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What is local SEO?
Let us begin with an example. Imagine you have a pet shop and a website, some customers may want to visit your store to view your products before making an online purchase, therefore they will search on Google “nearby pet shop” and if you have invested in local SEO your physical address will be pinned on Google maps. This will help you get potential customers.
In reality, the term local SEO is usually used for online businesses that have a local store.
Local search and local search page
Now that we have a better understanding of local SEO. local search and local search page will certainly be easier to understand. But again let’s start with another example for local search and local search page.
Imagine that we’re looking to find an air conditioner company through Google. Also, keep in mind that your house is located on 10th street. Of course, when we want to begin our search we start by searching the name of our street to find an air conditioner service company. When we’re done with the search and have found the nearby air conditioner company we have done a local search.
Usually, a page that Google brings up for us when we do our local searches will also include information from Google Maps, that will show us nearby air conditioner companies and more information about them. This is called a local search page.
Now that we have explained the concept of local search and local search page, you may have come to the realization that in many cases, we have used this to find places, for example, nearby cafes, restaurants and etc.
Introduction to Google My Business
Google my business or GMB for short is a service that Google offers to businesses. After you have registered your business in this service, whenever someone searches your name, your information will be displayed along with your address on Google Maps.
Working with the service is very simple. Google takes your information in regards to opening and closing hours, general information, work numbers, and an accurate address. In addition, there are other features such as reviews and ratings of your business which will be displayed. Usually, your customers will give you feedback on your GMB.
Important factors about local SEO
In order to use the full potential of local SEO, you must take some points into consideration.
Sign up on advertisement websites in addition to Google
As we mentioned above, one of the important tasks you need to do in local SEO is registering your business in GMB. In addition, registering your business on advertisement websites and reputable directories can be very helpful in improving your website’s ranking in local search results.
So, besides registering your website on Google, make sure you also consider registering your websites on any other website that offers the same.
Manage Google reviews and ratings
Another big factor in local SEO is managing your reviews and ratings on your GMB page. As we mentioned before, usually your customers submit their reviews and ratings about your business.
Therefore, customer care is very important in order to get good reviews and higher ratings, which ultimately will result in better ranking over your competitors in local search.
In addition, you can ask your customers to go to your page on GMB and if they are satisfied with your services, submit good reviews and ratings.
It should be noted that your reviews and ratings which you will get on other websites other than Google will be recorded and they are very important in improving your business’ ranking in local search.
Check information and view categories in Google
In many cases, your business may not appear in the right category. This mistake has happened before. These mistakes can be either caused by a human factor or in some cases, Google may mistake your name with another business’s name, due to the similarity. Therefore, you must always check your GMB page, and make sure your information has been registered correctly.
Put keywords in your business title
Keywords are very important in Google’s ranking method. To have a better ranking in Google, always briefly describe your job in the title.
For example, if you own an accessory store for mobile phones called Jacksons’s, only registering Jackson’s as your business title in your GMB page is not enough.
You will have to add keywords to your title, for example: “Jackson’s mobile accessory”. This should be done on any website that you have registered your information on.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, local SEO is suitable for businesses that are mostly physical and are limited to specific areas or regions and are looking for customers close to them. So if you own such a business you should invest more time and resources on your local SEO to get better feedback from search engines.
Of course, local SEO can be used for businesses that are not limited to a specific region. But the majority of businesses use local SEO for physical sales.
Lastly, pay attention to your information on GMB. The more information you have the more customers and better rankings on search engines you will get.
For example, for a restaurant adding a few pictures of the interior and different dishes may be very useful, even if it’s overpriced, people will still prefer it over an affordable restaurant with no pictures.