How to Get More Customers with Local SEO
For small businesses that sell products and services directly to customers near their business locations, having a strong local SEO (local search engine optimization) strategy in place is a critical aspect of long term business growth. Yet, many small business owners overlook or undervalue the importance of local SEO to their bottom line.
Online research is a core part of the typical customer journey. For more than a decade, studies have shown that over 80% of consumers are at home when they start searching online for brands and what they sell. Add to that the data showing that nearly 70% of customers start online as they decide to make a purchase, and the value of a high-performing local SEO plan is undeniable.
When you optimize your website and marketing channels to capture more local customers, you’re strengthening your business’s local presence and future growth potential.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO means optimizing your small business's online presence to attract more potential customers when they search for businesses, services, or products available near them. Think “near me” search queries or searches using a location name, such as “plumber near me” or “best pediatrician in Westchester, NY.”
When users perform these types of local searches, aspects about their physical location at the time of the search and the search query tell search engines like Google and Bing that they want to see results only for their geographic area. Ensuring that your website and other parts of your marketing strategy are ready for these types of local searches will help push your business to the top of the search results and get more traffic from your local market.
By contrast, if your digital marketing strategy doesn’t incorporate local SEO, then search engines are highly likely to ignore your website for local searches and instead showcase your competitors to your potential customers. Without local SEO, you’re signaling to search engines that you don’t want more business from your local area.
How can local search engine optimization increase leads and sales?
Local SEO is an essential part of a successful small business marketing strategy because it helps businesses:
- Stay competitive against other local brands
- Attract more website traffic from nearby potential customers
- Improve conversion rates as local customers are often ready to make a purchase
- Build trust and credibility with a strong online presence
What happens when your business doesn’t include local SEO in your marketing strategy?
If your business depends on sales from customers in your local area and you don’t prioritize local SEO, you can expect the following:
- Reduced visibility of your website and a loss of local traffic.
- Missing out on sales from prospective customers who are actively searching for products or services in your business’s local area.
- More business for your competitors who do invest in local SEO.
- Lack of trust in your brand in your local market because potential customers don’t see consistent marketing for your business.
If you’re still on the fence about the value of local SEO, consider this finding from Backlinko, an authority on search engine optimization: over 54% of all clicks go to just the top 3 listings in Google search results.
What makes local search engine optimzation different from the main type of SEO?
Focus and scope are the main differences between local SEO and national SEO or an SEO campaign that is more broadly targeting valuable keywords.
For example, a mental health therapist in Stamford, CT who offers both in-person sessions and online video therapy sessions would approach SEO for these types of services differently in order to maximize organic search traffic from both.
- For search queries related to online virtual therapy sessions, potential customers could be located anywhere and so keywords such as “affordable online therapy” or “teletherapy” would be great options to target in a traditional SEO campaign.
- For locally-focused searches for in-person sessions, keywords such as “anxiety therapist near me” or “psychologist in Stamford CT” are better suited to drive more traffic, leads, and ultimately more new business from customers near the therapist’s office location.
The tactics of local SEO are also a little different than those used in a regular SEO campaign. In addition to the main elements of an SEO campaign, including high quality content, backlinks, and technical SEO on your website, local SEO also involves utilizing tools such as:
- Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) - Keeping your business’s Google Business Profile (GBP) listing up to date ensures your business information remains accurate, such as your address, phone number, and hours, and also helps increase credibility and trustworthiness in your brand by displaying ratings and reviews.
- Local NAP Citations - Increasing NAP listings (name, address, and phone number) for your business on other local area websites supports your local SEO rankings and improves the perception of your business as being a local authority on the products or services you offer.
- Reviews and Ratings - An ongoing online reviews management program helps increase sales, improve your business's brand awareness and visibility in local search results, and build stronger customer relationships.
- Locally-Focused Backlinks - In traditional SEO and local SEO, backlinks are a crucial part of a successful SEO program. Building more links between your website and other trusted local websites has a lasting impact on your business's local search visibility.
How do you grow local SEO ranking?
Build these eight steps into your marketing plan to grow your business’s local SEO rankings and bring more local prospective customers to your website.
- Optimize Your Google Business Profile: Over 80% of search traffic happens on Google, and approximately 50% of shoppers find new products or services on Google Search. This means managing your business’s Google Business Profile listing is vital to improving your local SEO rank. If you haven’t already done so, claim your business’s GBP listing. Keep the listing details up to date for your business hours, address, and phone number. Further optimize your listing by adding as much relevant content as possible, including photos and a description of your business.
- Add Locally-Focused Content and Keywords to Your Website: By using local keywords in your website content and SEO tags, such as meta descriptions, H1 tags, and title tags, you’ll improve how search engines understand the relevance and authority of your business in your local market.
- Get More Online Reviews and Ratings: When your business collects more positive reviews from happy customers on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other platforms, it shows both search engine algorithms and future customers that your brand is trustworthy. Further harness the power of online reviews by promptly responding to negative and positive reviews. It demonstrates how your brand values customer feedback and builds long term customer loyalty.
- Build Links to Other Local Websites: Establishing online relationships with other businesses and organizations in your community helps in two ways. First, prospective customers are more likely to trust your brand if your business is referenced by other local brands they already know and trust. Second, adding more links back to your website from other websites with a local focus is a key step in improving your website's SEO scores.
- Check All NAP Citations: Catalog and review all listings of your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on all websites, directories, and your social media profiles to ensure the content is complete and accurate.
- Utilize Local Structured Data Markup on Your Website: Search engines can’t work with what they can’t quickly understand! Ensure your website uses schema markup or structured data to tag key information about your business, including your address, phone number, and business hours. This style of tagging content is what search engines look for and reproduce in search results.
(Are you asking yourself “structured what?” right now? Don’t worry! We offer expert SEO services for small businesses. Let us manage the technical tactics so you can focus on managing your business.) - Stay Engaged on Your Social Media Channels: When you share locally-focused content on your social media channels that is relevant and interesting for your target market, you’ll keep your brand top of mind and connect with both prospective and loyal customers.
- Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly: Mobile optimization is expected from all website users, even if your business serves B2B customers. Presenting your website visitors with a mobile-friendly experience also helps your site rank higher in local search results.
Ready to boost sales from your business’s local market? Schedule a call with our team and learn more about how a local SEO plan can transform your business growth.