If you’re running a business, it’s important to have a strong understanding of your target market, including where they live and what they do on the Internet. Local search engine optimization strategies can help you create content that will rank highly in search results when people are looking locally, which means more traffic to your website and ultimately more potential customers at your door.
Local SEO is the process of optimizing your online presence to attract more business from local customers. It involves claiming and optimizing your Google My Business listing, making sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is consistent across the web, and creating local content.
In today’s digital world, every company needs an online presence. From providing a great customer experience to building brand awareness, it is important for your business to be found by customers. All these changes came out very clearly during the pandemic and lockdowns. The world moved online and basically stayed here.
Research shows that 1 in 3 customers check their website before going to a brick-and-mortar store to know what to expect. In a world where anyone can say they’re an expert, how do you know who to trust? One way is through the use of trustmarks. A trustmark is a badge or symbol that indicates a company or individual has been vetted by a third party and meets certain standards.
50% of searches from the entire Internet network (and not only Google) concern local searches: where to go, how to get there, what to eat, what to see, etc. More and more people are using local search engines to find businesses near them. By optimizing your website for local search, you can increase your chances of being found by these potential customers.
SEO is the practice of optimizing a website so as to increase its rank in the search engine results pages for certain queries. Local strategy is a subset of this and focuses on optimizing a website so as to appear higher in the results pages for searches with local intent. That is, searches conducted by users who are looking for businesses or services in their area.
Contrary to appearances, the local optimization and positioning strategy does not only apply to local residents. Thanks to it, you can better communicate with tourists or visitors, thanks to geolocation. By acting locally, you are basically going outside your city.
In a nutshell.
First of all, when you think about implementing a strategy, you need to audit your website to find out what is not working on it. This process should be performed by an objective enterprise SEO services which has the appropriate tools to collect data, and then analyze them and create a remedial strategy.
Second, do a competition analysis. No matter if you operate in a small or large city, you always have someone with whom you fight for a client (especially if you run a service premises). A good New Zealand SEO agency can help you with gathering these data. The main thing is not to copy, but to check out the good things and to do them even better.
The third step is on-page optimization. You have to take care of the technical side of your website. We are talking about meta tags, friendly URL, content, headers, internal linking, loading speed or adaptation to mobile devices. And these are just the basics.
The fourth stage is related to building authority on the web. External linking enters here, synchronization with social media, bloggers and other companies. You need to make a name for yourself with your customers. In the context of local SEO, the Google My Business card synchronized with maps is particularly important.
Later, leads, leads, leads. Choose the strategy that’s right for you. Guest posting, links, e-mail marketing, content marketing, paid advertising. There is a huge amount of it, but it all depends on your goals and – unfortunately – your financial resources. That is why optimization is so important. All you need is your own work and time to shine in the ranking.
Remember that optimization is a long process that does not happen overnight (unless you reach for SEM). If you have such an opportunity, establish cooperation with a local agency that already knows the inhabitants and knows how to stay with them in the Internet world. If you’re not using local strategies as part of your business plan, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to reach potential customers. Don’t be afraid of positioning!
Main photo: Jason Goodman/unsplash.com
