80% of Internet users are looking for local information. Local business owners need to be aware of this. If your online presence is not optimized for local SEO, potential customers will not find you. And if they can’t find you, they will go to your competitor. That’s why, if you are the owner of a local business or company, you must absolutely master the codes of local SEO to attract customers to your business.
When done correctly, local SEO can help you drive more traffic to your brick-and-mortar business and convert more leads from your online presence. It can also help you compete with big brands and stay competitive.
This article will guide you through six effective tactics to boost your local SEO strategy.
Brief reminder: What are we talking about in local SEO?
Local SEO is a tailored response to queries associated with a specific location. Not only that, but it also takes into account the geolocation of the person performing a search (even a general one) to provide the most relevant answers for each person.
Local search results appear in SERPs in three ways:
- In Google Ads (if any) – you pay to appear at the top of the display (to reach, at best, 20% of Internet users with a conversion rate of 0.5 to 4%).
- The Local Pack (or Google Maps box) – which presents the top 3 local businesses according to Google (which you will have access to if your local SEO is effective)
- Organic results – now returned out of first sight (and where your position largely depends on the SEO optimization of your website).
For local SEO, search engines follow the usual principles of global SEO . However, when indexing a site to answer a local query, they also analyze specific factors, such as online reviews, citations, Google My Business profile performance, etc.
Local SEO has never been more complex and critical for local businesses. To be visible, you need more than a beautiful website and good content. You need to be included in Google’s “local pack.” This is especially difficult since the number of businesses visible in local search results has dropped from 7 to 3!
Who is concerned?
All companies that have local roots:
- All local shops, including the butcher, the organic vegetable grower, the beautician, etc.
- All liberal professions (notaries, accountants, doctors, architects, insurers, etc.)
- All self-employed people, artisans, entrepreneurs, freelancers, etc.
- All subsidiaries and franchises of national or international brands
- Small industries, …
What local information are Internet users looking for?
As early as 2014, a survey by Search Engine Land showed that nearly half of all online searches were for local products, services or solutions. Since then, this trend has only grown.
Two examples to better understand
Let’s take two examples to illustrate the importance of optimizing your local SEO.
If I’m looking for a plumber in Bombay, Google gives me three companies that are more or less close to my home. This gives me immediate access to their phone number, address, website, and opening hours. And since my search is on a Sunday, I see that only the second one is accessible 24/7. And if I look beyond Pack 3, the first organic search results send me to local directories. So, since I’m in a hurry, I’ll probably contact the second company, especially since it’s right near my home!
Let’s imagine another query: ” Vegan restaurant Bombay. ” In this case, I also get three addresses with interesting details for each establishment (one has a terrace, the other an all-you-can-eat formula, and the third takes into account special diets). I also have access to many customer reviews that I can consult.
Since I don’t know much about it, I delve into customer reviews to get my own idea before choosing. Once again, if one of the three addresses inspires me, I won’t look any further.
In both cases, one conclusion is clear: companies or businesses that do not appear in the top three proposed by Google are likely to have a harder time finding new customers.
Now, do the test for your activity (without mentioning your name, of course) and draw the necessary conclusions.
6 Tactics to Improve Your Local SEO
If you are wondering how to access this famous Top 3 of the Google local Pack, I offer you some more or less easy and quick solutions.
Optimize your Google My Business profile
The first step is to create, claim, and optimize your Google My Business listing.
This is the easiest step to implement, yet it is often overlooked. However, it is the most important factor for local ranking.
Create or claim your profile in 5 minutes, flat!
If you haven’t claimed your Google My Business (GMB) profile yet, do so now. It only takes a few minutes, and it’s free.
Log in to your Google account, go to the Create your Google My Business profile page, follow Google’s instructions, and claim your business owner status. This is the easiest and most effective way to start improving your local SEO.
For more details, I invite you to (re)read my articles on the subject:
Complete and animate your GMB profile
Once created and claimed, make sure to complete your GMB profile and provide all the useful information about your business: name, address, contact details, opening hours, etc.
Add your company logo, relevant photos, a description of your business, and the products and services you offer. But that’s not all!
Don’t make the mistake most beginners make: once completed, they don’t touch their GMB profile again. Instead, get into the habit of checking it out and updating it as often as possible. Why? Because things change fast, and your customers are hungry for new things.
How to do it? Here are some suggestions:
- Specify special opening days and hours, special actions
- Promote events, activities, and news (by adding Google posts)
- Regularly add new photos of your products, achievements, activities
- Encourage your customers to post reviews
Don’t forget the directories
Beyond Google My Business, there are many directories where your business or company should appear. Yes. Directories are not dead! They are now online.
They are all the more interesting because Yellow Pages, 118712, Apple Maps, Foursquare often rank at the top of Google search results for local search queries. Anyone who checks these directories can be redirected to your website or business if you optimize your listings. This will help you increase your organic search traffic, get backlinks, and, most importantly, gain qualified leads.
How do you choose relevant free directories?
There are a huge number of online directories. Many are spammy or useless. It’s not easy to find your way around. First, you have to distinguish three main types of directories: general, thematic, and local.
- Among the general directories , Europages or Kompass are certainly essential for B2B companies. In addition of course to the essentials mentioned above.
- Thematic directories are multiplying. They provide more specialised links and therefore are more relevant for SEO. We find in this category directories such as TripAdvisor, Booking or Le petit futé for travel and hotels, LaFourchette or be for restaurants, etc.
Or sites that bring together professionals such as starofservice or Ring Twice.
- In terms of local directories, we find the sites of neighborhood merchant groups, the sites of cities and regions, etc.
Good to know: the mention of your website on directories or third-party sites is called a citation in SEO jargon. They come in 5th position of the factors influencing local SEO. Also, search engines explore the Web in search of these citations to validate or update their own information.
Consistency and relevance
It is crucial that your contact details are always accurate and up to date otherwise you risk losing potential customers. However, when I carry out research for my clients, I often find a lot of inconsistencies, with traces of old addresses, phone numbers that are no longer in use, etc.
- Make sure your information is consistent across different directories or reference sites.
- Make sure there are no spelling mistakes, and avoid using abbreviations or anything that could be confusing.
- If there is a change in your contact information, update ALL your listings accordingly.
Optimise your content and site for local SEO
The next step is to optimise your website content to be relevant to your local customers . Because if your content doesn’t answer their queries, customers won’t find you because Google won’t highlight you.
Dedicated keywords
So, as a priority, you need to understand what your customers are looking for and answer them better than your competitors. To find their questions, use tools like Answer The Public.
Often, entrepreneurs who consult me complain about not knowing what to say on their site or not having content to start a blog. In the example below, you will see that from the word baker, Answer The Public already offers you dozens of different angles, related or not to a place. This is a good starting point!
Be careful though, optimising your keywords for local SEO does not mean over-associating each piece of content with your location. Or, list in the footer all the places where you operate (a practice rejected by Google)! It’s all about moderation: it is certainly recommended to associate the name of your business with its location in several key places on your site (home page, store locator (if you have several stores), contact page, without forgetting the <title> tags and meta-descriptions). And clearly highlight (home page + footer) your contact details (tel. and email) in order to facilitate contact.
Consistent coordinates
As a reminder, your contact details (name, address, and telephone number) must be perfectly consistent with each web channel on which they appear. Be rigorous in the name of your business, use the same telephone numbers and contact email everywhere.
If there is an error or inconsistency, immediately contact the owner of the third-party site where the error appears and ask them to correct it.
Structure and net linking
Additionally, to optimize your site for local SEO, you should also pay attention to the following:
- Improve internal (links from one page to another) and external meshing
- Optimize and localize title tags, meta descriptions, subheadings, etc., where appropriate.
- Add “local” pages, especially if you have more than one point of sale
- Include a Google Map on your contact page
- Involve local press in your link-building efforts
- Get inbound links from local partners, influencers, or reference sites
Encourage and cultivate online reviews
Social proof like online reviews, case studies, and testimonials are some of the most important signals you can receive.
The better a business or company is rated, the better its SEO will be. Indeed, among the criteria examined by search engines, the number of positive reviews you get on Google, Yelp, Facebook or elsewhere can make you move up in search results.
If I take the example of vegan restaurants in Brussels, the first one that appears on the local list, Ami, gets a score of 4.3/5 for 445 reviews. Consumers are fond of these reviews, which allow them to make informed decisions.
It is clear that positive feedback will help you attract new customers . So, don’t hesitate to ask your satisfied customers to share their positive feedback.
Tips to motivate your customers to give feedback
- Always ask for feedback from (satisfied) customers who use your services.
- Send a text message or email after purchase, asking your customer to provide feedback.
- Always respond to customer reviews as soon as you read them.
- Thank them for their positive feedback and encourage them to come back.
- If you receive a negative review, you should apologize for the inconvenience and try to resolve the issue politely and professionally.
Think about mobile and voice search
The number of local searches on smartphones is constantly increasing. The credit for this goes to the increasing accessibility and availability of high-speed internet.
It is therefore essential to design and develop a responsive website , perfectly adapted to all screens , in order to improve the user experience.
Mobile UX optimization
Here are some tips for optimizing your website for mobile use:
- Optimize your images and videos (weight and sharpness) to reduce their loading time.
- Take care of navigation. Make sure visitors can easily find what they are looking for.
- Improve page loading speed.
- Add share buttons to your product pages and blog posts.
- Use tools like the Google Mobile-Friendly Test to check whether or not your website meets the needs of mobile users.
Conversational Queries
It’s a fact that voice search is easier and more convenient than text input, especially on smartphones. It’s no wonder it’s growing rapidly. How can you prepare for it?
Here are some suggestions:
- Think in terms of questions/answers. Favor titles starting with “how, where, what to do, when, why, etc.) echo Internet users’ questions.
- Create landing pages that answer specific questions your customers might have.
- This is especially important since many voice searches are followed by an action (contact, store visit, purchase).
- Transform your FAQ page into a series of short, to-the-point articles that will provide opportunities for your natural and local SEO.
- Optimise for long-tail (multi-word) keywords that answer longer, more conversational queries.
- Rework your content to place a question in the title, structure your content as a complete answer to that question.
- Take care with the markup of your pages and structure your data. The resulting rich results (rich snippets) are particularly suited to voice search.
Strengthen your presence on social media
Social media also impacts your presence in local search results. It lends itself perfectly to building a community of enthusiasts around your brand.
There are numerous benefits to having an effective social media presence:
- Your social accounts are a source of backlinks and traffic to your website.
- Dynamically promoting your business on social media can increase your awareness.
- If your content is liked, it gets shared and can even go viral.
Here are some actions to plan for:
- Identify the most relevant networks for your business
- Encourage your fans to review your products and services
- Showcase your achievements on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest to inspire prospects and customers
- Invite your followers to ask questions and suggest improvements
- Distil short, visual content that is easy to share.
In conclusion, local SEO is essential for any business looking to capture nearby customers and stay competitive in today’s market. By implementing strategies like optimizing your Google My Business profile, encouraging customer reviews, and focusing on mobile and voice search, you can significantly enhance your local search presence. For businesses seeking expert help, partnering with the Best Local SEO Agency ensures that your efforts are maximized, leading to higher visibility, increased traffic, and better conversion rates in your local area.
