Business owners today should know the importance of evolving with the times to stay ahead of their competition. Chances are you’ve heard of local SEO, as this is paramount to being found online and a crucial tool to utilise in the world of digital marketing.

You’re probably thinking this is just another web tool that is currently trending to help businesses gain an advantage and favour their business over the competition. In order to make an honest and fair assessment of the benefits of local SEO, we need to understand exactly what it is and how it could impact your business.

This article will attempt to explain the pros and cons to how a local SEO campaign could benefit you and your business. By the end of reading this article we hope you will have a clear understanding of what local SEO is and how this is thought of as a crucial player in the world of online marketing.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO aims to make sure your business will be found online by people searching for it “locally” or based on their current location. By promoting the visibility of your business will prove invaluable as your chances of being found stand to increase. Local SEO shares similar traits to a regular SEO campaign but stands to enhance your reach to potential users needing your products or services when in your proximity.

Searches based on certain geographic qualifiers like,

• City
• County
• Post Code
• Near me searches - Google picks up the geo-location of the person from the device and provides search results from that area.

Why Is It Important?

Local SEO is considered a vital tool to utilise to help your business achieve its full potential. If your business provides services in your local area, local SEO is vital to be found. There is good reason to adopt a local SEO philosophy based on the number of mobile devices in use actively seeking products and services whilst travelling into your local proximity.

Nearly all smart phone users have used their device to perform local searches, nearly two thirds called the business and over a half visited.

It is clear to see from these figures that leads from location-based searches are a major avenue for potential customers. This trend is undoubtedly likely to keep going. As these kinds of leads are formulated from people searching for your products or services, they are qualified leads that will also transpire into higher conversion rates.

Google’s Local 3-Pack

local SEO will help your business appear in Google’s local 3-pack, which is considered a cherished position to have when discussing search engine results.

Originally Google used search engine results to respond specifically to the top 7 most popular businesses, featured information such as the business address, contact details, directions and products or services available.

Since the domination of mobile smart phone use, Google responded by reducing it’s 7-pack to include just three results. This is intended to give the best possible user experience and help them identify exactly what they need with all the relevant information. This is now known as the local 3-pack, and a highly reputable sought-after place to be.

In a recent study nearly half of people who performed a local search clicked on a local 3-pack listing, whilst not even a mere tenth chose to load “more local results”. This highlights how most people who search for local listings will find what they are looking for, within the local 3-pack options. This shows the importance of getting this spot in the search results listings which could seriously impact the amount of traffic coming to your site, which will also lead to potential sales.

Local SEO broken down

After the initial concept of what Local SEO and why its important in today’s business world, we will now identify ways it can be beneficial to you and your business.

SEO for location-based searches will mean a physical address or location which is imperative for a business to show up on local search results. It is vital to ensure that your business address is updated in Google's directories, such as Google My Business or Free Index to name a few. Failure to do so will result in your business not showing up when potential customers runs near me searches via their location services, and you will want to be found.

Consistency online is paramount, and there is no exception with local SEO. Your businesses NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) is consistent across all the online directories your business is active in. If the levels of consistency are interrupted for any reason, then Google are likely to avoid listing your business in the local 3-pack option.

Citations are a good way to improve your local SEO and help your businesses performance online. Citations are when third party websites list your business as a point of reference. This is likely to include the name of the business, its location and contact information which are all fundamental pieces to ensure visibility online.

An example of a citation would be a fitness and exercise blog naming your personal training as a good place to exercise and obtain the right advice in your locality. Google will see that your business is well respected and trustworthy. This will increase your chance of getting into the desirable local 3-pack.

How Does Local SEO Impact Your Business?

Owning a small business can be challenging but rewarding and finding avenues to help increase productivity and visibility for your business online can really benefit your local SEO, and ultimately your conversion ratio.

• Local SEO helps potential customers discover your business. Think of the number of non-locals scrolling through your location in the hunt for a business like yours that can provide them with the services or products you produce. Capturing this audience will benefit your business tenfold, and assure you stand the best possible chance of being found amongst the pack.
• You may have thought that needing a website for your business is the first point of call before any SEO, however if your business does not have a website, local SEO can still help your business stand out in the local searches, and will help drive more traffic through online leads.
• Local SEO gives your potential customers information they need, when they want it. If your cafe has free WiFi or has play areas for the children, displaying that information as part of your local SEO will likely attract the customers who are looking for this.
• Local SEO encourages people’s decision-making process to favour your business over the competition as the more data you issue your customers about your business, the more loyal and reputable you become. These are the essential elements that helps build customer client relationships that come back again and again.
• Nearly two thirds of people who perform a local search eventually end up calling the business. By optimizing your local SEO this provides your potential customers the power to do just this, and in turn provides your business with qualified leads likely to convert.
• By adding an SEO strategy to your marketing team will help boost your local SEO as well as increase your organic search engine rankings. For more information on local SEO and how this can help boost your business please feel free to contact us via the contact form, or give us a call at the office, we would love to hear from you.

By adding an SEO strategy to your marketing team will help boost your local SEO as well as increase your organic search engine rankings. For more information on local SEO and how this can help boost your business please feel free to contact us via the contact form, or give us a call at the office, we would love to hear from you.