Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an approach to marketing that seeks to increase the relevance of your business within its local audience, thus increasing visibility, sales and credibility online.
Content remains a key factor of local SEO; however, other elements like Google My Business, citations and review signals also factor in. Local SEO’s benefits far outstrip those offered by traditional marketing methods.
Increased Visibility
Additionally to general search engine optimization practices that work across all online platforms, local SEO also takes into account your geographical location and target audience when optimizing for local search. This ensures your company’s content reaches more relevant people within your clientele base.
Attracting visitors can be accomplished by including relevant keywords throughout your website, online listings, and backlinks. But be wary not to overuse keywords–search engines recognize this practice and will penalize websites which rely too heavily on keyword stuffing.
Utilizing Semrush Listing Management makes listing your business easy, so that it will gain local visibility. Useful for editing, monitoring and tracking all citations and reviews with ease; your reputation plays an integral part of local searches – so keep it managed well to help attract leads and customers!
Boosted Traffic
Local SEO can be an invaluable way to set yourself apart from competitors and increase website traffic, no matter if you are a wedding photographer in Seattle or an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. While its tactics resemble those employed for traditional SEO (backlinks and keyword targeting), local SEO offers additional methods like claiming and optimizing Google My Business profiles that stand out.
Local SEO is all about positioning your business at the right time in front of its target customers. By prioritizing citations, local content creation, and review generation efforts you can improve both website and GMB rankings to gain the top spots in local search results.
Make sure not to “over-stuff” your listings or content with keywords, as Google penalizes websites that attempt to manipulate its system. Integrate keywords organically into your listings and content while including backlinks from reliable industry-related sources (for instance Forbes is more valuable than unrelated blogs).
Increased Sales
Successful local SEO strategies integrate relevant keywords into both your Google Business Profile and website, so when customers in your service area search those terms they’ll be more likely to come across you–and click your result!
Once a consumer clicks on your business, they’re much more likely to visit, shop online, or call your company – creating brand loyalty and customer trust that’s likely to keep coming back whenever they require your product or service.
An effective local SEO campaign involves producing and sharing original content that showcases your unique offerings, while monitoring local citations–references of your name, address, phone number and website on third-party websites–to improve online prominence. Semrush’s Listing Management tool makes this easy by publishing single citations across 70+ directories at once. Incentivise positive customer reviews by offering incentives like 5-star rating or higher reviews as consumers tend to trust businesses with them more!
Increased Credibility
Local SEO marketing not only increases visibility in local searches but can also bolster credibility of your business and help expand it by increasing visits or contacts from potential new customers.
Example: If someone searches “bagels in Boston” on Google and your listing comes up first, this can make potential customers feel more assured in buying from you. Reviews also play an integral part in consumer decision-making processes so regularly collecting feedback and responding to reviews can only bolster your reputation further.
Traditional SEO strategies should certainly be at the center of your digital footprint optimization strategy, but you can also enhance it further with tools such as Semrush’s Listing Management that helps audit and distribute NAP citations across dozens of directories – this ensures your information remains consistent throughout the web and you receive reviews from credible sources.