If you own a business that serves people in one or more geographical locations or has your office(s) there, you will have to get your hands into local search. This post breaks it down for you and lets you in on a few local SEO tips and tricks.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO (Local search engine optimization) is the practice of optimizing your website in such a way that increases the visibility of your business when your local customers or users look or search for it online. This can be achieved via a variety of methods which involves content, technical and on-page optimization, link building and webpage creation with an intent to target a specific area, location, etc.

What is Local Search?

Local Search is simply a search done on a search engine to look for a product or service that is available in your locality. Let’s say, you forget the birthday of your dearest ones and now you want someone to quickly deliver a cake to you or you know someone who is in urgent need of blood from a blood bank. In both these cases, you will search for a “cake shop near me” and “blood bank near me”. These type of queries, where you are looking for something in your vicinity, is known as Local Search.

What is Local SERP?

A local SERP is a SERP (search engine results page) result that appears when a local search query is made. For e.g.: If you search for “SEO company in Malta ” then the search results that appear in the form of GMB (Google My Business) or organic results are known as Local SERP.

Why is Local SEO Important?

A lot of people look out for products or services that are available nearby. This could be a cake shop, tours and travels company, restaurant, hospitals or a photo-copy (xerox) shop. Hence, for local businesses, it is important to have an optimized site which lets people know about their product or service offering, the areas they serve, and other relevant information.

According to recent research:

• 71% of people who are seeking information about local businesses look online.
• 46% of all searches done are for local results.
• 50% of people who looked online for a local store visited one within a day of having conducted the Google search.
• 34% of those who had done a local search on their tablet or PC did the same.
• 18% of the local searches from mobile devices lead to sales within a day.

These are the reasons why Local SEO is important because you don’t want to be missed for local search queries which are relevant for you.

How Local SEO Works? 

Google uses different factors to rank local search results. Some of the ranking signals used by Google include:

• The number of people searching for the business from where it is located
• The user’s location when searching for the company
• Google My Business Listings
• Online Reviews and keywords used in them
• Number of business ‘check-ins’
• Availability of Google Maps

Who benefits from Local SEO? 

The following businesses benefit from local search engine optimisation, 

• A business with a physical presence in a location that customers can visit. For example, stores and offices.
• A business catering to a specific group of people defined by their geographical location. For example, restaurants and catering services.
• A business that takes their service to their customer’s location. For example, plumbers and local delivery networks. These businesses are called service area businesses. 

The Rise of Google My Business (GMB) in Local Search

The need to provide local search results emerged in 2003-05 when Google first began rolling them out. With the passing of time, local search improved a great deal and is far more superior today than when it all began.

In the year 2014, Google introduced Google My Business (GMB), a move that was well-received by site owners and local SEO marketinhttps://fairtechltd.com/local-seo-marketingg experts alike. The tool allows businesses to create business listings on Google, thereby helping local users/consumers to find and contact them. GMB provides essential information about businesses, like directions to reach their shop/outlet, their contact number, website address, pictures which help users understand if they are choosing right and much more. 

Additionally, ratings and reviews on the site and on GMB, help users understand the quality of a company’s products/service before they can make a purchasing decision. Local-search optimized businesses that are legit and provide a quality product/service have the highest chances of getting customer attention when they search online.