What is Local SEO, and it’s Important for your Business?

SEO specialists consider Local SEO essential to a complete organic strategy. Local SEO refers to a strategy that targets local searchers for businesses in a specific neighborhood, local, county, or even a city. 

More often, this is similar to SEO but focuses more on targeting keywords that include the localized versions of the keywords like SEO agency in Rhode Island, Hair Salon in Forest Gate London, etc.

This is especially helpful for businesses with a physical address where sales are carried out within actual premises or shopfronts, for example, Jewellers, Restaurants, Lawyers, Clinics, etc.

What is Local SEO?

Simply put, Local SEO is the process of ranking higher on search terms in a specific location or for queries that include geographical keywords for your business.

While having a website can give businesses a good advantage, combining your Google Business Profile/Local Pack and Social Media profiles still makes it possible to do Local SEO without actually having a website.

How does Local SEO differentiate from Local SEO? Are the ranking factors different for the two strategies? We’ll discuss all the points in detail in this blog. 

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Differentiation of Local SEO from Organic SEO

There are millions of search results for every query, so how does Google differentiate between organic results the local queries?

Google’s mission is to deliver the best search experience to search engine users by providing them with the most relevant results to their queries. 

And every time Google detects a local intent in a searcher’s query, the search results include Local Businesses called a Local Pack to provide better results and a more relevant search experience to the user, with their business name, email, and contact number. 

This also includes organic search results for local businesses.

Google Ranking Reasons

Essentially if you want to rank on Google, your website or Local Pack must provide an exceptional user experience and answer the queries a user has.

For any business looking to appear in the first position locally, having a website is not essential to achieve that. Local Businesses can also be created using Google My Business Profiles. Also, this information can be compiled by google from other places on the web, including user suggestions. 

Google has a separate set of guidelines for ranking your business on the Local Map pack, separate from ranking organically.

These ranking guidelines are different than ranking organically in search results and help you improve your business’s visibility in your Local Map Pack. 

Importance of Local SEO

The importance of Local SEO can be shared with the stats shared below:

1. According to Google, 46% of searches have local intent: meaning that almost half of the people searching on Google are looking for products, services, or information with local intent. 
2. According to a survey by BrightLocal, almost 97% of the people searching for a place first start looking on the internet. 
3. According to a study by Hubspot, 72% of online searchers visited a local business within five miles. This shows the impact of local search on offline foot traffic.
4. 86% of people look up the location of a business on Google maps, according to BrandMuscle.
5. According to Nactafy, 88% of searches made on mobile for local businesses resulted in either a call or a visit to the business within the next 24 hours.
6. 76 out of every 100 users who visited a Business Profile on Google resulted in a store visit within the next 24 hours. 
7. According to a Local Consumer survey, businesses with complete Google Business Profiles were more trusted by the users: received 2.7X times more interactions and visits than ones with incomplete business information.
8. More than half of the searches made on mobile resulted in a store visit within the next 24 hours. 
9. 28% of the Local searches resulted in a purchase, according to Go Gulf’s Survey on Local SEO. 
10. 18% of local brand searches on a mobile device lead to a sale within the next 24 hours, according to Google.

How does Google rank Local Businesses?

While nobody knows exactly what are the exact factors for ranking your local business, Google does share the 4 key factors that Google considers when determining local search rankings:

1. Relevance
2. Distance
3. Prominence
4. User Experience

Relevance

Google matches the relevance of the search query with the business category, business description, and keyword used in the local business’s content.

“To maximize how often users find your business in local search results, ensure that your business information in Business Profile is accurate, complete, and engaging,”

Google

Proximity

When someone makes a search on google with local intent, Google considers the locality or distance between the users’ location and the business location before it presents that business in the search results. 

This is considered one of the 4 top ranking factors as users are most searching for a query with a geographical keyword in them; for example, hair salons in Edinburgh will prompt the top-ranking salons in Edinburgh and surrounding places. 

But what if the queries don’t have a location in them? 

If a user doesn’t specify a location in their search, we’ll calculate distance based on what we do know about their location.

Google Support Answers

Prominence

Just like Topical Authority in Organic Search results for a website, Google considers how well-known and authoritative a local business is. This includes factors such as the number of reviews a business has, the quality of those reviews, and the number of links pointing to the business’s website; this is one of the most complex factors since google also considers the location of people who visited the business into consideration as well.

User Engagement

Apart from the completion of the Business profile, distance, and relevance, Google also factors in user engagement as well, which means for every visitor that bounces off of your business listing results in a negative signal to google.

Step by Step guide to Optimize your Local Business

Conclusion

In conclusion, implementing local SEO strategies can really change the game for local services and shopfronts. By increasing local visibility for their businesses, not only is it a great source of leads and visits, but it also plays a great role in branding and brand development for startups. 

Additionally, local SEO can help businesses build trust and credibility with their community, establish their brand as a local authority, and drive more foot traffic to their physical location. Overall, investing in local SEO is a smart move for any local business looking to improve its online presence and attract more leads both online and in physical stores.

What’s next?

• Read more about our Local SEO Services page
• Read more from our blog section on Search engine optimization
• Book a Demo with one of our Experts for a Free Audit.
• If you’re in ecommerce, check out our ecommerce services page.