While SEO is the result of globalization, the evolution of SEO has seen the rise in importance of bringing localization to your strategy; if your startup wants the highest sales figures possible you need to know about local SEO.
Below I’ve run through what local SEO is and how your startup can incorporate it into your strategy. Read on and you’ll be a local SEO pro in no time.
Recommended reading: Local Business: Get Found and Get Chosen
What is local SEO?
You and your startup already know about traditional SEO and will have your own strategy for it.
However, local SEO is not the same and has tactics and features to the SEO skills you’re already employing. Here are the headline features of local SEO:
For local searches
When your customer make a search in Google, the search engine knows which part of the world you’re in. Google exists to give its users the best possible outcome to their searches and if that means giving them a local solution that’s what it will give them.
Targeted on local keywords
Most users who benefit from local SEO have a specific business in mind when they make their searches. However, they might not be seeking a specific company.
When Google compiles the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) for these searches they target companies which have the closest match to the industry their user is seeking, along with the location their user is based in. The results are targeted around local keywords, so you need to make sure your startup is aware of how to find the relevant keywords for your locality.
It’s a mobile thing
Mobile phones and tablets now account for around 60% of all web searches made. Local SEO is particularly relevant to these devices and is especially relevant to your startup if you are based in the services industry.
Let take restaurants as an example: If a user is out and searching for the best food in their area, they’ll almost certainly be making their search via a mobile. Using local SEO means that your startup has the best chance of being the first business that your searcher sees when Google directs them to the best local restaurant.
How can my startup make the most of local SEO?
Like traditional SEO, there are many different tactics that you can, and need, to employ in order to make sure your startup gets the most out of local SEO. These are:
Make sure your startup is listed correctly in Google My Business
If your startup isn’t in Google My Business, or your listing is incomplete, then you won’t feature on Google Maps – which isn’t much use to your searcher if they’re trying to locate your business.
Getting your startup listed correctly on Google My Business is quick and easy. Check out the excellent video below for a guide on how you can make sure you’re on Google My Business.
Incorporate online reviews
93% of your customers are influenced by reading online reviews. It’s for this reason that Google loves to use online reviews to build its local SEO rankings, and that you can’t afford to add them to your startup’s strategy.
f you’re not sure how to make the most out of online reviews to maximize your local SEO, spend a few minutes absorbing the information in the handy video guide underneath…
Use City Pages
This tactic is all about getting the maximum value from the surrounding areas of the city, or town, that your startup is based in.
City Pages use LSI technology to allow you to target any combination of service, product, or metro area. The benefit of this is that it allows your startup to appear in a broader range of local searches.
For an in depth guidance on the benefit of City Pages to your local SEO strategy, spend some time watching the following video…
Add content to Google Posts
Well-optimized content is a huge part of making the most of local SEO and Google has a place for you to publish it.
Google Posts lets you develop and upload content directly on Google. You can add your startup’s products, services, and events to Google Maps and Google’s search results. Your posts can be up to 300 words and you can add a CTA (call-to-action) button, date range, and image.
You create them in your Google My Business dashboard and they will appear immediately in Google SERPs. For more information on how your startup can start using Google Posts, watch the brilliant video underneath…
Get your on-site optimization right
Onsite optimization accounts for 18% of Google’s decision making when it ranks your startup’s website in local searches, meaning it’s something you can’t overlook. What you need to know about your onsite optimization is this:
Title tags matter
Title tags are the most important part of on-site optimization. This means it is essential that you insert your locally optimized keywords into the title tags for your web pages.
Check out the video below to see how you can get your title tags right…
Write local content
Using Google Posts is a great way to link local content to your business, but don’t stop there; add local content to your website. There is a range of local content you can write for your website and this article is full of ideas to help you develop a local content strategy.
Be aware of schema markup
This is the code that you use to tell Google what your website is about, making it essential that you get this very technical aspect of on-site optimization right.
There are a number of great apps to help you with this. Schema App Total Schema Markup is an industry leader and comes with a range of great features. It makes optimizing your schema markup easy and can be added to your business in minutes.
If your startup isn’t aware of and employing the benefits of local SEO, then you won’t feature in Google’s SERPs and will lose potential customers. Thankfully, you now have everything you need to know about local SEO, so you won’t be losing any customers.
Victoria Greene is a branding consultant, freelance writer, and SEO content specialist. On her blog, VictoriaEcommerce, you’ll find an array of articles to help your startup make the most of ecommerce tactics to increase your revenue.
