5 Reasons Why Local SEO is Important
Why is local SEO important?
- Everyone uses Google
- Warm traffic
- Social proof
- Reputation management
- Gain more foot traffic
For a more detailed answer, keep reading.
1. Everyone uses Google
When people are searching for a service, Google is often their go-to. For example, if someone needs a driving instructor and they live in Canary Wharf, they’ll Google something like, “driving instructor Canary Wharf”.
The majority of online experience begins with a search engine and Google owns 90% of the search engine market share. So there’s no point in trying to market on other search engines such as Bing. Google is where it’s at.
Millions of companies use Google to market their business and for good reason, it’s a profitable strategy.
2. Warm traffic
By ranking on Google for search queries related to your business, you’re bringing in warm traffic. People that are looking for a solution to their problems.
Going with the driving instructor example mentioned above, if someone types in “driving instructor Canary Wharf”, they’re someone living in Canary Wharf and they’re actively looking for a driving instructor.
That user is ready to pick up the phone and spend some money.
3. Social proof
If you’re looking for an easy way for customers to leave reviews, Google has you covered. If you sign up to Google My Business, it’s easy for people to leave reviews. They just have to Google your business and leave a review.
Or if they search for a service your business is in, they can see these reviews.
For example, if you search for “burgers near me”, you’ll be shown a list of businesses that sell burgers along with customer reviews. This is your time to shine, by having a lot of positive reviews, people will be more likely to eat at your business.
Of course this can go both ways and people can leave negative reviews, so make sure the product/service you’re providing is amazing.
4. Reputation management
Google is going to be one of the most popular places where people talk about your business. It’s where people can leave a review and you can interact with that review.
For example, let’s say someone has left a negative review, you can reply to that review. This gives you the opportunity to try and fix the problem.
If a customer has had a negative experience, you can offer them a rectification to their bad experience, give a reason to why something happened and allow potential customers to see that you fix any negative experiences.
5. Gain more foot traffic
If someone’s found your business online and likes what they see, of course they’re going to come in.
For example, when I was in London, I Googled “desserts near me” and a few desert places showed up. I read the reviews, looked at the images and went with Amorino. My friends and I went for some great deserts.
Even though that business can’t track that I came through Google, that’s exactly what happened. I Googled a service I wanted, found one I liked and went ahead and did business with that dessert place.
And this is exactly how many people all around the world are introduced to a new business.
How do I do local SEO?
OK, so that’s a big question and one I can’t cover entirely in this article. However, I’ll go over some stuff you can do that will have a massive impact on your SEO.
Get a website
Duh, obviously. I just thought I’d mention it.
We highly recommend a WordPress website for your local business. It’s easy to use and user friendly.
At first it might look complex but you’ll get used to it.
Here’s a video on how to create a WordPress website:
Insert your NAP into the footer
NAP stands for your business’s Name, Address and Phone Number. The footer is the very bottom of your website.
You want your NAP in the footer of every page of your website, this is to let Google know where your business is located, helping you rank higher for location searches.
Here’s how you edit your footer on a WordPress website:
Sign up to Google My Business
Google My Business is how you’ll be able to show on the map listing. So make sure you get yourself a free Google My Business listing.
Sign up and fill out all the necessary fields.
Here’s how you create a Google My Business account:
Here’s the best guide on ranking on Google Maps.
Create LOTS of citations
Citations are directories you sign up to and these directories allow you to link to your website and insert your Name, address and phone number.
By doing this, Google is able to see you’re a legitimate business and you’re clearly located where you say you are.
Signing up to directories is a long process but well worth the time and effort. If you’ve got a bit of money to spend, you can hire a service to do this for you.