Start optimizing your website for local search results to grow your business with this guide to local SEO.
Your business can be more visible in local search results on Google with local SEO (search engine optimization).
Businesses that serve a geographic area or have a physical location can benefit from local SEO. Local SEO can help you grow your business if you search Google for any key business keywords and see a map with three listings underneath (also known as a map pack).
The first thing you need to know about local SEO is how Google works.
How did search engines evolve?
During the early days of the internet, there were relatively few websites, making navigation easy. Once the internet expanded, however, search engines were developed to help users find the sites they were looking for.
It matched your search phrase to websites that included the keywords in your search phrase if you typed a phrase into a search engine. Initially, Google used this approach, but it quickly outperformed the other search engines when it became the first search engine to use links between sites as a measure of a website’s authority and trustworthiness.
Search engines today look at hundreds of factors to determine whether your website is relevant to display as a search result. Search engines combine factors to return results based on their weights or values, which form your “digital footprint.” When a user types in an inquiry into Google, your digital footprint determines whether or not you appear at the top of the results.
How does Google work?
For each search phrase you type into Google, it checks a pattern of various website signals, or ranking factors, like how relevant your site is, to return a list of matching sites.
The Google Index is a stored copy of all of the sites that Google has discovered over the years. When someone types something into the search bar, Google doesn’t conduct a live search of the entire internet.
Each spider starts on a single page, follows the links on that page, then looks at the content on the next page, and so on.
When web content is crawled, it’s stored in Google’s servers, where an index is created. A trillion pages are constantly crawled at an unbelievable speed by the spiders, ensuring that the index remains up-to-date and new connections and sites are discovered as quickly as possible.
Search results ranked by Google
In the blink of an eye, Google ranks hundreds or thousands of sites using various algorithms. Whenever you search for something on Google, an algorithm checks the index and returns a list of websites that match your query. Inbound links provide relevance, prominence, and popularity to those results, which are then ranked by Google.
In order to determine what websites have something related to your search, the algorithm looks at both on-site and off-site factors. All relevant sites are then added to the list, which is then ranked by prominence. In accordance with the various on-site and off-site factors, the algorithm determines which sites best answer your search query, and those sites are ranked at the top of the search results.
If your site’s digital footprint is optimized, it appears higher in search engine results, improving its relevancy, prominence, and link popularity.
SEO for local businesses follows a different pattern
Examining user behavior across trillions of searches, Google determined that those looking for certain businesses need to see results close to their location. Accordingly, the local search algorithm has a proximity factor, a sophisticated way of saying Google considers your area when you search with a local keyword. This applies even if “near me” or a city isn’t included in the query.
Googling “pizza delivery” at work, for example, shows a list of pizza delivery places near your office in its local SERPS (search engine results pages).
If you try the same search at home, however, you’ll get completely different results. This makes sense since you need a pizza delivered.
Despite the fact that local search has been around for years, it has been limited by people using only desktop computers. Since mobile internet access has exploded in recent years, local SEO has become increasingly important for any local business offering local products and services, as well as local marketers.
Local SEO: what matters
As a search marketer, what does this mean? Although the local map pack appears within Google organic search listings, the main Google search results for local rankings and the local map pack are powered by different algorithms. Your local business has the opportunity to appear in both the main organic search results and the local map pack simultaneously.
In order to make your efforts as effective as possible, it’s important to know what you should focus on when marketing your business online.
Moz posts its annual Local Search Ranking Factors survey, which includes 35 to 40 leading local search experts from around the world.
Content and link popularity are important elements in Google’s traditional search algorithm, just as much as localized versions. Businesses with multiple locations especially need to ensure they create dedicated landing pages for each location. This should include company details such as address and phone number, plus optimize title tags, meta descriptions and abide by SEO basics. When looking at a content marketing and link building strategy, this should also be borne in mind.
Additionally, location-based factors like having a business listing in Google My Business, local citations from data aggregators, and review signals – which should be published by your local customers – are also taken into consideration in your local oriented SEO rankings, so your local SEO efforts should also take them into account.
There are also SEO tools that focus on local search that can help you create local SEO audits, including keyword research tailored to your local audience, building citations, managing Google My Business listings, business profiles and Google posts, and even monitoring your inclusion in local packs.
A significant factor in Google’s traditional search algorithm is website content, but location-based factors like Google My Business, citations, and review signals are also taken into account.
Utilize SEO to your advantage
You can now focus on signals that will optimize your site’s digital footprint within local oriented search ecosystems, now that you have a better understanding of SEO basics and how Google ranks local search results. As a result, your business will appear higher on the search results page, bringing in more potential customers.
In addition, local search continues to grow and change, so keep in mind that there are many factors that influence your visibility in these searches. For your strategy playbook, you can refer to Moz’s annual survey to keep track of which signals are increasing and decreasing in importance. Your business will be able to serve more people in your geographic region if you improve each important signal area.
Explore the following concepts: Go to Mybusinesslocal.com to learn more about Local SEO
