Local SEO offers businesses with physical locations within specific geographical regions an edge in marketing and sales performance.

Local SEO goes beyond traditional search algorithms by taking into account multiple elements such as citations, review signals and location-specific content creation/monitoring as well as creating/monitoring business listings.

Keywords

Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to optimizing your website, blog posts and online listings with keywords people search for when looking for products, services or amenities in your locality. Utilizing keywords with high search volume will increase organic search engine results pages (SERPs) rankings while driving increased unpaid traffic, foot traffic and inquires to your business.

First, brainstorm what solutions your business provides – these will serve as your seed keywords. Next, include location terms such as “near me” or spatial terms like “city”. These modifiers indicate local intent in your keywords.

Use Google Keyword Planner or one of its free or paid alternatives like Ubersuggest, Answer the Public, or SEMrush to research keywords being searched in your region. Once you’ve identified some possible keyword ideas and variations, be sure to consider their search volume and SEO difficulty before selecting which ones to implement.

Local Business Listings

Local business listings are an integral component of local SEO strategies. Online directories allow your company to list its name, address, phone number (NAP), along with products or services offered. Accurate NAP listings show search engines that you have a presence in your community.

Accurate and updated local listings are key components in Google’s algorithm for ranking organic and local search results, and making sure your NAP, business hours, website URL and descriptions match across various platforms will ensure your listing appears in local searches.

Maintaining an up-to-date listing and responding to customer feedback on local listings can have a substantial effect on search rankings. By consistently responding to positive and negative reviews, you can demonstrate your dedication to providing exceptional service; this can have an effectful ripple effect across other customers who experience your service, further strengthening its perceptions of your company and ultimately increasing sales and improving reputation.

Reviews

Online reviews have become one of the key determinants in buying decisions, yet how can you ensure that customers leave reviews that will set your business apart from its rivals?

Accumulating more and better reviews online is an integral component of local SEO; however, collecting them and managing them may prove challenging for small businesses. To address this issue, local SEO marketing software can assist businesses by managing listings, citations, consumer reviews and ratings in one convenient system.

Screaming Frog or Ahrefs software can also assist search engines with verifying the location of a business, which is an integral step in local SEO since Google prioritizes keeping business information consistent across the web – thus prompting many companies engaging in local SEO to utilize tools like these for verification.

Social Media

An active social media profile can help your business reach local customers more effectively and keep its Google MAP pack listing fresh by providing content rich with local keywords. Furthermore, active social media profiles encourage consumers to leave reviews, an essential factor of local SEO.

Local SEO relies heavily on website content and location-based factors, but social media and business directories for citation signals. Citations signals refer to mentions of your name, address and phone number online such as on social media profiles or local business directories such as Yelp, Angie’s List or Thumbtack; having consistent NAPs across your website, Google My Business listing and social media accounts is crucial for local SEO success.

Local SEO can be especially useful for businesses that operate with physical stores or offices, like pet shops, personal trainers or lawyers. But it can also be leveraged by online businesses like e-commerce stores in order to attract local customers.