If you’re running a brick-and-mortar business, you need local SEO to ensure the people in your area know who you are, what you offer, and where you’re located. Especially for new businesses that haven’t yet become a recognizable brand in a specific area, SEO is a powerful way to build recognition.
Imagine the possibilities: your business on the first page of Google search results, a professional online appearance, and more shoppers visiting your store or service-center due to your increased online visibility. With only benefits and zero drawbacks, there’s really no reason not to build up your SEO, and local SEO services can help you ensure you’re successful in your own neighborhood.
Let the People Know WHO You Are
One of the major benefits of building your local SEO is that it builds name recognition for your brand/business. Your SEO professional will do research to determine who is searching for what in your neighborhood; then, they’ll use those search terms to ensure you receive first page ranking on Google’s search results (and Bing’s, and Yahoo’s)…
If you’re worried about competing with huge brands, don’t. Google actually favors the little guy and searchers receive individualized results based on their location and previous searches. For example, if you’re a carpet cleaning company in a small town, (so long as you’re fully optimized) you’ll come up in the search results for anyone searching for a carpet cleaner in your neighborhood. Geographic location plays a large role in search results, so as to individualize the searchers experience.
Let the People Know WHAT You’re Selling
Competition is stiff online; each year, hundreds of thousands of new websites crop up. Businesses stabilize, optimize, and are competing with you. Those businesses can bury your own if you let them, but if you engage with small, local targets you can be the one to achieve visibility and success. The secret is to know how to showcase what you’re selling to local buyers without overwhelming them.
Good content is essential to local SEO. Your website copy should include written information about your product and services, as well as color-rich photography and/or graphic elements. People should be able to land there and within moments know exactly what you’re selling. Google’s algorithm needs to be able to read your page too. This means staying away from JavaScript and animations. Google will assign your landing page with a Quality Score, and this score can have a positive or negative effect on your advertising costs.
Let the People Know WHERE You Are
Local SEO lets the people know where you are. Your landing page should prominently feature your business name, address, phone number, and email. Moreover, all advertisements should prominently feature this information, including local online resources such as Craigslist, Yelp, and Angie’s List. There’s also geo-targeted organic SEO and Google Maps integration to take into consideration, and these SEO practices can significantly improve local sales.
Atlanta-based auto repair shop, The D&I Body Shop, wanted to target more customers. Their competitors were outdoing them majorly. After launching a local SEO strategy, with a strong focus on map integration and geo-targeting, the repair shop saw a boost of more than 309 percent in organic traffic in one year.
Final Thoughts: Bad SEO practices will destroy your Google rankings. Google will blacklist websites that aren’t careful when implementing link building strategies and on-page optimization, as well as websites that join bad link directories, feature too many ads, spin articles, feature poorly written content, and more.If you truly want to grow your business locally, it’s best to engage with professionals who know how to carefully implement SEO strategies.