A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Local SEO in 2021

The internet is flooded with a lot of businesses, how do you plan to stand out and carve a niche? The digital marketplace has offered a pool of audience to the businesses but has also diminished their chances of utilizing it to the fullest.

Think of it this way- You own a restaurant, just like any other restaurant around, even you aspire to get more customers and enhance the business visibility.

What do you plan to do in such a case? You will definitely choose to list your business with Google so that the customers can find you.

But here’s a catch! What is the probability that your restaurant’s name will come on the first page of the search result when someone searches for “Restaurant near me”?

When you will try to find an answer to this question, you’ll find yourself reading about a term that is ‘Local SEO’.

What Made The Difference?

As said earlier, Google won’t choose you for what you want to do, rather it chooses you for what you are doing to achieve that goal. In this case, gathering extensive knowledge about Local SEO and using it to grow your business is the best thing that you can do.

It feels so good to read about all the great things that you can achieve with effective Local SEO strategies, right? Let’s now dig deeper into the concept and know more about it.

As You Read This Blog, You’ll Find An Answer To Questions Like-

• What is local SEO?
• How local SEO can be helpful?
• How does local SEO work?
• How to do keyword research for local SEO?
• Why NAP is crucial to local SEO?
• What is Map Pack?
• Local link building
• Onsite SEO for local businesses

Think of this blog as a guide to Local SEO, after reading this, you will be able to use it effectively for your business.

Let’s get started-

What Is Local SEO?

Let’s start with the basics, what is local SEO?

Local SEO is an effective method to improve the rankings of a website and help to secure the top rank in the Google search results. Whenever you hear the word ‘Local SEO’ you hear about Google My Business as well. In common parlance, Local SEO is used for enhancing your businesses’ visibility in the google search result.

And you do want to get a top rank, right? So, you can think of Local SEO as your pal who would be there to back you and win in the Digital colosseum.

How Local SEO Can Be Helpful?

The local SEO can be helpful in the following ways:

1. Enhance The Visibility

When you have listed your business on Google, you make it easier for the local audience to find your business. Local SEO helps you enhance the business visibility and make the best use of the digital marketplace.

Local SEO is bliss for local businesses. To understand it better, refer to the restaurant example given above. With local SEO services, you can secure the top rank in the Google search results.

2. Ratings And Reviews

When you opt for local SEO services, you are also open a gateway for customers to post ratings and reviews. These reviews and ratings have the potential to influence the buying decisions of your customers.

Moreover, with the updated Google Review Policy, the reviews have got a lot more power to rank you higher in the Google algorithm. Thus, reviews are also going to decide the course of your business success on the internet now.

3. Acquiring New Customers

The basic fundamental of Local SEO is to help you get more customers for your local business. This is the best way of attracting new customers to your business. Having positive reviews for your business would be beneficial for your business to get new customers. Remember one thing, when it comes to getting more new customers, nothing can help you more than Local SEO.

4. Higher Conversion Rate

Imagine you own a cake shop, someone searches for ‘Bakery near me’ and find your shop in the top search result. You have provided important information like the address, and the contact details on the page, this will give that person an instant link to find you and use your services or products. This is how a Local SEO service can help you increase your conversion rate.

Apart from the information that you provide, another factor that contributes to the conversion factor is that your business display at the top position in SERP. This itself persuades consumers into believing that you have a credible business and they end up choosing you.

5. Enhance Business Reputation

Having a credible listing on Google makes you look like a reliable business. Your potential customer does not know who you are, or what quality of services do you offer, but when they can see your business in the Google listing and read the reviews and get to know that you have provided them with the contact information, they get a good image about the company. This helps to enhance the business reputation, which again would result in getting more customers.

How Does Local SEO Work?

Ever wondered how Google filters the search results? It scans through the keywords in the search question and matches them with the business descriptions to display the right result. Thus, it is important for you to do the Keyword research thoroughly and utilize the knowledge by using highly optimized content for your business page.

It is important for you to do the keyword research beforehand, just in case you are not aware of the right approach you need to follow while doing the keyword research, here is something for you-

How To Do Keyword Research For Local SEO?

Research is the basis of every process, similarly, you need to do some research for the keyword selection as well.

Here are a few things you need to consider while doing keyword research.

1- Use Keywords That Define Your Business

Make sure to use keywords that can justify the category of your business and can talk about your service and products in detail. Try not to use any confusing words, they can misdirect the audience and mess with the algorithm.

2- Find Keyword By Search Intent

Never use any keyword that would never be part of any search question. Be very specific about the business and the search query you want to acknowledge. Make sure that if the keywords are not selected with the search intent then it would not help you get any desired results.

3- Add A Location

Yes, it is important to use location-specific keywords. This can also help you rank better. Your Local SEO strategies would only be effective if you are using keywords that are service and location-centric. For example- If you own a restaurant in New York, then look for the keywords like “Restaurant in New York”, “Restaurant near me”, etc. This would help you optimize the content better.

NAP Consistency For Better Business Visibility!

It refers to the accuracy of the location-based businesses, it includes adding the location, phone number, and other contact details related stuff accurate and updated. Having NAP-consistent and having updated Google Map citation is really important if you plan to rank higher in the Google search results. It eventually brings more customers to your website. If you want to keep your business on the top of the search engine results pages then you should definitely consider the NAP consistency.

What Is Map Pack?

When consumers search for a business, they are exposed to a lot of search results. When you search for a restaurant, Google shows you a number of results, and the search results point towards the restaurant with the highest ratings. Thus, it is important to rank higher and make the best use of this functionality. You can use some Google maps pack strategies to rank higher in the search results-

-Make a better Google My Business listing. Display all the details about your business accurately and use an impactful copy for the GMB descriptions.

-Display positive reviews and ratings. Don’t hesitate from negative reviews, reply to them with a positive approach. This shows that the company values the opinion of its customers and would always be available to acknowledge their concerns.

What Are Local Backlinks?

You can get a backlink from many sources, some sources are guest blog posts and your social media profiles. These local backlinks are different from standard backlinks. Unlike a standard backlink that comes from sources in your service area, a local backlink is earned from different sources like blogs, newspapers, and directories.

Local backlink makes your business a go-to resource in your area. If you try to get better local backlinks, you can also contribute to the PR of your company.

5 Basic Ways To Optimize The Website For Local SEO

1. Optimize Your Homepage

Your homepage must very genuinely articulate who you are, where do you locate, and what you do. Make sure to answer all these questions if you want Google to recognize your enterprise. Your page title, meta title tag, header tag, and meta description have to without a doubt showcase this information.

2. Optimize Your Metadata

There are many arguments to support and oppose the relevance of page titles and meta descriptions. Irrespective of what anyone says, Meta Description plays a huge role as a ranking factor. If you plan to optimize the website for Local SEO then our meta description should have important information pertaining to the name of the city where your business is located or the city you want to target. It should also include a brief about the product or service that you offer. This can help search engines to show you in search queries that are related to that city, product, or service.

3.Create A Dedicated Page For Every Product, Service, And The Location

A dedicated page for the service and product pages can help you rank higher. It is an effective way to enhance SEO strategies and make the best use of them. Apply product/service schema to each page, it helps to create a clear site map for search engine and help that product or service to show up in the respective search queries. The same goes for the location page, if you want to target multiple cities, make multiple dedicated location pages. This will again make your business appear in the search result that is concerned with that particular location.

4. Claim Your Google My Business Page

It is very important to claim the GMB page and fill in all the essential information related to your business. This will also help your users to find you easily. Make sure to list your business and claim the Google My Business page if you want to use the Local SEO to its fullest potential.

5. Update NAP On The Website

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone number. Take a look at how your business is listed in the Google My Business listing and make sure to keep the information on your website similar to that you have provided in the GMB listing, and vice versa.

With all that said, it is important for you to understand the role of local SEO in uplifting your business in the digital marketplace. All the above-provided information is the basic knowledge that you should have about Local SEO. Always remember, your digital marketing strategies won’t fetch any good results if Local SEO strategies are ignored.

Conclusion

Your Local SEO strategies can go in vain if you fail to understand its role in making any digital marketing campaign successful. It might seem easy, but it takes immense knowledge and expertise to formulate an impeccable Local SEO strategy that can help you secure the top rank in google search results. This blog has covered everything that you need to know about Local SEO. Use this knowledge to your benefit and get ready to stay ahead of your competitors.