Local SEO is becoming one of THE most essential components of every business’s marketing strategy, but what exactly is “Local SEO” and why does your business need it?
Local SEO has grown significantly over the last few years, predominantly because of the rise in the use of mobile devices/smartphones and better connectivity to the internet while we are out and about. Although local SEO has a lot in common with organic SEO, it’s ultimately very different. Local SEO is focused on providing results that are relevant to a searcher based on their current location, so if you google cafe on your mobile device, you will get locations of the cafe’s nearest to you and reviews/recommendations. According to Google 95% of mobile device (phones, tablets, ipads) users look up local information on their phones and the primary functions are calling or visiting a local business.
So, what can you do to ensure your local business is in these searches?
Here are a few tips to make your website more friendly to local searches by potential new customers…
First:
- Claim your “Google Places for Business “page”
- Make sure your contact information, opening hours, address and contact details are complete and up to date
- Provide Google with a better understanding of your business, using the appropriate categories etc.
- Make sure that your listing is associated with the correct category ie. plumber, cafe, bakery
- Add your address in a consistent format, to mirror with wherever else you’ve detailed
- If you have more than one location create a listing for each of your physical locations
The goal is to ensure that potential customers have the correct details for the nearest branch of your business when carrying out a local search and giving your business more opportunities to increase rankings.
This is a good first step to get you on the local SEO ladder, but as with all marketing, this is something that needs continuity and consistent adapting to keep up with the ongoing trends and algorithms that keep the whole social media marketing and digital marketing world revolving.
As a small business owner, you wear many hats and carry out a large number of tasks to ensure you stay on top of things and adding another task such as this may just be something you may not have the time, skills or inclination to do! Don’t worry, this is what we do. Contact us at Caffeine Marketing on 02920 090499 and we would be happy to discuss the marketing needs of your business.
