The digital landscape is constantly changing and evolving. New trends and techniques emerge almost every day, each impacting businesses differently. Marketers must stay on top of these changes to allocate their resources effectively and remain successful. With that in mind, one of the most important things you can do as an online marketer is remain informed about the latest trends in your field. Understanding the ever-changing world of digital marketing can be difficult. Still, this article will explain everything you need to know about LocalSEOToday to keep your strategy updated.
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What is LocalSEOToday, and how does it work?
Local SEO is an offshoot of traditional SEO focused on driving targeted visitors to a company’s website from search results specific to a user’s location. Local SEO is essential because it is a direct driver of foot traffic — the most valuable source of business for many companies. Local SEO is also known as “geo-targeted SEO” or “geo-local SEO.” Local SEO optimizes your website and other online assets to boost your rankings in keyword searches specific to a user’s location. You can do this by adding relevant keywords, optimizing your title, optimizing your meta description, optimizing your images, adding citations and reviews, etc. You are trying to drive up your website’s organic search engine rankings so that you show up higher in search results when someone is looking for your products or services in your area. When someone clicks on your website from a Google search, they are brought to your landing page, where they can purchase your products or services or learn more about what you offer. Local SEO is essential for small businesses with a smaller marketing budget than large companies. If a small business wants to compete against larger companies with more money to spend on SEO, they need to find ways to get their website to rank high in local search results.
Why Does Local SEO Matter?
Local SEO is a vital part of an overall SEO strategy. The main reason why it matters is that it drives direct foot traffic to your business. Local SEO is essential because it is a direct driver of foot traffic — the most valuable source of business for many companies. For example, a law firm focusing on real estate law in Boston might only get one or two real estate clients from the entire state of Massachusetts. However, if they can drive foot traffic from a Boston location to their office, they can make ten times more money. This is why local SEO is the focus of campaigns for many small and medium-sized businesses that do not have the budget to do broad SEO campaigns. Local SEO is also important because it can boost your rankings across the board.
The Importance of Location in Local SEO
Because local SEO is focused on driving targeted visitors from specific locations, you must choose the right place when optimizing your website. This is especially important if you’re a multi-location business where you could target several different areas with just one website. Local companies trying to rank higher in search results from a specific location need to ensure that they are using the correct place in their metadata (i.e. address, phone number, hours of operation, etc.). Metadata is the information about your business that you input into your website’s source code. This includes your business name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and more. Metadata helps Google know exactly what your business is, where your business is located, and what you do. When you input the correct location data, you are helping Google identify which location you want to show up in search results. If you are a multi-location business, you will want to ensure that you use the correct size for each one. Even if you have multiple locations serving the same general area, you will still want to ensure that you are using the correct one for each website or page. One page with the incorrect location data could affect many different areas.
Ranking Factors in Local SEO
This will depend on the industry that you are in and which search engines you are targeting, but below are some examples of what you could focus on:
Keyword research and selection: You want to make sure that you are choosing keywords that are highly relevant to your business and very specific to the area you are targeting.
URL structure: A well-constructed URL structure is essential for many reasons. Still, most importantly, it helps with SEO and makes it easier for users to understand your website. – Content – The content you put on your website is your website’s backbone and can significantly impact your rankings. When writing blog posts and other types of content, you want to ensure that you include relevant keywords for your business.
Optimized images: Images are not only nice to have for aesthetic reasons, but they can also be helpful for SEO. You want to ensure that your photos are correctly optimized so that it is easier for Google to crawl and understand what they are about. – Citations and reviews – Citations and reviews can play a significant role in your local SEO. You want to ensure that you get as many citations as possible, especially from high authority sources like newspapers, magazines, and government websites. – Social media – You want to ensure that you are using social media to your advantage regarding local SEO. By engaging with your audience and building a solid following, you can build up a lot of citations and reviews that will help your rankings.
Organic Collateral Benefits of Local SEO
As mentioned above, local SEO is a direct driver of foot traffic, the most valuable business source for many companies. Other benefits of local SEO include: – Increased brand recognition: A solid online presence allows your business to be seen by a much larger audience than it would be. With wider exposure, you can expect more people to become aware of your brand and recognize your name. – More leads and sales: By targeting people who are geographically close to your business, you make it easier for them to make a purchase or engage with your brand. – Better Google ranking in broader searches: If you optimize your website for local SEO, you can also expect a boost in your broader SEO. This is because local SEO is often a part of a broader SEO strategy.
How to Perform Effective Local SEO Strategies
To successfully rank for local keywords, it is essential to understand that local SEO differs for every industry, and what works for one business may not work for another. With that in mind, below are some tips that you can use to implement a successful local SEO strategy:
Keyword research and selection: You want to make sure that you are choosing keywords that are highly relevant to your business and very specific to the area you are targeting.
Citations and reviews: Citations and thoughts can play a significant role in your local SEO. You want to ensure that you get as many citations as possible, especially from high authority sources like newspapers, magazines, and government websites. – Social media – You want to ensure that you are using social media to your advantage regarding local SEO. By
