Can Your Customers Find You? The Importance Of Local Search Optimisation
In some ways, targeting a specific location can serve as a huge advantage for business websites and ecommerce organisations because a specific location allows you to target your audience at a granular level. From paid ads to social media, you can pinpoint exactly who you are attempting to engage with.
However, just because you know who you are trying to reach doesn’t necessarily mean that you will succeed at local search optimisation. In fact, local searches have never been so popular and so crowded. For example, these statistics from SEO Expert show that local SEO is more important than ever. They write that:
- 88% of local business searches from a mobile go on to call or visit the business in the next 24 hours.
- 46% of all searches on Google are looking for local information.
- 97% of internet users have searched online to find a local business.
- Google accounts for more than 72% of global desktop search traffic as of June 2018.
These impressive figures are exactly why we created this short and sweet guide. See our top tips for improving your local search results below:
Top ways to improve local search results:
Local search optimisation allows your website to have an additional preference when those searching for your products and services are close to the location you’ve specified. This amounts to free search results… if done correctly. Below are some popular tips for making sure that you take advantage of local opportunities.
#1. Know what locals are searching for and the keywords being used.
Use Google Analytics and your own web analytics to find out exactly which terms website visitors are using to find your website. Also, search out popular keywords in your area and try to take advantage of them if possible.
#2. Localise your content.
Be sure that your business is listed in all of the local directories and use a helpful SEO tool like the Yoast Local SEO tool to do some of the heavy lifting between your website and Google. These steps are especially important if you have multiple locations. Create landing pages for each address to help local searchers easily find each of your locations.
#3. Use regular SEO best practices.
Be sure not to forget search engine guidelines for global search as well as local search preferences. Stay up to date by following Search Engine Land, Moz, and the UK2.NET blog.
#4. Optimise for mobile.
There are expected to be 5 billion unique mobile internet users by the end of 2019. To accommodate all of these users, be sure that your website loads quickly and looks great on mobile screens. Test for forms that aren’t quite compatible or for text that runs off the screen to make sure you are reaching your whole audience, no matter what device they are using to connect.
#5. Engage on social media.
Local social media is a great way to get involved in your community and earn reputability in your geographic location. Partner with other small businesses and charities, and be sure to respond to anyone who engages with your brand on social media for best results.