Over the years, an increasing amount of people look online to find local products and services through search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Customers searching for a nearby business take more notice of listed businesses within search engines that use their geographic location as a ranking factor.
Local SEO vs SEO
Local SEO is essential for smaller businesses offering services or products locally, rather than nationally. Traditional SEO on a national level focuses more on rankings in searches across the country whereas local SEO prioritizes a specific location on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Google picks up the geo-location of the computer and provides search results from that area. These searches include certain geo qualifiers such as state, city, postcode, and “near me” searches, to promote your business’ products or services to local leads and customers.
Improving Your Local SEO
Since local SEO is based on local searches, a physical address or location is essential for a business to appear on local search results. So, it is crucial to update your business address in Google My Business and other directories, otherwise it will not show up on customer’s “near me” or “in *neighbour name*” search.
The next step is to ensure that your business’ NAP (Name, Address and Phone number) is consistent across all the online directories in which you are listed. If there are differences in the NAP, Google will likely avoid listing your business in the local 3-pack. (Local 3-Pack are the top 3 listings you see in Google Map listings).
Another way to improve the local SEO is through citations on third-party website lists (e.g. on a blog naming your services or products locally, through Google My Business or Bing Places). As a result, Google will know that your business is trustworthy, increasing your chances of appearing in the local 3-pack.
Local SEO Helps Your Business
Here are some local SEO benefits for your business:
Optimising your local SEO means more quality website traffic, leads and sales since you are targeting a specific local customer that is looking for your product or service. Local SEO is a focused strategy which helps local businesses to compete more effectively against national brands.
If you want to know more about how local SEO can help your business, AU Digital can help you. Call us on 9907 3136 to get in touch.