Why Local SEO Is Important – Amplify Your Online Influence
Why Local SEO Is Important: The Fundamentals
What Is Local SEO
Local SEO is a strategic process to improve a local business’ visibility on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Most of the time, it is used for businesses with a brick-and-mortar location.
This is not a new, uncultivated land but much of the treasure is still hidden to many. That’s why it still makes the list for top 4 SEO trends in this decade.
The “near me” search phrase has increased in popularity over the years on Google, especially in mobile searches, up to 900% growth.
Why Do We Need Local SEO
In short, because users today do more and more local search and the displayed results can lead directly to purchase decisions.
Local SEO is a must for certain types of businesses such as restaurants, clinics or spas where customers have the habit of searching for a nearby place and going there directly.
On the other hand, online-only businesses may not benefit as much. The same applies for private online sellers as they don’t want to make their information public on the Internet.
Why Local SEO Is Important: The Strategies
Here are 3 most effective strategies for you to consider:
Claim and optimize your Google My Business profile
Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool to manage how a business will show up on Google Maps and Google Search. With a GMB profile, you can do at least 3 tasks:
- Manage business information (business name, location, operating hours, website, etc.)
- Interact with customers (receiving and responding to reviews).
- Learn customer insights (where and how customers are searching for your business).
Having a verified Google My Business profile is the easiest way to start your local SEO strategy.
After having your GMB profile all set up, follow these practices to optimize it:
Ensure your contact information and operating hours are always up-to-date and consistent on every channel. This is critical during disruptions such as changing business locations or a pandemic.
Encourage your customers to give and share their reviews.
Specify the location (especially if your business has more than one) when responding to customer reviews.
We can’t emphasize enough the importance of customer reviews. There are more and more people (increased to 65% in 2020) looking at reviews right on SERPs to make decisions. And according to the 2021 Online Reviews Report of ReviewTrackers, “Google is (still) the top review site”.
Perform a local SEO audit
There are 3 places to check to ensure your strategy effectiveness:
- GMB profile
Stop putting yourself in the customers’ shoes. Act like one now!
Open the search page, input the query and see how your business’ information is displayed. If it’s not correct nor to your liking, fix it right away. - On-page SEO
- Your website
First, make sure your Contact page is consistent with your GMB profile. Then, optimize user experience with intuitive navigation, captivating look-and-feel and great content.
Become “truly local”
The reason why local SEO is important to your business is because people always favor in-groups over out-groups. Therefore pay attention to the following points to become one of them:
- Content and languages. You may write articles based on local events or news, or trendy topics that the people there are interested in. Just remember to use their specific language.
- Local citations – “a key ranking factor for local search”. They are simply online mentions with or without links about a business that includes their name, address and phone number (NAP).
- Backlinks. High quality backlinks from reputable businesses locating in the same area are highly valuable.
- Communities. Get to know the real people by joining their communities and find out surprising insider knowledge.
- Events. There are many events, both online and offline that can provide you with great PR opportunities. Just make sure their target audience matches your buyer persona.
If you try to do all these yourself, it may take a lot of time and effort. That’s why many businesses choose to outsource the whole local SEO plan to a reliable digital marketing agency with all-inclusive services. By this way, you have more resources at your disposal for other investments.
Why Local SEO Is Important: Social Media as the Best Aide
The irresistible benefits of social media
Many companies choose social media with the rationale: Not only does it cost less but it also brings them closer to their target customers.
In short, doing local SEO on social media will give you the clear, lucrative benefit of higher ROI and more effective operation.
First, it takes less to promote your products and services. For example, the detailed targeting function of Facebook Ads will increase your reach volume and quality at the same time at a more affordable rate compared to other types of advertising. Also, you can quickly edit your content if the reaction is not going the way you want.
Take extra care of your social media and you may even be nicely surprised by some user generated content from highly engaged audiences.
Second, you spend less effort finding new leads as some of them will naturally come to you. It’s because people tend to trust social media recommendations from their friends, communities and KOLs they follow.
Leverage the power of social media
There are 3 questions to address:
- Which channels?
Ask your target audience, “Which social platforms are the most popular in your place?” For example, the most popular social platform in Vietnam is Facebook. So businesses in Vietnam may not have a website, but they can’t do without an official Facebook page. - Which types of content?
https://ondigitals.com/visual-content-social-media-marketing/ such as images and videos are on the priority list. But each social platform has their own preferences. Do your homework to match them instead of going for one-size-fits-all. - How to have the best start?
Review your buyer persona first to know when, where and how much they are active on your chosen platforms. This will help you adjust the content schedule better.
Then, connect to your current customers via their social media accounts to start your “fan page”. If you don’t have enough “fans” yet, consider running a promotion campaign coupled with some advertising (if possible).
All in all, social media is the battleground for the responsive. So if you have decided on it, assign at least one dedicated person or even a team to manage your page’s daily operations, including watching out for new trends and responding quickly to customers.
Why Local SEO Is Important: The Caution
If you want to localize your global website...
... then hire both translators and SEO experts. You want your content to be both correct and SEO-effective. And the process must start from the beginning – keyword research.
If you don’t have a website...
... then implement local SEO first. Whether you need to build a website can be left to be solved later.
A restaurant without a website can still be listed at the top of SERPs if their provided information (such as address) is highly relevant to the user’s query (such as “restaurants near me”).
Some businesses only need a social page to interact with their customers. On the other hand, customers may consider a business’ Facebook page their de factor website.
If you don’t know whether you need local SEO now...
... then review your current business situation. According to Forbes, when local or “near me” searches only show your competitors, you know it’s time to make the call.
A sudden drop in traffic together with increasing bounce rate may be another sign, but it can mean more trouble than just SEO ineffectiveness. Your content strategy may also need a thorough audit.
Conclusion
A local-focused version of organic SEO, local SEO is indispensable to any businesses who want to increase their digital influence in a certain market.
However, it takes more than just resources to run an effective local SEO campaign, which is the big concern of many companies. You need expertise, experience, insider knowledge and social media skills to unleash its full potential.
With a proven track record on various SEO projects, On Digitals is proud to be your partner in optimizing your local SEO strategy for greater success. Contact us today to receive free consultancy on an inclusive solution tailored just for you.