What is local search marketing?

Local search marketing is important for business owners because it helps them to rank higher in local search results and get more customers. Local search marketing has evolved from the time when people used to find businesses by simply typing the name or address of a nearby store into a search engine. It is now a science of figuring out the search algorithm and giving searchers exactly what they want…you!

The keyword is called ‘local’ because it’s important to remember that the people you are targeting are near you, where your business is located. Local search marketing is not about optimizing a website for a local audience; it’s about optimizing your content and SEO for people who are looking for what you offer in close proximity to where you’re based. In other words, it’s about attracting potential customers who live nearby and getting them to notice, visit and buy from your company.

The most common searches are quite literally, “XYZ  Near Me” – i.e. “Marketing Services Near Me”.

Local Search Marketing is optimizing your website for search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo to rank well in local searches. Three main factors that contribute to a local business’s success are location, competitors, and maybe most importantly effective local SEO. There are multiple search engines you can optimize for but let’s be honest, Google owns over 90% of the market so when we’re talking about local SEO we’re primarily talking about optimizing for Google.

There are many types of businesses that can take advantage of a local SEO strategy to reach customers.

• Businesses with a physical location and serves customers in a service area (restaurants, attorneys, physicians, etc.).
• Businesses without a physical location in the traditional sense, but they still serve a local market.
• Franchises or chains that have many local locations (multi-location businesses).

What is local SEO?

Local Search Engine Optimization (Local SEO), similar to (national) SEO, is a process that influences the visibility of a website or webpage in the unpaid results of a web search engine (SERP – Search Engine Results Page) as “natural”, “organic” or “earned” results. In general, the higher a website ranks on the search results page and the more frequently a website appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from search engine users, who can then convert those visitors into customers. However, local SEO differs in that it focuses on optimizing a company’s online presence so that its web pages are displayed by search engines when users enter local searches for its products or services. Local search ranking includes a similar process to general SEO but includes some specific elements to help a business for the lo to rank any search.

Local SEO is all about “optimizing” your online presence to attract more business through relevant local searches. Most of these searches are done on Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, and other search engines, but for better optimization in your area, you should also use sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, LinkedIn, local business directories, and other social media channels.

Local search results are compiled by algorithms provided by major search engines that determine rank. Key factors that affect the likelihood of a local business appearing in local search include proper categorization in business directories, the crawlability of a business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on the website, and citations (mentions of the local business). . . on other relevant websites).

Your business website should have:

• Higher Domain Authority and Higher-Quality Links compared to competitors
• Provide a Great User Experience with Great Site Quality – sites should be refreshed every 2-3 years.
• Page Speed
• Core Web Vitals
  • Largest Contentful Paint
  • First Input Delay
  • Cumulative Layout Shift
• Intuitive Site Structure and Navigation
• No Malware

Optimizing for the Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).

There are over 100 ranking factors in determining results for local search. Backlinks are one of the most important correlating factors as is sites with more quality content and ones with more keywords tended to perform better. Reviews and quality of reviews on Google Business Profile are highly correlated with high rankings. Citations (consistency) are fundamental, but not a competitive advantage. Other factors may include photos and open times. The quality of the citations, e.g. low number of duplicates, consistency and also a reasonable number of citations were important for a company to display in local packages. The presence of a keyword in the company name turned out to be one of the most important factors (explaining the high incidence of spam in the Local Pack) – this is why companies named after a person, such as “Joe Klein Incorporated” doesn’t do as well as “San Diego Painters”. It is imperative to utilize schema structured data, as well as, adding the relevant information about your business (hours, address, founder, who we are, etc.). And yes, reputation management, including the number of ratings and the overall star ratings, correlate with higher rankings in the Google map package results.

For more information or to get help growing your business connect with https://localsearchpartners.com