The Importance of Local SEO for Small Businesses

To create an opportunity for your business to thrive with online leads that will generate sales, you need to be in front of your target audience. Whether it is on the web, on your phone or out in the real world with a brick and mortar business; if you aren’t in front of the crowd that values and desires what you have to offer, you won’t get the traffic, leads or sales to grow your business. This is why it is important for small businesses to commit to a marketing strategy that will see their business grow. One of the key areas that the business must master is SEO in their local market. When it comes to SEO, there are potential customers that are actively looking to do business with you. A digital agency in Melbourne will help small businesses understand why local SEO is important and why they must master this as a part of their online strategy. Or if you’re a newbie, get a head start through this latest beginner’s guide on beginner starting a seo business.

What benefits can arise from local search?

Local search keywords can offer qualified local traffic for businesses that offer their products and services in the geographical area. It is a great way for businesses to initially penetrate their local market and to gain traction with leads and sales from search marketing activities for their business.

Your website must be optimized for Google local searches

People won’t be able to find your website if it isn’t optimized for local searches. Ensure that you develop a contact us page that details your address, map and contact telephone number. Also promote the advantages that you have with being a local company across your website.

You must appear on Google maps searches for your area

Ensure that you setup a Google Plus profile for your business. You can use this Google Plus profile to register and claim your business address on Google Maps. This process will generally take a couple of weeks. Once you have verified your business, it should start to appear in the local listing search results. People will be able to leave comments, reviews and interact with your business profile listing, and you can connect the profile to your website as well.

Consistency is key to influencing your local SEO performance

When it comes to local specific rankings, the consistency of your business contact information across the web will either improve or decrease the local search listing performances.

Your off page optimization must support your geo-localisation strategy

This is the area that many small businesses get wrong. If you want to appear for local search terms, then Google needs to understand how relevant your business is to that keyword search term. If you are a business that is operating in Perth, Western Australia, it won’t make sense to Google that you are listed on a business directory in Toronto, Canada. This is why it is important to focus on a geographic area so Google can recognise the area citations from the semantic search mark-up, the IP address, the domain and any additional references to the location.

Some of the citation methods that you can use to appear for local search listings include:

  • Featuring in local directories and classifieds for your products and services
  • Add the Google maps feature into other websites so it can be used as a web citation

Global companies leveraging local strategies

Companies that operate multi-nationally or globally can also focus on local strategies across regions or geographical areas. These can be customized by language; country or it can even be area specific. The content that is then developed is tailored for that region and stands a stronger chance to rank well in that specific market, as the content should provide users with a richer experience.

Local SEO company like seo toronto is important for small businesses as a part of their lead generation strategy. The more they invest in their business, the more leads they can generate and improve their business growth via SEO over the long term.