Local SEO is not very different from a typical SEO campaign without a local presence, but it does offer an additional layer of tools and techniques. Do you need local SEO strategy?
The simple answer might be yes, definitely, if you have a storefront where people can actually come in and make purchases or pick up orders. It’s not that simple, though. even if you don’t have a storefront where people can walk in, you still may want to focus on marketing to a certain region. If you offer zone shipping where the cost increases by distance, you might want to promote the local area closest to you for the lower shipping costs. If you sell an item that is made near you, you might want to promote that you sell “Nantucket, Massachusetts jewelry” or something similar if your product is regionally specific enough, even if you don’t have a local storefront.
Any business that has a localized client base is a good candidate for local SEO. Your business may have multiple locations that each need their own local strategy. Or if you can take your services to any particular market, you want to focus on that area.
Local visibility
You want to make sure you come up when people search for your business or your services. One of the easiest ways to make this happen is to claim your Google My Business page. Once you’ve verified your business, you can appear on Google Search and Maps. After you’re verified you can then manage the page and update it with photos, change your business hours, update address and contact info, and other opportunities. Once you have that set up, make sure that your company description includes a local phone number and business address.
Click around and make sure your business is listed accurately throughout the web. Claim your local business profile on local directory and review sites and any other directories that are relevant for your business. Google My Business, Bing Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp and Foursquare all supply free options for listings in their directories. These options allow you to gain free advertising from highly trafficked websites.
Generate reviews
Online reviews are important for a variety of reasons, but primarily because surveys show that up to 90 percent of customers read online reviews that positively or negatively influence buying behavior. Ask your local customers to leave reviews, particularly on Yelp and on Google. For Google local search results, Google lists the businesses with better reviews first.
Local customers are real customers
Local customers aren’t just online customers, although they go online to find the goods and services they are looking for. Local search is timely. If someone is searching for “Portland plumber,” it’s likely that they need one right then, so the faster you come up and the faster you can get your phone number to pop up on their device, the faster you are to be the plumber that gets that phone call. Make sure your city, region and local phone number appears throughout your site. Have your information formatted the same way each time you use it. For instance, don’t leave off the ZIP code or area code here and there.
A local SEO strategy is an important tactic to consider when developing your digital marketing plan. If you’re not sure if your business is one that can benefit from a local search campaign, get in touch with us at Limelight Department and we can help you figure that out.
