If you want to reach out to people in your local area, local SEO is what you need. Statistics reveal that 46 percent of all searches made on Google are local. This means, most people make use of Google and other search engines when they are looking to buy a product locally or need a local service provider. So, if you don’t pay enough attention to local SEO you are missing out on a huge chunk of business.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is quite the same as organic SEO but with an additional geographical component. When you do local SEO, you are aiming at a high ranking on Google mapsas well as ranking organically on location specific keywords. Say, if you are offering carpet cleaning service in Toronto, you want people searching for your service in Toronto to find you. This suggests local SEO is extremely important if you want to drive more organic local traffic to your website.
Why is Local SEO Important?
We are all looking for things that are close by to us and local SEO is the best way to find things that are physically near us. Research shows a significant increase in the number of “near me” searches and 34% of these searchers end up going to local stores. Local search is specifically powerful for small businesses as well as multi-location businesses as it ensures nearby customers can seamlessly find your brand or service by running a quick search. When you optimize your business for local search, you can connect with highly motivated local customers. This is why it is important to hire a reputed SEO Expert in Toronto like Pat’s Marketing who can help you with local SEO.
Understanding Search Results
To completely understand local SEO, you need to comprehend how local search results appear on the search engine results page (SERP). There are four type of search results on Google’s SERPs page.
- Organic search listings: These results are earned when local businesses stand true to the best practices of SEO. It appears as a standard search result.
- Google My Business or maps listings: These are rich search results that display in a map or a featured listing. Businesses that appear here have claimed and optimized their Google My Business page.
- Paid search engine listings: Paid search engine results are paid search ads where a local business pays for their search results to appear when people search for selected keywords. The ‘ad’ designation shows that it is a paid result.
- Google guaranteed listings: These are rich search results that are available for service-based industries in select cities. A business that comes up through this brand has signed up and been verified through Google’s program.
Now that you know what these search results are, our local SEO experts in Toronto offer here a basic guide to local SEO, that provides a glimpse of everything you need to know about local SEO when it comes to optimizing your website.
8 (+2 Bonus) Tips to Improve Local SEO
1. Optimize your Homepage
Your homepage should meticulously state who you are, what you do and where you are located. Ensure that it is easy for Google to understand these elements. Your page’s title tag, the header tag, as well as meta description, should clearly state this information. Your web content should have more location focused keywords and you need to use them in the meta tags & initial paragraphs of your content.
2. Have a Page for Every Product / Service and Location
Our Toronto SEO experts will see that you have a separate page for each of your services or products. Also if you have multiple locations, consider having a location specific page with your address, phone number etc.
3. Update Your NAP Citations
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone Number. For a strong local presence, it is important that your listings info on directories & data aggregators like Google My Business, Bing, Yelp, Infogroup etc. are up to date & consistent.
4. Contact Info Easily Visible & Phone number clickable
In your contact page, apart from NAP (Name, Address, Phone No) display your email address. Also, display NAPs of all your other business addresses. It is also suggested to make all the phone numbers clickable on mobile phones and add a Google map for all your locations. This will make it extremely easy for people to find you and connect with you.
5. Optimize your Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) or maps is a great source to get traffic to your website. So ensure your GMB listings have up to date information esp. name, address, phone number, website link, category, photos & business description. Also keep posting regularly on GMB about your local offers, services, etc.
6. Create a Robust Online Profile
Just having a website is not enough if you want to reap the benefits of local SEO. It is highly suggested that you must get your business listed on popular review platforms such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google My Business, and Facebook.
7. Get Local Inbound Links
More inbound links to your website hold a high rating in Google algorithms. A great way to build links is to participate in conversations with other local business forums and blogs. Leave well-articulated and meaningful comments and also link their posts on your blog. You need to work on building a relationship with other websites to win backlinks to your blog.
8. Reviews Matter
Statistics show that about 97% of people check ratings and rely on reviews when making a purchase decision. So your online review rating has a significant impact on your business. Poor ratings are a turn off for people. Besides, no ratings make businesses lose their credibility as customers show a lack of trust for businesses that do not have ratings. So, make sure you have good reviews on all major review platforms. What’s more, positive Google reviews help you get top slots in Google local rankings. We also urge you to respond to reviews, whether good or bad. It shows your professionalism and care for the customer.
9. Mobile-Friendly Website
The importance of high mobile-friendliness of the article cannot be stressed enough. Most of the users will visit your website from a mobile device. Thus, your website must be highly responsive and friendly with all 3 devices: desktop, mobile, and a tablet.
10. Long-Tail Keywords
If you are a business owner, you want to be the answer for every question of the customers. Does focusing only on the seed keyword suffice? No. You don’t know the search intent of the user. Also, you don’t know in what form will the user search his query. Thus, you need to focus on all the important long tail keywords and ensure you use them efficiently. The more long-tail keywords you cover, the more you gift yourself an enhanced visibility.
Get in Touch With Pat’s Marketing!
Need help with local SEO? Seek our assistance today! By improving local SEO, you can expect more organic traffic, enjoy more leads, and look for significant growth in business and also profits. At Pat’s Marketing, we have mastered the art of local SEO with 200+ local clients served till date. Contact us at 1-888-488-7287 for a free SEO consultation.
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