Did you know there are billions of online searches happening every day, and almost half of them are looking for solutions nearby such as a roofer, plumber, insurance agent, or other localized business?
Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to the processes and techniques used to get a business to rank higher for location-based queries on Google Search, Google Maps, and other search engines.
When a business ranks high on search engines it is much more likely to get visits to its website and win new customers.
Why is Local SEO Important?
According to consumer behavior trends, 80% of consumers use search engines to find information about local businesses on a weekly basis.
Chances are, when someone is looking to buy your service or product, they’re going to a search engine. They tend to take a couple of different approaches, and both lead to the importance of local SEO.
One approach people take is going straight to a search engine, usually Google, and asking for what they need – “custom cabinets” for example. Google then displays the best options for that query.
Another approach is people will ask their friends who they recommend for custom cabinets. Their friends will tell them the name of a business and the person will go to Google to look them up and learn more about them to validate the recommendation received from their friend.
In either one of those approaches, it is incredibly important for a business to have local SEO on their side so they show up where people are searching.
How Does Google Determine Local Rankings?
The thing to always keep in mind when trying to understand the intricacies of Google Search or any other search algorithm is this: The primary objective of search engines is to give their users the best answer or response to their questions or queries.
For local searches, there are three core ranking factors to note:
- Proximity – when a user is allowing their location to be known, search engines will use the location data of the user along with the location data of businesses in the area to give the user the closest and/or most relevant solution to their search query.
- Relevance – when a user is located in a particular proximity of businesses that might be the best match for the users query, search engines will put the most relevant businesses at the top. Factors such as keywords and categories have tremendous influence on the relevance factor.
- Prominence – when more than one business meets the criteria of proximity and relevance, search engines will then distinguish between factors such as online reputation (reviews), backlinks, and citations (aka business listings) to determine which businesses would be best for the user.
There are other factors also influencing how Google determines local rankings. Some of which include:
- Bahavioral signals – such as click-through rate (CTR), mobile engagement, or click-to-call interaction. Google can see how much engagement a business receives when a business shows up in search results. Businesses who get more engagement might be rewarded with higher rankings.
- Personalization – these factors would be related to the users search history or prior engagement with websites or other listings.
- Offline Influence – when Google is able to track how many people are visiting particular office or store locations, it is also able to give more weight to those businesses in search ranking.
There are literally hundreds of factors Google can use to determine search ranking. This list is a glimpse of how complex it can be.
What Makes Local SEO Different Than Traditional SEO?
Way back in the day, as they say, there was no such thing as local SEO. Most local businesses didn’t even have a website, and the search engine algorithms certainly weren’t yet sophisticated enough to know a business nearby from a business hundreds of miles away.
Every search was considered the same intent. A search for “custom cabinets” would show whichever website had the best information about “custom cabinets” at the top of search results. Search results looked like a long list of website links. We refer to this is broad search results.
Nowadays, it is much more widely expected that every local business should have a website, and the algorithms are much more sophisticated to understand the context of a query. Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) still display broad search results, but now they also have local search results, so a search for “custom cabinets” might return a map showing local custom cabinet makers.
This table helps to summarize some of the key differences between traditional SEO and local SEO
| Feature | Traditional SEO | Local SEO |
| Target Audience | Global / National | Local Customers |
| Ranking Factors | Keywords, Backlinks, UX | Google Business Profile, Citations, Reviews |
| Primary Goal | Organic Traffic & Visibility | Calls, Leads, Local Foot Traffic |
| SERP Features | Featured Snippets, Articles | Google Map Pack, Reviews |
Let’s go a little deeper into what it takes for a business to have good local SEO.
Key Elements of a Strong Local SEO Strategy
A common misconception is SEO is all about your website. While it is partly about the website, it isn’t as easy as slapping some SEO on there and calling it a day. Here are some key elements to prioritize.
Optimize Your GBP (Google Business Profile)
Every business serving a local geographical area must have a fully optimized GBP to get the attention of some of those users doing billions of searches a day. Here’s how to be fully optimized:
- Set up or claim your profile – Sometimes a business profile was created by a user or directly by Google when someone noticed “hey there’s a business here”. In those cases, you might need to claim the profile to begin managing it. If there is not a profile at all, you need to set one up from scratch.
- Verify your profile – Once a profile has been set up or claimed, it has to be verified to open all the features available for you to manage. Follow the steps to prove to Google your business is real and legit so they give you full access.
- Define Categories, Services, & Descriptions – With full access to all the features available, you can now designate which categories your business fits into, such as cabinet maker or kitchen remodeler. From there you can list any specific services that describe what you do such as custom built ins or cabinet installation. Then, in the description area, you have the opportunity to write anything relevant about your business to describe who you are, what you do, and why customers should choose you. It is super helpful to do some keyword research to optimize these details of your GBP.
- Get Reviews – Reputation management is a significant factor in local search rankings. It is very important to ask for reviews from every customer and respond in a professional manner to all reviews whether they’re good or bad. This shows users you’re engaged and care about your customers, which also shows Google you can be trusted with higher ranking.
- Post Content – There are several features for posting content on your GBP. Use as many of them as possible to populate relevant content to your profile. Post updates similar to social media posts. Post photos, products, and Q&A content.
All of this activity on your GBP provides context for Google to use when ranking your business among your competitors.
On-Page SEO for Local Search
In our industry, when we hear someone refer to needing SEO for their website, we’re thinking on-page SEO. Here’s a list of some important local ranking factors every local business website should include:
- Website Structure – Your website structure helps Google clearly understand what your business is about. There should be a homepage, about page, service page(s), contact page, and potentially other pages depending on your type of business. Each page should also have proper URL’s, titles and descriptions based on relevant keywords.
- Location-Specific Pages – Businesses with more than one location should have a unique page for each location with information specific to the location on each page. It is also important to strategically use location-based keywords relevant to your business throughout the website.
- Schema Markup – This is a coded way of telling search engines certain pieces of information in a structured way, which is why schema markup is also referred to as structured data. Quite a lot of different information can be included in schema markup, but some common pieces of information are business name, address, phone, geographic coordinates, hours, and URL.
The idea here is to lead users (and Google) to the best answers by having information well-organized, well-worded, and even hard-coded where necessary in order to influence your search rankings.
Build Local Citations
Some people hear the word ‘citation’ and think of speeding tickets. In this context, citations are actually a very good thing, unlike speeding tickets.
Local citations is a term used to describe anywhere a business is listed online. More specifically, it is ideally anywhere a business is listed by Name, Address, and Phone (NAP).
Search engines use these listings as a factor for determining which businesses have the most authority or trustworthiness. Where all other ranking factors might seem equal, online listings could be a difference-maker for a business trying to rank higher in search results to gain more traffic and customers.
Your GBP is a citation, for example, and it is arguably the most important one. But hundreds of other places to be listed are collectively just as important for local SEO. Some of the top examples of online listings or directories, besides Google, are:
- Apple Maps
- Yelp
- Bing
- Foursquare
- Yahoo
- BBB
And the list goes on…
The key to having effective local citations is the consistency of NAP (name, address, phone) because search engines use those particular pieces of information to connect the all the dots, or citations, back to your business.
We see businesses with very few citations because maybe they haven’t been around very long. We also see well-established businesses move locations, change phone numbers, or completely rebrand and their NAP is instantly wrong in hundreds of places.
In either case, it can be a daunting task to obtain and manage all the possible citations a business should have, but there are processes and tools to make it more efficient.
Localized Content and Backlinks
The more competitive your market is for your local business niche, the more important it will be for your website to have localized content and backlinks.
The content can be in the form of blogs, case studies, or guides to cover relevant topics to your industry or your geographical area. It should be keyword-driven content and should strategically link to other content on your site as well as content on other authoritative sites.
Backlinks is the term used to describe when one website links to another. So when your site links to another site, it is a backlink for the other site. When another site links to your site, it is a backlink for your site.
Getting backlinks to your website boosts your site’s authority on search engines.
The good news is many of your local citations will link to your website and count as a backlink. Two birds, one stone in those cases.
The other news is it’s a good idea to get backlinks in other ways to boost authority even more.
Here’s how to get quality backlinks for your local business website:
- Citations, Listings, Directories
- Guest posting on blogs or other local publications
- Get featured in local publications
- Paid sponsorships in local publications
- Write linkable content on your own site
Don’t underestimate the importance of strategy and relevance in creating content and linking. A blog post about the dog who hangs around your shop might not help your business, and the same is true of links to and from just any random website.
Remember, every piece of information on your site or linked from your site provides context to search engines about your business. Keep the context as clear as possible.
Advanced Local SEO Tips
So far we’ve covered some of the most important basics of local SEO. There are many more advanced strategies and techniques as well. We won’t get into all of them, but here are a few.
Voice Search Optimization
More and more people are adopting the habit of using voice search. About half the U.S. population uses voice search and it is expected to continue growing. At this point, who hasn’t said, “Hey Google/Siri/Alexa – what’s the best restaurant near me”, at least once?
Over half of all searches are done on mobile devices, and voice searches make up a considerable portion of those searches. In-home assistant devices also account for an increasing amount of voice searches being performed.
The biggest reason small businesses should pay attention to voice search is 58% of consumers use voice search to find a local business at least once per year.
What makes SEO for voice search any different from SEO for text search? In short, voice searches are more conversational, and text searches or more keyword concise. For example, “How do I get a broken cabinet door hinge repaired?” vs “cabinet door hinge repair”.
It is best to be optimized for both conversational and keyword search types. One way to optimize for conversational as well as keyword variances is to target longtail queries.
Optimize for Long-Tail Keywords
What does having a long tail have to do with keywords? Long-Tail is the term used to describe longer search queries, which also tend to be more conversational.
Using the same example as above, a longtail keyword search might be “How to fix a broken cabinet hinge”, or it might be “How to fix a broken hinge on a cabinet”.
Writing content to specifically address keyword phrases in this manner, and being more conversational in the tone of how the answers are delivered, helps a business optimize for more possible searches.
Try asking five or ten friends how they would search for something related to your business. That might be a fun exercise to illustrate how greatly searches vary and how interesting it can be to optimize for as many variations as possible.
Tracking & Measuring
You can do all the work we’ve discussed so far to optimize for search, but without tracking and measuring in place it might be like shooting in the dark.
Any meaningful SEO effort should include the use of tools for tracking movement in rankings for various keywords, the amount of traffic generated, what pages the traffic goes to, and maybe even how much of the traffic turns into paying customers.
With the right tracking and metrics, you can make informed decisions about where to focus next to gain more traffic and ultimately win more sales.
How Is AI Changing Local SEO?
It seems everything is changing everywhere and changing rapidly because of enhancements in AI. To a large extent things really are changing as much as they seem, but the core elements of local SEO remain.
Enhancements in AI continue to improve how algorithms understand user behavior and intent, making it possible for users to get increasingly relevant and personalized search results.
Automation and efficiency is probably where the practice of SEO has already changed the most. AI-powered tools make it possible to do everything faster – from research and analysis to creative work and repetitive task automation.
This fact remains. AI can only work with the information it is given. So every local business still has to have the online presence we’ve covered in this article.
Whether a human is using a traditional search engine or talking to an AI-powered robot straight out of the Jetson’s (old TV cartoon), local SEO is what connects the real world with the digital world for small businesses.
Local SEO Success Stories
We have clients across many niches who have experienced tremendous results from local SEO strategies:
- Clients specializing in custom cabinets & built-Ins experienced an increase in lead flow from online inquiries in their first few months working with us and has since doubled their business. The primary focus was optimizing and managing their GBP and website for local search.
- General dentistry clients experienced an increase in new patients by getting more reviews which helped them rank in the map pack for all the relevant search terms near them.
- HVAC clients realized an increase in lead flow from their GBP by enhancing all the local SEO factors in this article as well as and implementing Local Service Ads.
- Roofers have expanded to multiple areas in their states because of the success they’ve experienced increasing leads online.
- We could go on with more examples from appliance repair, locksmiths, pool installation, and independent insurance agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions About Local SEO
What pages should my website have?
At the minimum, most businesses should have a homepage, about page, services page, and contact page. Depending on the business, more might be recommended.
Does my website need a blog?
It never hurts to have a blog, but it isn’t always completely necessary. We would generally recommend yes, but depending on the business and competition in its market, it might be possible to get results by focusing on the pages of the website without having a blog.
How do I improve my online reputation?
Ask for reviews. Make it automated so it’s easy for you and your customer. Then respond to every review in a kind and professional manner.
How can a small business compete with big brands in local search?
This depends on the type of business, but the types of local service businesses we typically work with are able to compete with bigger brand franchises by doing a better job at boosting relevance, proximity, and prominence.
Do I need to hire a local SEO agency, or can I do it myself?
Some businesses are able to do some basic things on their own, but most small local businesses don’t have the in-house capability or hiring capacity to match the level of expertise and efficiency an agency like Tavallo brings to the table.