In our digital world, search engine optimization is one of the core cornerstones of business success. With billions of internet users across the world, every brand wants to be visible and noticeable on the web. After all, their revenues and growth depend on this.
Luckily, after being around for years, search engine optimization is finally recognized as a must-have element of a modern business operation. Still, a vast majority of small businesses lack online presence and neglect the value of SEO. What’s even worse, they also don’t recognize the importance of area-specific optimization.
To help you set your small business up for success, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about local SEO and the effects it has on your brand!
Exploring Local SEO: What Is It and What Is in It?
Search engine optimization is a set of tactics used to optimize a site and its content to match search engines’ best practices and make it easier to understand and crawl for search engine bots. In general, SEO is aimed at improving a website’s visibility in results for organic (i.e., unpaid) searches. It enables sites to rank high in search engine result pages (SERPs), which increases the likelihood of receiving visitors.
A solid small business SEO strategy enables you to gain a competitive edge in your market and get in front of your audience. Handling it is made simple thanks to specialized SEO software and tools. If you need to refine your own optimization tactic, you can find suitable tools at Top10seosoftware.com. But if you want to maximize your local brand’s local impact, you should focus on local optimization, in particular.
Local optimization is a subdivision of traditional SEO and it is somewhat different for two reasons:
- It focuses on optimizing the online presence of brands to help them appear in local search results for queries for similar products or services, whereas SEO generally aims to improve your rankings in standard search results that aren’t tied to a specific geographic area.
- Although the process of ranking is similar for general and geo-bound SEO, the latter includes some specific ranking factors that are unique to area-bound search.
The key elements of this type of optimization are:
- Google Business Profile
- Area-specific directories and citations
- Geo-targeted keywords
These three factors pre-determine your positions in area-bound search queries. Luckily, tracking and improving them isn’t hard these days with the help of local SEO analytics. But before you jump into it, let us tell you about the key effects it can have on your business.
Local SEO for Small Business: Top 4 Benefits to Keep in Mind
1. Better Online Visibility and More Potential Store Visitors
When you create a Google Business Profile, make listings in popular directories, and optimize your content for area-specific audiences with the help of in-depth local keyword research – all these activities enable you to stretch your brand’s visibility further. On top of that, if you combine traditional and local SEO tactics, you will get a chance to bring your site up in SERPs.
Now, here is one thing you need to know — people rarely scroll to the bottom of the first page in SERPs, not to mention go beyond the first page. That is, the higher you appear in results, the easier your brand will get noticed by potential customers.
Long story short, the more time and effort you invest in search engine optimization, the higher search engines can take you in SERPs, and the more traffic you will get for your website. And the more you engage in local SEO for small business, the more noticeable you will appear in area-specific searches and the more foot traffic you can attract to your physical locations.
2. Stronger Brand Reputation
Customer reviews and ratings are integral elements of search engine optimization. Moreover, they might be among the most pivotal parts of small business SEO.
A survey of 8k+ US consumers revealed that almost all modern consumers (98%) would like to read customer reviews before purchasing an unknown product or service. Simply put, people trust reviews and ratings they see on the web, which indicates the huge importance of online reputation for companies’ success.
This fact is especially crucial to small companies that typically can’t boast such a large base of customer testimonials as large companies. Respectively, they often find it hard to earn prospects’ trust and get them to buy from them.
Now, generating positive customer reviews and managing your brand’s reputation on the web are among the key local SEO strategies. Thus, if you engage in this type of optimization, your online reputation will get more and more stable over time. Eventually, you should be able to build greater credibility and trust within your community.
3. Better Conversions Online and Offline
When you use effective local SEO tips to target your site, listings, and content to geo-specific audiences, you automatically receive more promising leads. Let’s say you own a store in the Mid-Hudson region. If you don’t optimize your online presence, you might still appear high enough in search but for irrelevant audiences – people from outside your region. As a result, you will be gaining traffic. However, your conversions will be low.
On the other hand, if you target your specific region, you will reach out to prospects in your area who will have a higher likelihood of buying from you. As a result, you can increase the number of calls, emails, and appointments you receive and, at the same time, ensure higher in-store purchases by appearing in people’s geo-bound results.
4. Competitive Edge in the Market
Finally, one more effect of geo-bound optimization is an improved competitive edge.
Whether you know it or not, New York State is considered the third-largest economy in the country. It’s home to a huge number of small businesses that operate across all sectors, which makes the competition in the region pretty intense.
By implementing winning local SEO strategies and getting higher in SERPs, you can set yourself apart from larger, non-local companies. At the same time, you can target your audience better and gain a competitive advantage in your market.
Conclusion
Local SEO can have multiple impacts on a small business. Namely, it can help you generate trust and prove your credibility, attract more traffic, and get noticed on the web. Most importantly, this kind of optimization can make you stand out from the competition and ensure higher online and offline conversions, which also means higher revenues for your company.
After reading our article you should not have any doubts left about the value of geo-bound optimization for your brand. Though it may feel complicated at first, explore winning small business growth strategies, SEO tools, and other small business SEO tips that will help you get on the right track. And start acting now to get high in SERPs and dominate your market!
