Why Local SEO Is Important For Your Small Business

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a dynamic approach that makes companies and brands easily visible to the people looking for similar products or services. All major search engines usually adopt similar practices to rank the results. Customers typically make their choice from the first page itself. Rarely do they move to page two, and even rarer is going beyond. Consequently, it has become imperative that all enterprises work hard to make their visibility known on the first page of the search engines results page.

An important step in SEO is local SEO. This strategy is important because most customers want or are looking for local businesses that are in their locality or city to fulfill their needs and demands.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO is an approach or a tactic employed by companies to expand and improve the visibility of their business locally. The results that become visible in local search results characteristically respond to a “near me” query. It means that the person searching is looking for something close-by. They are looking for something “local.” For example, a person types “Italian restaurants near me.” In this case, all Italian restaurants who have paid attention to their local SEO and correspond to the person’s local area will appear on the first page results of the search engine.

Every small business requires local SEO. Today, no matter how big, small, or insignificant they are, all businesses need to have a website. When your small business has a website, you attract customers through local SEO because they are your stepping stone to success. If your business meets any of the following conditions, you need to keep on top of local SEO:

1. If yours is a small company or a local business.
2. If your company serves only a specific area.
3. If your business is a franchise or you are a franchise owner.
4. If you wish to attract more traffic, leads, and sales in a specified DMA (Designated Market Area).
5. If you hope to build up your listings across all the pertinent online directories.
6. If you want your business to pop up on navigation apps, Google Maps, and other Google local packs.
7. If your company operates (provides services or has offices) in several cities but not nation-wide. 

It helps them gain visibility in the immediate vicinity, and that is precisely where a majority of their customers or prospects reside. Nearly half the searches on Google today are for local businesses. Therefore, with optimization for local business listings, small companies become more likely to be discovered by prospective clients or customers.

As we said, local Search Engine Optimization is crucial for all small businesses. But how exactly is it helpful? To answer your question, here are the reasons we deem local SEO essential:

1. Cost-Efficient Online Advertising Option – Platforms like Facebook and tools like Google My Business help set up local business listings for any company for free. It proves to be a cost-effective marketing solution as you don’t have to spend a single penny. The only investment from your side is that of your time and effort.
2. Makes It Simple For Local Customers To Find You – Research shows that nearly 72% of the people looking online for a local business stay within a five-mile radius of it. Hence, cracking local SEO will bring you to the front and center of those searching for your business in your local area. If your business can be found on Google Maps and the local listings, your customers will find you easily.
3. Reaches High Intent Customers – Exploiting local SEO means you no longer have to seek out customers, although it is still critical to growing the business. Nevertheless, it is the customers or high intent clients who will seek you out. All you have to do is ensure they can do so with minimal trouble. Local SEO will place your business right at the top of the results page when the prospect’s key is in the matching search criteria.
4. Provides Qualified Search Traffic – At any given time, numerous people are doing searches online. Not all of them match your customer persona, and others are not interested in buying what you have to offer. Local SEO allows you to weed out such uninterested traffic. The idea is not to shield the business from customers but to ensure that only qualified search traffic hits your business.

These are some things that small enterprises need to do to boost their visibility on the local search engine results page (SERP).

1. Ensure that all your online mentions are accurate and precisely the same . It means your company name, its office or registered address, phone number, email id, etc., should all be consistent and accurate.
2. The next thing is to become a part of all the local online directories . Even more critical is to ensure that all the information is up to date and consistent.
3. Set up a GMB or Google My Business profile for your company . It will allow you to (feed all the business-related information directly into Google search as well as Google maps. You can also do quick updates via GMB, monitor business reviews, and use Google Posts to keep up with your customers.
4. Always respond to reviews irrespective of whether they are good or bad . Be polite and send a positive signal. This helps you gain popularity with the customers and the search engines.
5. In your website content, include local keywords, which could be the name of the city or any other specific area — for example, an Italian restaurant in Texas. So when a person in Texas queries “Italian restaurant near me,” your restaurant business will pop right on top.

Do not ever think local SEO is a wasteful activity. Most of your customers are local, and in order to be visible to them, you have to take concrete steps towards improving your visibility on the local SERPs.

If you need help, Oamii can extend a helping hand in improving the positioning of your business on local SERPs. Reap the benefits of our expertise and experience. Call (561)228-4111 to have a word with us. Let’s grow together.