowPages, Yelp etc. to get more beneficial citations. The number of times your site gets appeared in the search results, the more your local business will be credible.
Reviews
People still believe in words. Customer reviews or product reviews on reputed review sites matters a lot. There are myriads of review sites along with listings where you can claim your business. Honest reviews from customers are always appreciated as builds the trust factor. Add client testimonial, however, feedback posted on review sites help your local business to drive more traffic.
Social media
Lately, you must have seen many product or service providers promoting their work on social media by creating business pages on Facebook, Instagram etc. Wondering does that influence the SEO ranking? Yes, it does.
The more engagement on social media the better position you will acquire on local SEO. Most of the people actually use social networking channels like search engines, so if you mark your visibility there, you will definitely create an impact on local SEO.
Having business listings on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and staying active is a great way to improve customer engagement and eventually flourish your local business.
NAP consistency
Local SEO and NAP goes hand in hand. Your business Name Address Phone number should mandatorily be consistent across the web. Whether it is your business website, Google my business, listing sites or social media channels, wherever you have displayed your business information, make sure it is accurate and consistent. This will not only influence your local SEO but also help the customers to easily get connected with your business.
Optimise web pages with local keywords
The foolproof way of reaching the majority of your target audience is by optimising the web pages. Let’s say someone wants to get their clogged drain fixed ASAP. While searching for plumber online, they would surely include city or locality name to narrow down the search. So this makes clear how important it is to optimise your website with relevant content and keywords.
It is wise to include city name or any such relevant keywords in web pages’ Title tag, H1 tag, meta description, URL, alt tag and body text.
Mobile optimisation
It’s all about mobile! No wonder why Google is putting so much stress on mobile-friendly websites. If you overlook mobile optimisation then for certain you will be missing out colossal local traffic.
Make sure your business website is mobile-friendly or responsive and also implement AMP which Accelerated Mobile Pages for enhanced user experience and quick page load as it can great impact on the Google algorithm.
Schema and Local Structured Data Markup
You simply have to talk the language of the search engines and get rewarded with rich results. Confused?
Adopt schema markup to help search engines understand your business information more effectively. It displays accurate information to your visitors and potential customers. Scheme markup is kind of rich snippet that can skyrocket your traffic.
Future of local SEO
Local SEO is, of course, imperative and it will continue to improve and evolve to win more customers. The strategies are going to be more advanced and smarter. Voice search/Voice SEO and positive business reviews are predicted to play a major role in influencing site rankings. Google algorithms are likely to evolve and the accurate business listing will still rule.
So, realise the opportunities and get into action.
You don’t have to worry about local SEO services in Pune. Our SEO experts assure not only to increase your web traffic but also increase foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store.
