Local SEO is a form of internet marketing focused on optimizing your local search presence, with common examples being doctor SEO and lawyer SEO. It works like organic SEO as an ongoing process that affects how a site or page ranks in unpaid search results. Local SEO helps your site surface for the searches happening in the geographic area you serve, which is why small and even larger businesses use it to compete.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO covers the tactics that improve your ranking and visibility in the “local” or “small town” part of your target market. One way to move the needle is by building brand recognition within your local community. If you already have a presence in that community, you can build on it through social media, bookmarking your site, and blog posts. From there, every part of your online marketing strategy should work toward attracting new potential customers.
How does Local SEO help your business?
Local SEO keeps your website visible to people searching for the specific items or services you offer. That visibility comes from ranking highly for the keywords you target. Search engine algorithms are based on the content and the popularity of the links pointing to your site, so content quality and link popularity play just as large a role as the number of inbound links.
Local SEO is not limited to local searches. Your SEO plan should also cover results from all the major search engines, since those results pull from the most popular search sites. That means your online business benefits from the extra traffic and potential customers that come from high-quality content and popular links.
As a result of Local SEO, many small businesses have seen their search ratings climb sharply, and larger businesses have taken notice too. Because Local SEO keywords are tied to your local area and related businesses, your site earns more credibility with customers searching for products and services nearby. Those businesses get recognized for what they offer and become part of the community, and that credibility leads more customers to visit and recommend them.
What channels support a Local SEO strategy?
Beyond on-site work, you can build brand awareness through local media such as radio and TV ads, internet blogs, and other traditional advertising. Newer channels have also become popular in Local SEO, including mobile text messaging, video marketing, and online social networking.
How should meta descriptions and title tags support Local SEO?
Meta descriptions and title tags are what search engines read when deciding where to rank a page for a given search term. Tailor each meta description to the type of business you run and use targeted keywords in the description. Write a new meta description for each page you want to target, using your selected keywords, and include the keyword in your URL reference as well, since most search engines pick up the extra keywords added in the meta description.
What matters most for Local SEO rankings?
The most important thing to remember about Local SEO is that your content needs to be relevant to the visitors coming to your site. To give visitors the impression that your business is relevant, professional, and known in the area, you need to optimize your website to the best degree possible. Local SEO rankings are a strong way to do this, since many different factors feed into them.