Local SEO: Rank #1 in Your City

Local SEO focuses on how you appear on GPS map apps, whereas regular SEO is about improving your ranking in general searches and AI responses. Both are important, but for many businesses it pays to focus particularly closely on local results.

Regular SEO uses carefully crafted content, keywords, and backlinks to tell the search engines and their AIs about your business. By carefully selecting keywords and curating your website with things like blogs and detailed descriptions, you can send signals that tell the search engines that your business is worth visiting. 

Where local SEO diverges from regular SEO is that we can also focus on getting you up the map search rankings. Focusing on optimizing your Business profile and description, getting great reviews, and other signals can give you a serious edge against your competitors.

Boosting your map results means that you’re the first business they see when they’re on their way to buy.

While there are things you can do to see a quick boost, local SEO is a marathon rather than a sprint, and the best results might take 3-6 months to really show. 

That being said, those results are impressive: 30% of searches from a mobile device have local intent, and 78% of those visit a business within 24 hours.

The length of time it takes to see a real increase in your local ranking depends on a few factors. Things like how many local competitors you have and how wide your service area is will play a significant part in answering this. Using a local SEO tool can really help accelerate the process by simplifying your efforts.

While it might not be as instant as display ads, local SEO offers much better value, and this value only grows over the long term. By targeting people exactly at the moment that they’re looking for your services, you position your business to take advantage of the local market.

A good SEO strategy involves hitting all the targets, but the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to improving your local seo rank is your Business Profile.

This search engine tool shows information about your opening hours, location, services, and direct ways to contact you from the search results page. The top-ranking businesses nearly always have an active profile that’s updated regularly. It pays to spend a little time making sure that yours is properly optimized.

The first step is simply claiming your profile. Next, select your business categories- it pays to be specific here, but be careful not to select too many, as this might come across as spam. When working on your business description, focus on the keywords that your customers are most likely to be searching for. Upload a few photos of your business and products, too.

Finally, make sure your opening hours, contact details, and address are consistent across every platform.

The other most relevant signals you can send to customers and search engines alike include:

• On-page optimization: researching keywords that your customers search for and using them in your content signals that you offer the services they want.
• Proximity: the search engines prioritize closeness to the searcher. This is harder to manipulate, but accurate business details like addresses and geo-targeted keywords on landing pages, directories, and blogs can help build prominence.
• Reviews: the more stars, the better. It’s also worth making sure you reply to as many as possible. The easiest way to get more reviews is to simply ask your customers; this could be in person, through a QR code on receipts, or by sending follow-up emails and SMS.
• Citations: getting yourself listed in local directories and mentioned in articles can lend authority. While you can claim your profile on local directories, being active in your community and building prominence is the best way to get mentioned in the local press.

Local SEO keywords are the phrases your customers are putting into their search bars. Exactly what the best ones for your business to target will depend on too many things to explain in an FAQ, but here are some basic rules to follow:

First of all, do your research. Finding a high-volume, low-competition keyword makes it much easier to rank your business. Think about what you offer and what your customers are most likely to be searching for.

Shorter is usually better. Something like “Bike Store” or “Coffee Shop” will show up in searches like “Bike store near me” or “best coffee shop in town” as well as more generic searches. It’s also worth being quite specific with your location- things like “Cafe Old Town” or “Pizza Edinburgh”.

It’s also worth including things like whether your business is dog and child-friendly, accessible, and other features that matter to your customers that they’re likely to search for.