If you are a local company, this is good news. There is enough free traffic to attract new businesses as soon as you know how to do local SEO. And you do not compete with this traffic around the world - you usually only compete with other local companies. You can more information-- Learn More.
However, this does not mean that local SEO is easy. It needs work. In this year, local SEO is actually very similar to regular SEO, but with four main differences:
- The local pack
- Google My Business
- reviews
- Local quotes
The Local Package
In contrast to the regular search, local searches trigger the so-called "local package". It looks like this:
Google often changes the appearance of the local package. Example: Note how you can make an appointment with one of these entries. Sometimes segments of a review or business hours can be displayed. From the end of 2018, companies could even specify which products they offer for sale.
Whether your company appears in the local package or not depends on several factors. First, how much competition you have. Currently, only three companies are included in the local package. But if you extend the section, you'll see more.
Google My Business Listings
The other important factor in having your business listed in the local package is how well your Google My Business listing is filled out. And, as mentioned above, this is another big difference between local and regular search engine optimization.Google My Business is currently free. Google may soon offer a paid version. It is one of the best free marketing tools. In fact, it's so valuable that small businesses often ask if they need a website at all, as long as they have a Google My Business listing.
It may be tempting to skip all the work with a website, but we definitely recommend having one. Even though "64% of consumers used Google My Business to find contact information for local businesses," they control your website. It is one of the best assets a business can have.
However, if you want more local search traffic to get to your site, you'll need to complete your Google My Business listing. You need to periodically update it with Google My Business posts - much like updating your company's Facebook page with posts.
Your Google My Business listing must also include your current business hours, great photos, and even some videos if you can manage it. The more professional and detailed your Google My Business listing is, the more likely you are to gain new businesses from it. And the more likely it is that Google will give your entry and website free traffic.
Customer Reviews
Your Google My Business listing includes another supercritical component: Customer Reviews. This is one of the most important parts of your Google My Business listing, but also one of the most important factors in whether or not your company creates this coveted local package. An important part of local SEO practice in this year is the management of customer reviews.Reviews are so important to local businesses that we can write a full blog post about them. We could even write a whole book. But here are the basics of what you need to know about reviews:
- The star rating for ratings in a Google My Business listing or for an organic search result entry has a significant impact on whether people click on the listing or not.
- Answer the reviews as often as possible. Also negative reviews.
- Studies have shown that "consumers need an average of 40 online reviews before they believe that a company's star rating is accurate.
- Your company does not require five-star ratings. A few four-star ratings or even a single two-star rating will not bring your business to a halt. It will make your reviews look more authentic if you have a few ratings that are less than five stars.
- Always ask satisfied customers to give reviews. Some of them will follow. Also, make it as easy as possible for users to post reviews. You can also contact your customers by e-mail and include a direct link in the e-mail that they can use to rate.
Local Quotes
Local quotes are the name, address, and phone number of a local business. They often contain other information, but "NAP" data (name, address, and phone number) are the nuts and bolts of local citations.Good local SEO requires that you have local citations on important websites (think places like Yelp and important directories). The citations of your business must be consistent in these collections. Otherwise, you will be notified by Google and Bing.
There are several good online resources that list all the possible places your company quotes might be listed, including this post published earlier this year.
If managing all these entries means a lot of work, you are right. It is. But there are tools that make it easier. The SEMRush local quote tool is probably the most popular. It is currently available in the US and Australia but is likely to be available in other countries soon.
Of course, there are many other citation management tools. And if you have a tight budget, you can manage your quotes with a simple spreadsheet.
Ranking factors of the local search: Two studies
So these are the four core differences between regular and local SEO. However, your local SEO work is not over yet. As with regular search engine optimization, local search engine optimization in 2019 will require a well-optimized website, good content, social media presence, and a few other things.But before we go into all that, let's look at what two major studies are the most important factors in getting a good local search. There are hundreds of little things you can do to optimize your site and get a good ranking. However, it is also possible to focus only on the most important factors and achieve excellent results. You can 80/20 your SEO. This is especially true for local SEO because you have fewer competitors than if you were competing for non-local search queries. Only learning the basics often puts you ahead of the competition on the ground.
Here is the summary table from the study on the ranking factors for the local search 2018 by Moz. Notice how the local package and local search results are broken down separately. How your business is rated for these two locations depends on different ranking factors.
