For every small or medium-sized business, there is a desire to make a local impact within the community as much as there is to have eCommerce success on a national or global level. Local SEO and local search are two tactics that can help achieve this and are important to connecting with a local audience.
Local SEO is search engine optimization that helps promote products and services on a local level to customers in your area that are actively looking for them. Local search typically shows the results when someone types an inquiry that includes the words “near me,” meaning there is a target on the local area or by location. The search engines understand that the searcher wants results that are local and based on location, so it shows those results first.
How do you achieve good rankings in local SEO? There are three key factors: how close you are to the location of the searcher, how relevant you are to the search query and what other customers are saying about your products or services.
Because of these factors, local SEO is not always easy. It can take a lot of effort to get the results you want, but there are some things you can do to improve your local search rankings and make more of a local impact.
Website Localization – To localize your website means to include your location throughout the website. If you have multiple locations, you may create multiple pages to represent your locations. Include the city or region where you are located constantly in your content and throughout the website and get involved locally within the community with events or post any feature articles on community involvement to your website.
Build Citations – By being included on citation websites and business directories, customers will be able to find your business, and your profile will include the business name, location, phone number, and website. Adding more information about your business to business directories improves your search rankings.
Google My Business Listings – Claiming your business on Google My Business is a big step to landing results with search engines. This confirms your businesses location and displays your business on Google services, local search results, and Google Maps.
Reviews – Reviews are already important because they can promote your quality and customer service, but they also serve another purpose. Reviews send signals to search engines that your website and your services are trusted, which improves your website’s overall quality and improves your local rankings.
Backlinks – Getting backlinks from websites that are also trusted is another way to build local SEO. If your website is promoted by a regarded website or in other content like newspapers, blogs or business associations as trustworthy and prominent, it increases the visibility in search results.
Local search is something that is very often targeted and can draw in a lot of new visitors. It can be a great return on investment for you as you work on your SEO to build a better and more impactful website.
Did you find this information and these tips helpful? Continue to learn more about topics such as local search or the latest trends in eCommerce by following the Genius eCommerce blog. At Genius eCommerce, this is who we are and what we do, helping to keep you up to date on trends that are succeeding and what you can do to improve your results.
