Local SEO, sometimes referred to as local online marketing is a marketing strategy aimed at helping businesses rank higher in search engines in their local areas for certain goods or services.
Looking for somewhere to have dinner nearby?
The first thing you do is grab your mobile phone and search for ‘restaurants near me’ or something similar to that. Before you know it, you are displayed plenty of results ; some listed in standard search results while others are added into what is known as the ‘Google local pack’.
Google Map Packs offer real prime estate in organic search, giving much needed organic exposure in search. This will undoubtedly improve a website’s “click through rate”.
Competition for top positions in Google for “location specific” search queries such as private GP London is often very fierce. Local businesses are directly competing against each other online using search engines as a springboard to reach out to potential customers in a particular area.
Local SEO can take a lot of effort and time. In a constantly changing environment with businesses constantly competing online for a local area. Businesses will need to have a winning blend of winning / maintaining local consumers trust, send the right signals to search engines whilst maintaining a strong case that they are the-go-to business in the local area.
Many businesses consider local SEO services because local search marketing is a highly accurate and well timed form of online marketing, it offers one of the highest levels of conversion for a business and usually offers one of the best returns on your investment.
Let’s Kick Start Your Local SEO Campaign!
The key to a successful local SEO campaign is to send strong but accurate ranking signals to search engines such as Google and Bing, offering a strong case as to why your business should rank for a particular location. While a good portion of this is done by carefully optimising on-page content to a particular location, Google is not so naive as to purely put all its trust in a websites content – the next section will cover what local seo factors Google considers in its complex algorithm.
There are many methods which can be employed to help rank a business, but some of the most common methods utilised are :
Local on-page SEO refers to optimising website from the inside to ensure it performs the way it should be for maximum performance.
The process involves enriching landing pages with references to a specific local area (sometimes called localisation). This is done through a sophisticated and accurate data-driven process to ensure that a website is able to effectively compete against competitors for search engine space.
It is also important to realise that it’s not just Google that serves local results, other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo also serve local seo results. It is therefore in any businesses’ best interest to be on point with its on-page SEO to ensure its services are served as high up search results as possible.
While On page SEO looks for opportunities to optimise your website internally, another (if not equally important) consideration is off page SEO.
Get Noticed : To help potential customers find a service, businesses add themselves into well known online business directories. These are often called “business citations” and are often utilised as part of local SEO strategies to send strong signals to search engines about a business and its relevance to the services it offers. This often called “NAP” and features a company’s name, address, phone number (and website URL).
Get Social : Social media marketing is a big part of staying / becoming visible in an ever increasingly noisy world wide web. It can play a pivotal role in building a brand’s local presence, keeping in contact with existing local customers and letting them know about new promotions and offers.
Get Video : Similar to social media, video marketing is a great way to reach out to audiences, in fact it almost falls into the social media category. Video marketing provides a far more personalised method of reaching out to new customers through a different type of media. You can be sure that new local visitors to your site will be curious to learn more about your business before they ultimately decide to use your services – What better way to introduce your business than through video footage?
Get Reviews : Reviews are probably one of the best ways to convince a new potential customer that they should buy your goods and services. Amazon was one of the first E-Commerce websites to have adopted this on its platform. With the birth of Google and Bing Reviews, users can both view and self-review businesses anonymously.
Your online reputation is an invaluable asset to your business. Recent studies have shown that 83-90% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations made to them by friends or family members. Online reviews can make or break a local businesses.
About 68% of consumers will read a minimum of 4 online reviews before considering to buy from businesses. After reading positive reviews, the chances of a business selling to customers are instantly elevated. This in turn means consumers will be more likely to get in touch with you either by phone or emails or even pay you a visit.
Get Competitive : Another effective tactic used in off-site SEO strategies is gaining an insight into what competitors are doing. While there are manual ways to do this, employing an SEO agency to analyse and compare competitors is usually faster and more effective, this is because they have the expertise not to mention the tools to do this.
Get Analysing : Another effective tactic used in off-site SEO strategies is gaining an insight into what competitors are doing. While there are manual ways to do this, employing an agency that offers local seo services to analyse and compare competitors is usually faster and more effective, this is because they have the expertise not to mention the tools to do this.
This is however only the beginning. We actively look for opportunities in your local area which
While some businesses have already used this to their advantage, unsurprisingly there are many others that simply have not appreciated how powerful / impactful Google tools can be in a local SEO strategy in the digital age.
Whether its Google My Business, Google Reviews or Google Maps, they are all interconnected. Perhaps most important of all, they are free to use.
Perhaps the most powerful of these is Google Reviews. Needing no introduction, whether or not users are on a mobile device, a computer or tablet, most will have by now seen these floating around Google search results.
Google reviews can promote instant trust (if the reviews are positive).
… on, on the flip side if a business suffers from no or poor reviews, its for all to see.
When we talk about optimising, most people automatically think of Google. This goes without saying, considering that over 50% of most websites online traffic will come from Google, but what about other search engines? Bing for example is the second largest search engine which can also offer search traffic.
Over-dependency on a single platform can often lead to uncertain web traffic and instability that a business can do without. This is especially true if Google decides to lower your website rankings – Putting your eggs in one basket is not a good idea!
Assuming that a business has its website appropriately optimised, it can in-fact pull in 8% of its organic traffic from other sources. As shown in the graph below, a study by Stat Counter how’s that Google currently commands 92% of all search queries. This in turn means you can bring in 8% of your organic search traffic from other sources – See below :
While there are multiple ranking factors, there can all be categorised into three key factors that Google will look at when deciding where to place your business in the rankings.
Other Ranking Factors
If you want to appear in relevant, local search results, it is imperative to consider local SEO.
Business Medics have the necessary expertise to help your website rank in search engines and to convert customers in your local area
For more information, visit our London local seo services page or contact us directly on 0845 257 4552 to speak to us about creating your bespoke local SEO plan!
Address: Transport House, Uxbridge Road, Hillingdon Heath Middx UB10 OLY
Tel: 0845 257 4552
Email: info@businessmedics.co.uk
Business Medics is a full-service strategic & digital marketing agency with the skills to transform your brand, grow your small to medium business and increase overall profitability.