7 Reasons Why You Should Optimize Local SEO and Why is Local SEO important For Your Business
For those of you who run a local business, of course, local SEO is one of the terms that is familiar to the ear. Because, this is an effort to optimize business by maximizing search engine optimization (SEO). The goal is to make businesses easier to find, especially in nearby or local areas.
However, unfortunately not all business people optimize this one trick to maximize marketing strategies. In fact, local SEO optimization is proven to be able to encourage business branding processes, even indirectly becoming one of the most effective marketing campaigns.
Especially in the era of digital transformation or business digitalization as it is now. Where the majority of business people use the internet and social media as a marketing / promotion channel to attract more leads or potential customers. Likewise, the majority of customers prefer to find information about the products or services they need through the internet.
Therefore, optimizing local SEO is a surefire step to increase brand awareness and visibility of your local business in the eyes of prospects. Especially in the surrounding area. As a result, the opportunity to acquire customers in the local area and even get loyal customers will be even more wide open.
So, how to optimize it? Through the following article, check out the complete guide to local SEO optimization to optimize your local business and capture more leads in the surrounding area!
What Is Local SEO?
According to Semrush, local SEO is Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of continuously improving your site’s organic rankings on search engines such as Google, YouTube, Amazon, and Bing.
Like the SEO structure function of a website, this local SEO search also aims to increase the visibility of your business among leads or potential customers. Because as a user, someone tends to prefer to search for something on Google, be it a product or service.
For example, a user wants to search for nearby restaurants through Google. Then Google will automatically show you what restaurants are located near the user. This is why, you need to maximize local SEO as a lead magnet to get more potential customers.
Why Should You Optimize Local SEO?
As explained above, local SEO optimization is one of the business strategies that will be very profitable. Mainly to attract customers in the surrounding area. In fact, according to data from Search Engine Journal, 50% of people do a local search to find the address of a nearby business.
That’s not all. About 78% of local searches have been shown to influence consumer decision making offline. This means that indirectly local SEO optimization is one of the key factors that will encourage the development of your business in the surrounding area.
Just imagine. If you don’t maximize local SEO Traffic, then users will certainly find it difficult to find your business. As a result, business growth will also be hampered.
In addition, other benefits that businesses will get by optimizing local SEO include:
- Increase profitability and sales growth from local customers
- Drive customer loyalty Increase business visibility
- Opening up opportunities to expand the reach of a wider market share
- Help grow your business
- Increase lead conversion rates in the local area
Local SEO Optimization Guide
After knowing the importance of local SEO optimization for business, then how to implement it?
Check out the guide below:
1. Optimize Google My Business
The main thing you should do is optimize your Google My Business or Google Business Profile. Because, if you want your business to be “visible” online, then make sure you register it on Google My Business. That way, your business can be detected by search pages and Google Maps.
To register your business on Google My Business, there are a few steps that need to be taken. First, instead of Google My Business and register your business. Then complete the business profile by filling in a number of information such as name, category, product, logo, and so on.
This profile will later display google when the user searches for it. To be more optimal, list your website in Google My Business.
2. Make Sure Your Website Is Mobile-Friendly
We cannot deny that nowadays the majority of people prefer to use mobile devices to do searches. Therefore, make sure your website is mobile friendly or friendly to use by mobile users.
According to thenextscoop, there are more than 3.8 billion mobile device users worldwide in 2021. Of these, 61% of people prefer to search for businesses and products through mobile devices. In addition, there are more than 85% of people who expect that a company’s mobile website should be as good as a desktop website. The data certainly shows how important a mobile friendly website is.
To check whether your website is friendly to use by mobile device users or not, you can use a tool like Google Mobile-Friendly. Through the tool, you will get insights on what needs to be improved if your website is not yet friendly to mobile device users.
3. Create Local Content
Content marketing is indeed a type of marketing strategy that has a significant impact on the business. Including local content that also has a big influence on local SEO optimization. Local content itself is content about the city or area where you are running a business today.
For example, you have a business niche in traveling that operates in Surabaya. Then you can create local content about the city, for example recommendations for good foods in Surabaya, interesting and famous tourist locations, and so on. Hubspot said that this local content will help facilitate the customer segmentation process. Especially those in the local area.
Thus is a local SEO optimization guide that you can try to optimize your business. At its core, this is a type of SEO that will be very influential for growing a business. Especially in the digital age as it is now.
4. Manage Your Reputation
Positive reviews and a good customer experience are the key to a high ranking in the local map package. I’ve seen countless companies with positive and negative reviews with no response from the company.
If I wanted to hire a painter and saw 20 four star reviews and five unanswered two star reviews, I might hesitate to hire that painter.
People trust reviews, and bad reviews are worse when the owner doesn’t take the time to respond. more trust from other users and could potentially help generate more business as well.
5. Connect With Customers via Always-on Messaging
Download the Google My Business app and enable messaging so your customers can communicate with you. If you’re unavailable by phone or outside of business hours, messaging can help customers get the support they need.
Bonus tip: Write an automated welcome message to let customers know the status of your business.
6. Optimize for Voice Search & Mobile
We live in a world where users are constantly asking questions and your brand needs to provide the answer, even when consumers ask a digital assistant. In addition, your website must be well-optimized to provide answers to frequently asked questions about your products and/or services.
Look at your internal search metrics and analytics to get suggestions on what common questions people are asking about your business. Also, use third-party tools and Google’s People Also Ask (PAA) feature.
Local searches are performed on mobile devices. Always make sure your website is mobile-friendly, with high-quality images and content, and fast loading times.
7. Don’t forget that links are still very important
Always get quality links by researching local and general websites, blogs, etc. Getting quality links from trusted sources with good content and helping users solve problems builds trust and credibility.
Also, try to get posts from locally-targeted posts and blogs. It is still a very important factor that can improve your visibility. In today’s highly competitive SERPs, a strong local search presence is more important than ever.
Consumers are looking for products and services related to your brand, so it needs to be visible. Following these proven tips can help you climb to the top of the SERPs and dominate local results.
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