Most people, these days, start their search for a business online. Making sure that these customers can find your business is vital for success. The key to this is local search engine optimisation or local SEO. So, what is it, and how can you improve it so your customers can find you?
What Is Local Search Engine Optimisation?
Local search engine optimisation, essentially, is improving your ranking and visibility in local search results. This means things like Google Maps, but it also means ranking on search queries such as ‘window replacement near me’ or ‘window replacement near Brisbane.’
It is a subset of organic SEO because your overall search engine rankings also need to be good. Local SEO is one of the most important search engine basics you should focus on when you start doing SEO.
Why Does Local SEO Matter?
Local SEO helps you find more relevant customers. If your company is located in North Brisbane and does something geographically sensitive, such as our example of window replacement, then searchers in Victoria are less valuable. So, local SEO helps you narrow down to people who are in the appropriate geographical area to use your services.
Even if your business is not geographically dependent, such as freelance writing or virtual services, some people prefer to choose to work with a business that is local to them.
How To Improve Local SEO
First of all, you don’t improve local SEO by adding ‘window replacement services near me’ verbatim to your content. When somebody does a ‘near me’ search, the search engine determines their device location and pulls up relevant businesses. Here are some tips:
- Have a presence on local search platforms. These platforms get your name, address, and phone number across all of the local search engines and directories.
- Claim and optimise your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). Fill out all of the information you can, including photos and descriptions. Be aware that Google Business Profile is for businesses with a physical brick-and-mortar presence. Make sure you are in the right category and that information is up to date, especially contact information and opening hours.
- Manage your reviews and reputation. Yes, you should respond to bad reviews, inviting the person to discuss the problem further. Honesty and transparency make you look better to other users. You should also thank users for good reviews, which encourages them to leave more feedback.
- Provide hyper-local content, such as details of local events relevant to your business. If you are involved in local activities or charities, talk about this on your website.
- Make sure that your address and phone number are accurate everywhere they are mentioned online.
- Create a localised landing page that explains why your services are perfect for people in that area. You may want to create more than one if you have a larger service area.
- Provide accurate information about your service area on your website, as a separate page and in the form of a list. This makes it easy for prospective customers to know whether you will come out to their address and also lets search engine crawlers (bots) know what neighborhoods you serve.
- Add your business to industry-specific directories if such exist.
Again, simply adding ‘near me’ or location keywords is not a good local search engine optimisation strategy. Don’t forget to test your rankings by opening an incognito window and searching for yourself using ‘near me’ or the location to see where you show up. Getting an SEO audit that includes local search can also help. This means an expert will look at your website and determine whether it is as optimised as it can be.
If you need help with a local SEO strategy or with your overall organic search engine strategy, Karla Karpenko can help, especially if you are located in North Brisbane and want somebody with local knowledge. Contact us to find out more and discuss your needs.
