Are you planning to start a new business at a geographical location or running an existing business or offering services services at a targeted area and if you have not a website and not doing local search engine marketing, you are losing almost 69% of potential customers. This percentage of traffic visits businesses after searching local and related keywords on search engines like Google, so your ultimate goal is to do local SEO in a strategic way.

Local SEO is the method to implement different unpaid and organic strategies to boost a business site locally in a specific country or beyond from it like a specific city or place. The reason behind it is when a user needs a product or service, he will search for a related keyword like if he aims to buy a pizza, can search “Italian pizza”, Google is so wise and AI-bases, it understands the intent and shows him a listing in maps form, with complete details including contact numbers. If you have optimized your platform in this area, your information will be displayed organically and he can convert and be a regular customer.

Not only local packs, but it also influences standard search engine results and in this way, Google knows about your area, products or services you are offering and how much trustable are you (using reviews and feedbacks). So relevancy in terms of products and location and trust matters a lot in ranking, in local packs. This field is now booming due to its cost-effectiveness and maximum output. Here details are given on how to do it step-by-step in a unique and proven way. If you are confused, can get Local SEO services for here, as it is a crucial for all the advanced business in the world.

Importance of Local SEO for Businesses:

Local SEO has so much importance in any aspect including brand awareness, users engagement, search engines and clients trust, attracting and converting the searchers and competitors. It is a set of methods that are applied aiming to increase visibility in the local pack and attract more customers. Google, when notices a query related to a local business, it displays a list of location-based related businesses, if you have listed your ones, it will be there and results in amazing benefits.

From these figures, you can take idea about how essential is this. It has three main benefits and these are given here.

It increases brand visibility on the search engines and when we follow all the important steps, rank on the top of the list, means more people notice our availability, results in brand awareness. Maximum number of people observe and look at the site, when entering a related keyword and it becomes a brand like running an expensive ad.

The number two in the list is users satisfaction and good users experience, when we filter out different clients, contact them, address their problems and educate them, and respond to reviews. Google also notices it and both build a trust, results in more visitors and potential customers.

The third main thing is we can leverage our competitors, when they have not available online or not follow complete guidelines, you will ultimately rank and get more clients. So you can outperform your competition, when they overlook the importance of internet, in today’s era.

Factors that influence Local results:

If you have any business like car rentals or wash, plumbing or electrician services, dentist or medical services or you are selling products, such as grocery items, garments or any other thing and now want to plan local SEO, you must keep in mind the following three factors, because Google considers them when ranking any business online. Due to these factors, Local optimization is completely different from the standard SEO.

Proximity:

This is the first and foremost important thing Google takes into account, when shows results in response to a user’s query. It means when a client enters a relevant search query or want to find a business, Google displays a list of them, which are comparatively closed to him, so it is location-based factor. It is not in our control, but we should have idea about it and Google want to show rich and expected results, to satisfy clients, so users can trust on it and make regular visits.

For example, if a person is in his office and search “Delicious pizza near me”, the results will be different than that, when he write the same thing at the home.

Relevancy:

The second factor to display a local map pack is the relevancy of results with the users queries. If a user enters a keyword related to pizza, a pizza list will be shown there and if he or another person write or search about burger, the list will be completely relevant. So when doing Local SEO, you should add all the business details and what it is offering, to overcome this factor.

Prominence:

It is the factor mostly ignored by marketers or business holders, because the above two will automatically be covered, when you add location or map and provide your business details. Then, one who considers this third factor will be boosted and it means Google always notices how people building trust on you and how you are satisfying your customers and responding the reviews. It ranks the sites at the top, with good star ratings and reviews, so clients don’t be worried and make a decision with utmost trust.

On the other hand, general SEO works on the factors like relevancy of users query and content, how a site is fulfilling users intent and then technical SEO like site speed and its mobile responsiveness.

Step-by-step guide on How to do effective Local SEO

Now that you are familiar with the concept of local seo, its essential benefits and the factors, which depend upon it, here we will discuss what is the proven and easiest way to cover all the steps of it. You have to make a plan and then start doing it free of cost, like an expert and if facing any problems, you can contact with Diprootseo team.

One more thing, when you are thinking about Local SEO, it means you want to rank at two places, one is local map pack, displayed at the start of page and the other is blue link results or regular organic google results. A business wants to be ranked at the both positions, for more advantages.

Keywords Researching:

Like natural or standard SEO, complete and relevant keyword researching is the primary and main step, before implementing the other things. Keywords are the queries related to your business that are being searched by different people online, for instance “gaming laptop near me” and when you use these terms in your content or information, and most important in the meta tags and description, it will result in ranking for these queries, when Google matches with them. So you should have a comprehensive list of all the keywords, potentially searched and then use them in the content.

There are different ways you can do this, some are free like google keyword planner and google autocomplete, and the others are paid like SEO tools (Semrush and Ahrefs). For doing a thorough research, you can follow these steps and you can learn about how to do keyword research here, if you want complete guidelines.

Free Tools:

Firstly, if we consider here free tools and methods, then Google autocomplete, people also ask section and keyword planner are at the top. On Google, when you type a seed keyword, it automatically shows you a list of different trending keywords and these are the terms people mostly search, related to that seed keyword.

Then, there is a section in the SERP named “people are search or ask”, from there we can pick relevant questions and make a list to cover them later. Finally, Google made a tool for advertisers called “keyword planner”, but any person can use it free of cost and when you enter a query here, it will show a list of other related keywords to you.

Premium tools and how to use them:

There are also available pro tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs and they provide us a variety of different keywords, when we enter a single term here. For example, after writing a main query, a section “keyword magic tool or matching keywords” is used and here is a list of all the related keywords.

The other crucial part is we want to outperform our competitors and for this we have to know about their strengths and weaknesses, the former to be implemented and the latter to be better and authority. These tools can also perform competitors analysis in each aspect from keywords to backlinks and we can also make a list from here.

Then they also provide insights to finalize the keywords like search volume and difficulty etc.

Localized site intent:

After consuming time on local keyword researching, now is the time to use them in your content. In this way, your content will be ranked same like organic or standard SEO, when there is a blog section and will educate people or responding the related queries they are searching for. You can pick different relevant topics to cover or participate in local events and cover them on your website. The people familiar to that event will immediately visit your website too and that will be the local traffic, an edge.

Secondly, if you are targetting a country only, focus on domain with country-specific extension, so Google has clear idea about your site is country-based and it will attract people from that area just.

Then, the third thing is always mention your service area on your website at different and possible location, and try to make location page, where you will just mention the places where you are offering services. The fourth thing we can consider is participating in social media relevant groups and online discussions, so people aware about us and then discuss our site, win-win situation.

Google business profile Setup (Formarly GMB)

According to Ahrefs, about 70% customers are likely to visit a business with verified Google busines profile and 50% are likely to purchase something. With this, almost 40% experts suggest complete and updated Google business profile is the most important part in local SEO for more visibility and ranking. From there, you can have complete idea about listing on Google my business.

As discussed before, there are two section in search engine results page for these nearby-typed queries, and Google first picks data from its business profile, which is free and google encourges it to promote local businesses and show authentic results to users, after extracting information from there. The data you must add here will be discussed here and then you have to verify some of them like your contact information.

NAP:

NAP term stands for name, address and phone number and while making Google business profile, you have to add these crucial information.

Name: While making it, you have to add your business’s complete name and not a short name and a unique category, so Goole can have a good idea about your business type and name. When people search even with short queries, it will be visible in maps list.

Adress: Then a complete address must be added here, with a map to address Google’s most important local seo factor “proximity” or nearby location-based results. Whenever a customer near to you search for a query, Google will consider you and show him your business.

Phone Number: Every business has an official phone number and display it on paid ads, so if a customer wants some information on phone, they can get it. In the same way, Google also wants to benifit its users in every way and for this, it asks you to add a phone number and then verify it. Not only this, it also wants you to answer each call or message, so client is satisfied and gives you a good review.

These three are basic steps and profile is almost completed, but always update your profile and keep in touch with clients. For example, if a customer calls or send a query through whatsapp, must respond timely and update information like changing hours or location, and ask them about reviews and respond to reviews. Then put complete information about the business and its value-added services and products.

Local Citations:

This strategy is not now has so much importance, as many experts think, but we can not overlook it, as if they do not carry out any advantage, will not harm us in any way. It is the method in which you add your business NAP information in other business famous directories like yellow pages and yelp, and local citations in the same way like making Google business profile. The important thing to consider is your business information must be consistent for all platforms, as Google visits these platforms and verify you from the details. If it is same, it will be verified and ranked.

The second edge is as these are business directories and mostly rank on Google for many local queries, so when you have listed yourself there, your site will be at the top, means maximum visibility and traffic.

Managing the Reviews:

Reviews section has also an utmost value, as they show your expertise, socail proof and build confidence for new leads. When a person is new, enters a query and shows your business due to proper local SEO, has no experience about your work, so will go to the other customers experience section to read reviews and rankings. If these are good, he will decide to make a call to you, otherwise move on.

Not only users, but these are crucial for search engines too and it is one of the factors for top ranking, because it knows people will have more trust on that. There are two visible benifits, one is ranking and the other is increasing leads and conversion rate.

They must be displayed on your website, some might be negative and it is completely good and balanced approach. Even if a business has only positive feedback, people will note it, be suspicious and not trust, because no one can be perfect always. The real key is how you are handling the negative reviews, if someone is giving positive response for your services, thanks to them. On the other side, if someone is dissatisfied at any point, address his issues professionally, it will be an appreciation for a new client too and he will be satisfied that he will also b addressed in the future.

Steps to do it are given here:

• Always encourage reviews, when a customer is satisfied with your business
• Not only on Google, but try to make reviews on other platforms and social media
• Response to every review and address the negative ones
• Add different barcodes on social media handles or physical location, for easy reviews with one click

Local Backlinks:

According to Google guidelines itself, backlinks are one of the top ranking signals any website has, some experts assign 50% value to them in overall SEO and same goes for local SEO and map packs. After creating a site, completing on-page SEO and then following all the above steps, now is the turn for off-page SEO. If you need complete guidelines, information and proper staregy about them, it is available here.

While making their profile, try to craft a mix and diversified file and in this case,

• Try to make backlinks from local sites in your category.
• You can also contact local newspapers, influencers and content creators to share a story about your brand
• Do competitors analysis, especially their backlink analysis and follow them
• Sponsor a local event or anything like that and the business will automatically be engaged.
• Design listings on local citations etc.

Essential Tools for Local SEO

Different tools are used some for implementing local SEO strategies like Google business profile and others are for monitering its results such as Google search Console. The tools that must required are given here.

Google Business Profile:

This tool has already been discussed above and also altogether ways to perform different function are decribed there. It is the number one step for ranking any business on Google (The top searching search engine) in a specific area and no business can grow digitally, without it.

Google Search Console (GMB):

It is a free tool offered by Google to monitor any site insights like impressions, click, keywords, assess pages and links and many more. It is very crucial for making any site, as well as local SEO site and the purpose is to monitor it continuously.

Keywords Tool and Backlinking Analysis:

For making a website and doing its on-page SEO, advanced keyword resraching tool is required. Same in the case when we want to do off-page SEO, they need proper backlinking analysis report from their competitors. For these purposes, Ahrefs or Semrush keyword and backlinks report are the most authentic and trustable sites, although keyword planner can also be not denied.

Yext:

It is so crucial to be consistent for all citations on differnt platforms, for Google itself. You can do it manually or find a tool free of cost to be consistent everywhere, so Google can verify from any place.

Local SEO services:

If you have any business, you have now complete and comprehensive idea about all the aspects like what is this, how much importance it has and what steps you should follow. Now is your turn to invest time and carry your business beyond the limits in no time, take maximum advantage and outperform your competitors.

We know it is not an easy task, much time is required for technical analysis, to apply all the steps, responding the reviews, making and optimizing a website, and you have to manage your business too. If you are worrying about Local SEO services, DipRootSEO is a professional SEO agency and we not only follow your commands, but also give suggestions and explainations on how can it create maximum impact on your brand. Our mission is to add quality and value to the customers, so we will do same like it is our own business and you will see the magic and amazing results soon.

Just contact us now through support@diprootseo.com and one of our member will contact you soon.