Process of local search engine optimisation

Local search is similar to search engine optimization or a small variation of it. It works like SEO only but with little alterations. While search engine optimization is for businesses that work on a national level or target audience from across the globe, local search is for small businesses that focus on regional customers.

Local SEO targets increasing your visibility on the search engine result page (SERP) in the local area of your business. It will help in growing your brand, products and services in the specific location.

Steps To Optimise Local Search

Local SEO is a great strategy to get more organic website traffic, leads and conversion within the region your business is established and is relevant for the customers seeking similar products. You should try and optimise the local search and the following are a few steps to do it.

1. Make a Google My Business Account

Enhancing your business profile or your google listing is probably the most effective way to increase your rankings on google maps and obtain more visibility on google search local results

 In order to do so, you need to be associated with the google my business account. After creating a business profile start updating all the current information asked in the profile dashboard, add your logo, acceptable payment methods, operation hours, brief about the business, products and services, and informative pictures.

Ask your customers to rate your profile and respond to them sincerely. Publish different posts on your dashboard about your work, achievements, customers and special offers.

This will improve your profile on local search results, google maps and the search knowledge panel.

2. Reviews from happy customers

Once you have closed the deal with a customer and the sale is final you can ask them to visit your profile and write a helpful review about the experience. This will lead to increasing your goodwill in the local market and you will get more local visitors.

Then don't forget to respond to their review via post-purchase mail or text in a professional way. It will create a positive impact in the minds of other local audiences.

3. Voice search optimization

With the onset of voice search, it is very crucial for your profile to incorporate this feature. Lately, voice search has grown rapidly where people speak into their devices instead of typing it for searches as it saves time and is more engaging.

You should adust your voice searches to fit into a conversational tone and be mindful of the user interface so that when a potential customer asks a question about your business all the answers should be readily available.

4. Provide content based on local news and events

Nowadays where everyone is busy in their own lives you can enlighten them about what is happening around them.

As you have a business profile which acts like a platform you can use it to spread awareness about all the local news and events and it will depict you as a responsible citizen specifically in the region you work.

Write blogs, create videos and circulate local event information via your profile.

5. Improvise your website for mobile

Mobile usage has taken an escalation in the past few years and now you will find fewer desktop users as compared to mobile users.

You should optimize your website accordingly which can include quick loading, bigger fonts, images and make sure you have an intuitive user interface for better UX.

6. Refine local keywords

It does not make sense to add keywords which are not relevant to your local customers.

Google provides you with a tool called keyword planner where you can sharpen the keywords based on the local region you work to get an idea about the popular search terms.

7. Add location pages

This is a must for every business that has more than one store in the location. How will people know about your multiple stores and in which region they are built if you don't provide information about it?

You need to add location pages with store hours, address, contact details, testimonials, promotions, descriptions and google maps attached to them. This will grow your audience in all regions wherever you have your stores and build goodwill amongst that city.

8. Participate in online business directories

There are many online business directories available which can benefit you so take the advantage of them. Websites like Yelp, Foursquare, Mapquest, and yellow pages will boost your local search results and increase your visibility in the local region.

9. Prioritize on link signals

Link signals mean that you obtain maximum high-quality backlinks from other web pages of different websites. It will enhance your business profile and provide you with more localised organic results

 According to Moz’s 2017 local search ranking factor survey link signals are the most important source to increase your quality website traffic.

10. Make a separate webpage for each product/service

You can dump all your products and service in just one page but it can get misleading and clumsy.

Instead, you should dedicate an individual webpage for each of your products and services as it will help customers better understand and sorted clean descriptions.

Conclusion

These are some simple measures that you should inculcate to grow your business and use all the digital tools to your advantage. It will increase your visibility, leads, reach, and conversions into the final sales.