Local SEO Explained for Small Business Owners

Local searches have become one of the most beneficial ways for small businesses to compete against larger brands.

When a consumer needs a product or service, doing a Google search for ‘near me’ before heading out is the new normal. This is where local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in.

In this article, we’ll look into what local SEO is, how it can boost your business and the mistakes to avoid.

What Local SEO Actually Means

Both local and traditional SEO aim to increase online visibility however, they have different approaches.

Traditional SEO is an umbrella term for multiple methods to optimise the website ranking nationally and globally. This includes local SEO and other methods like EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), Core Web Vitals and on-site optimisation for non-location specific queries.

Local SEO boosts businesses within a specific geographical area. It improves your online presence by targeting customers looking for a service or product in their local area.

By avoiding national ad campaigns, appearing on Google maps and increasing overall online visibility, your business will show up in more geographically relevant searches and your foot traffic will grow.

How Google Decides Who Shows Up Locally

Google relies on three pillars to determine which businesses appear in a local SEO:

• Proximity: The physical distance to the area specified in the search
• Relevance: How well the Google Business Profile matches the search query and keywords included in the businesses description
• Prominence: The presence of the business, online and offline to determine web authority, review count and scores

There is a higher purchasing intent with local mobile searches that include the phrase “near me” resulting in a visit or purchase within 24 hours 76% of the time. This highlights how the use of high intent purchasing phrases can increase sales, foot-traffic and awareness of small businesses.

Quick Wins That Make the Biggest Difference

An easy tactic that can make a big difference is optimising your Google Business Profile. This is because having a complete account helps Google understand the business and provides customers with the information they need. It ensures there is accurate and consistent information across all platforms.

Local SEO optimisation results in a recognisable digital footprint, which will contribute to local citations as it prompts data aggressors to list your business across secondary directories. This improves search rankings and hyper-targeted exposure.

By creating location-based content, this will also increase the website ranking as it provides Google with a better understanding of where the business operates. This will subsequently result in more customers visiting the business’ website.

Customer reviews build credibility of the brand and engaging with these reviews can boost the business’ local SEO too. This creates more trust in the business and demonstrates good customer service.

Common Mistakes to Avoid With Local SEO

• Having an incomplete profile or inconsistent data across different platforms can confuse the search engine and therefore impact your ranking on Google. This includes an incomplete Google Business Profile or NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) which needs to match across all platforms.
• Although customer reviews can build credibility and trust, failure to respond to these (whether they are positive or negative) can impact the prominence of a business.
• Not tracking or measuring your local SEO can result in confusion on why rankings drop. Additionally, competitors could be gaining your foot traffic or notice which keywords generate leads and reach more customers than you.
• Instead of using only broad keywords, more specific location-based keywords can result in better rankings on the search engine.

Local SEO is for helping nearby customers find the products and services they are after and builds trust in your business. Earning reviews, providing consistent information and locally relevant content will significantly improve a small business’ visibility and attract new customers from their area.

To discover how to boost your local SEO, contact us today by calling 01473 934050 emailing [email protected], or leaving us a message on our contact page.

Written by Holly Weller Marketing Assistant

Holly Weller is one of our Marketing Assistants currently studying BA Business Management focused in marketing alongside her work. She is interested in exploring different marketing channels and furthering her knowledge in the industry. When she’s not working or studying, she’s playing padel with her partner or on the netball court.

All Articles by Holly Weller