Matthew Widdop
Matty is a Junior SEO Executive at Intelligency, helping our clients to improve their digital performance. Matty is currently studying for his Level 3 Multi-Channel Marketer apprenticeship and has completed a Sport Journalism Degree at the University of Huddersfield.
Local SEO is the practice of using certain SEO techniques in order to boost your online businesses visibility in your local area, such as enhancing your Google Business Profile rankings and appearing higher on Google Search in your area to attract more customers.
Why is Local SEO so important?
Especially for smaller businesses, their local communities are their lifeblood therefore boosting visibility online in local areas is crucial to attracting more customers. Google delivers local search results to users they believe are searching for products and services nearby.
How does Local SEO work?
Local SEO works by helping Google understand where your business is based and how it can help customers in your local area.
In order to have a compelling Local SEO strategy there are a number of different strategies:
Implement local keyword research – Keyword research is crucial for any SEO strategy because it allows you to find out what customers are searching for. By understanding what customers are trying to find you can tailor your content to match their needs to grow a larger audience. You can also use Google autocomplete in order to help you understand what customers are searching for. Google autocomplete is when you partially type a request into the Google search bar and it gives you a list of different suggestions to what other people have been searching for. This is important for Local SEO as Google autocomplete is based on your location so you can see what customers are looking for in your local area.
Competitor Research – Seeing what keywords your competitors rank for is another way to boost your local content as there may be gaps in your keyword strategy that your competitors are using to bring in more customers.
Improve Google My Business Profile – Improving your Google My Business Profile will help you to appear to more customers on Google. You can do this by updating your profile and making sure it holds all your key information including contact details, photos, videos and services. You can also keep your business profile active by scheduling and adding up to date posts.
Local citations – Local citations are online mentions of a business name,address and phone number (NAP), citations can occur on local business directories, social media and search engines. By making sure your business is in as many local citations as possible and all the information is correct, this will boost your visibility and let Google know that your information is accurate.
Improve on page SEO – Improving on page SEO is crucial to increasing your search visibility, as the more relevant and informative your content is, Google will want to show it to more users as it believes it to be beneficial. You can improve on page seo by tailoring your content for local searches to make sure it is visible in organic search.
Online reviews – Online reviews provide confidence in your business for customers. Having Google reviews is important because they are a local ranking factor and help you to be more visible.
Building a Local SEO strategy tailored to your business
If you are interested in following these steps and want to build a local SEO strategy but don’t know where to start, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we can develop an SEO strategy tailored specifically to your business.
info@intelligencygroup.com
