How can you consider if your company requires a local SEO strategy? The main term in this question is “local.” Do you own a business that attracts customers from a radius of zero to many miles away? Would potential customers seek your products and services travel up to ten minutes to visit your establishment? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is likely that you need to optimize your local SEO strategy.

What Exactly Is Local SEO?

So, what exactly is local SEO? And why is it significant?

Local SEO entails optimizing your online presence in order to attract business from Google and other search engines. Local SEO statistics from Hubspot show that 46 percent of all Google searches are looking for local information. In addition, 72 percent of consumers who used local SEO near me search to find a local product or service visited a store within five miles.

So, how effective is local SEO? It certainly did if you were one of those companies. Do you have no idea where to begin? To demonstrate the value of focusing on local SEO, we’ve compiled a list of five reasons why it’s critical for your business’s success.

Here are the 5 List of Advantages of Local SEO to Your Business’s Success

1. Your company’s information is displayed in front of consumers looking for your products and services.

Remember when you used to scour the yellow pages for businesses that provided the products and services you required? All you have to do these days is type the product or service you’re trying to look for into a search engine on your device. Businesses that offer those products or services will spring up. And, if you type “near me,” it will show you everything that is within driving distance of your current location.

That’s pretty phenomenal. Those “near me” local SEO searches save you time. Simply select what you want, pull up the map and directions, and you’re ready to go. If you look closely at those results, you’ll notice that they’re populated by online business directories, much like the yellow pages of yesteryear.

When it comes to local SEO vs. organic SEO, both are important. You’re looking for a content marketing strategy that will help your pages rank higher in search engine results for specific keywords and keyword phrases (the goal of organic SEO strategies). Local SEO, on the other hand, is critical for businesses that serve a specific community. It is less important for multinational corporations that attract customers from all over the world.

2. Consistently Accurate Online Directory Citations Increase Organic and Local Pack Rankings

You should consistently and accurately list your company’s name, address, and phone number in the business directories and top-ranked local citations. This information is known as your NAP Data (name, address, phone). If a search engine bot believes your information is consistent and accurate, it is more likely to include your business in search engine results pages (SERPs).

That seems reasonable. Do you think you’d be annoyed if Google directed you to a business that no longer exists or provided you with a phone number that is no longer in service? Search engines want to find this basic information about your company in a variety of places across the internet.

When they find that information in multiple places—and it is all consistent and correct—they have faith in the data. However, if Google or Bing sees confusing, inconsistent data, they consider it less valid—less reliable. As a result, search engines are more likely to skip over you in favor of a company with more consistent NAP Data.

3. Your business website receives more backlinks from authoritative, trusted websites.

Backlinks, or links pointing to your site from trusted, authoritative websites, are critical in SEO. They validate your website’s existence, demonstrating that your site is a viable force in the vast internet universe. Furthermore, some directory citation sites include a website URL field in their listings and display these URLs as ‘dofollow’ links. This provides valuable link equity to your site. Backlinks are used by search engines to determine your domain authority, which boosts your SEO (as opposed to ‘nofollow’ links, which are nice but don’t give you any juice).

Want to get another great backlink while doing something else beneficial to your business? Join a local chamber of commerce or another business organization. This will provide a relevant local link back to your website, and you will be able to network at local events as a result. While attending these events, you may gain some business or even more backlink opportunities.

Furthermore, if you have vendors or sell products, you may want them to link to your website as well (with a dofollow link, of course).

4. Your company will be that much closer to appearing on the first page of search engine results.

Online business directories occupy a significant amount of space on search engine results pages (SERPs). As a result, local businesses listed in their directories appear first in local search results. If your name isn’t on those lists…

You must understand how to get your business listed in these local citations business directories or you will lose valuable business. And what you don’t know online can come back to bite you.

You may have the best pizza in town, but if the guy across town doesn’t find you when he searches for “pizza near me,” he’ll go to your competitor. 

5. Your company will have more opportunities for third-party reviews.

Here are the three main pillars for ranking high in Google Local Map Pack.

• Relevance

How well do you target the keywords or topics that your potential customers might look up on your website?

• Prominence

How visible is your company on the internet?

• Proximity

How close is your company to a potential customer who is looking for your products or services?

We’ve discussed relevance and proximity. Now it’s time to talk about prominence: your company’s positive reputation and comments on the internet. How do search engines find this data? Customers can post reviews and rate their interactions with local businesses on many citations and directories.

If you provide excellent service, your company will benefit from this added benefit. However, getting positive feedback isn’t enough. You should respond to them as well. And, if you receive a negative review, don’t get too worked up about it. Just remember to stay calm and respond appropriately. Work on resolving the issue as soon as possible. Even a simple apology is preferable to no response.

More Local SEO Tips

Local SEO for multiple locations: On a Contact Us page on your site, list all of your staffed locations, including the full name, address, and phone number.

In the sitewide footer, list the full name, address, and phone number of each location for businesses with 10 or fewer locations.

Make sure your phone number is easily accessible on your website and that it is clickable on mobile devices.

Make sure your NAP Data is consistent across all pages of your website, just as you want to be consistent on directories.

If your company has multiple locations, each one requires its own page with unique content. Copying and pasting from one page to the next is not recommended.

Modify Your Local SEO to Your Company Type

As a result, what you don’t know online can harm you. If your company isn’t implementing a local SEO strategy, you’re leaving money on the table that your competitor down the street will take.

Local SEO works well, but it, like organic SEO, takes time and patience. That’s why many businesses hire a local SEO firm to put everything together.
Are you concerned about having your company’s information entered into business directories? Allow our local SEO experts to handle it for you.