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Whether it’s a furniture store in Jacksonville, Florida, a restaurant in Boise, Idaho, or an auto shop in Houston Texas, local search engine optimization plays a crucial role when it comes to generating customers and conversions for your physical brick-and-mortar location.
You may feel that there’s little point investing your time and money in Google’s presence as a local business owner when a quick search is showing that you’re competing against big businesses, like Amazon and Walmart. For the main organic listings, that might be true. However, it’s an entirely different matter when it comes to local prominence.
The shopping public and even Google itself recognize the value that local businesses have. In fact, Google has even set specific local ranking factors that will help it to determine whether your business is geographically relevant or not when a user performs a ‘near me’ search. That being said, you don’t necessarily have to focus on competing against large corporations if you want to get your business in front of the local consumers. However, you definitely have to worry about your local SEO campaigns
Learn more about the importance of local SEO for your business below.
Local Keywords Will Help You Rank You Higher In Google
Are you trying to rank higher in Google? The truth is that Google can be very tricky, especially if you’re trying to find the right keywords and phrases to optimize your website. A lot of people make the mistake of picking keywords and phrases that are only used in Google’s database, but this could be disastrous for your business because many of these keywords and phrases aren’t even related to your niche. This can result in difficulty finding an optimized content for your site that’s actually going to give you the kind of traffic that you need to achieve success.
To get around this, you need to use local keywords when building your site. It’s one of the hottest SEO trends today because, of course, consumers are more likely searching for services or information being offered specifically in their geographical area. Most people who use their smartphones to look for a nearby business visit them within the day. A good percentage of these searches also end up in a purchase.
Using local keywords can make it a lot easier for you to rank higher in Google, but using local keywords correctly can help you do that in a way that’s going to generate high-quality traffic to your site. You need to start with your niche keywords, and, then, pick up local related keywords from there.
Enhanced Google Maps Visibility
Part of local SEO is the optimization of your Google My Business page. In fact, one of the most important SEO factors for any online business is the Google My Business profile page.
Google My Business is an easy-to-use, free Internet tool, which aims to help small local companies achieve increased visibility on Google search results for specific local searches. The Google My Business website allows businesses to submit their local addresses, as well as the descriptions to their listings. Optimizing your Google My Business account can provide you with enhanced Google maps visibility, thereby increasing your organic search traffic.
So, how to optimize Google My Business? One important aspect of Google My Business optimization is keyword selection. When you build up a profile, you can choose which keywords to use for each page. Your page should include key phrases that people will search for, so they’ll easily find you.
Local Customers Will Find You
Local SEO is the practice of optimizing your company’s web presence to help you show up on local searches so you can be seen by local customers. Local SEO is critical for many local businesses because, of course, people in Tampa looking for a local dry cleaner don’t want to see a business in San Francisco.
Local businesses also do well in a small market with the help of local SEO, wherein it’s easier for them to build trust with customers, as well as brand recognition. Local SEO is also good for small business owners who have limited budget. They can target their campaigns at local consumers and use local keywords to help them rank higher in Google, while spending significantly lower compared to trying to rank in the main organic listings.
Get More Targeted Traffic
The main objective of SEO services is to increase the traffic to your website. With the help of local SEO techniques, you’ll have a good chance of gaining more targeted traffic, thereby improving your conversion rate.
Local website traffic optimizes the visibility of your website, boosts your sales directly, and makes the name of your brand more recognizable to your local audience. As more targeted traffic increases, more potential customers will visit your website and start the business relationship with your organization.
Target Hot Leads From Mobile Users
Local SEO is good at targeting both desktop and mobile users, unlike other advertising forms. That can be economical for local businesses, considering the significant rise of mobile searches for local services. Local SEO that’s being optimized for mobile search is one really lucrative method of advertising for local businesses that are trying to promote their services and products quickly and effectively.
Get Reviews From Nearby Clients
Many people look for reviews online before trying a new service or product. Potential consumers may become hesitant in giving you their money if your business doesn’t have online reviews coming from previous customers.
Local SEO is one effective method of getting quality reviews from your past clients. Using local SEO, you can encourage your previous customers to leave an honest review of their experience with your business. These reviews will be the confirmation that potential clients need to actually proceed doing business with you.
Final Thoughts
It’s true that managing the information about your business in online directories requires time and effort. However, it’s possible to set local business listings up across the face of the web for free using tools like Facebook and Google My Business, making local SEO a far more cost-efficient form of online advertising. And, with the benefits of local SEO discussed above, there’s absolutely no doubt about its importance for any kind of business today.
