Local SEO is about optimizing a website to increase traffic, leads, and brand awareness from local search. But why is it important? We explain it to you with some statistics.

✔ 46% of all searches on Google have “local intent” ( Search Engine Roundtable ).

✔ “Near Me” searches have grown 150% faster than traditional local ( Google ) searches .

✔ 29% of all Google SERPs contain a local package in the results ( RankRanger ).

✔ 74% of consumers looking for something local on their phone visit a store that day ( Google ).

So it’s clear that local searches make up a huge part of the SEO world. And if you can put your local business at the forefront of these searches, it will significantly increase your sales opportunities.

How does local SEO work?

Local SEO works like a “normal” Google search. When someone performs a search, Google scans their index to provide the best results for that person’s query.

What makes local SEO unique is that Google uses a different set of ranking factors to rank local search results.

In fact, local SEO has a set of unique ranking signals, including:

• → The location from which the person is searching
• → NAP dating
• → Presence of the Google My Business list
• → Keywords used in the Google My Business profile
• → Sentiment of online reviews
• → Keywords used in online reviews
• → Number of “records” in that location
• → Actions in social networks
• → Google Maps star rating for that business

Tips to improve my Local SEO in 2020

Add location pages to your website

By having a specific landing page for each of your business locations, search engines can easily locate your listing and deliver the appropriate location to the search engine.

You need to include home numbers and decide if you want the street, avenue, highway, etc. are written in full or abbreviated. How the information is presented on these pages will determine how you update your information elsewhere, so keep this in mind when choosing how to enter your location information.

Improve NAP consistency

For search engines to serve your business as a search engine result, your business name, address, and telephone number (NAP) must be consistent throughout.

Update all company details in Google My Business

Everyday Internet users rely on their business listings for the correct information. It is extremely important for your SEO that this is easy and fast for the search engine to identify you.

When logging into your Google My Business (GMB) account, you must ensure that your name, address, and phone number are correct. It should also include a brief but informative business description, a link to your website, and hours of operation. 

Make your listing attractive; Your logo should be the avatar/profile photo and you can also update your interior photos, exterior photos, and product photos. These should be high-quality images because blurry and pixelated images look sloppy and unprofessional.

Get Reviews

Criticism is paramount. They are a local SEO ranking factor. If you can entice your satisfied customers to give you a Google review as a thank you for a positive experience, you can go a lot further than just about any other local SEO tactic.

Reviewing not only helps you rank better, it also helps your result take up more space on the results page. This is a strategy to employ for pages outside of the local package, adding schema marks, subpages, etc. to increase the real estate that your business occupies.

Social proof is another great benefit for getting criticism. Search engines see five stars and immediately know that your company is highly recommended by your peers. So by getting reviews, you’re actually addressing three main components of conversion: ranking, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Create local content

Creating content targeting your niche will have an impact on your local search ranking. For this it is important to do a study of keywords and an editorial calendar. Which brings us to the next point.

Take advantage of the Google AdWords keyword planner

This is a great FREE tool to use when it comes to setting your local SEO strategy keywords. It helps to research which keywords have the highest search volume and the lowest competition, and also to find similar terms that the local audience is searching for.

Acquire partner and sponsorship backlinks

You need to make a list of the companies and organizations you have worked with. This can also include fundraising or charity events. You have to retrieve these contact points and ask them to include a link to your website.

Use social media platforms

Social media platforms are a great way to stay in front of your audience. Google will track and pull search results from your social platforms, such as your company’s Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube profiles and reviews, and even your Twitter account and recent tweets.