It is very important for many companies to be found by customers in local search results. In this blog post, I will show you practical tips and levers for everything to do with local SEO, which will make it easier for you and your company to be found in local search queries.
For whom is local SEO important?
As the name suggests, local SEO is especially important for businesses that have a local footprint – such as brick and mortar companies, doctors, restaurants, lawyers, and more. Brick & Mortar businesses are businesses that have a physical location where face-to-face customer contact occurs. For example, if you have a local shop in New York, then you should optimize your website and the location of the shop according to local SEO aspects.
Local SEO Ranking Factors
Your local ranking depends on many factors. In this section, I will explain what these points look like and what constitutes them. The following factors must be considered for local SEO:
- Vicinity Local Pack NAP local links reviews and ratings Local Keywords Google Business Profile citations
Vicinity
The first factor I want to explain to you is proximity. In principle, the distance to a searched location is relevant. The closer your company is to the location you are looking for, such as the center of a city, the better the position for local rankings. Your local competition can affect your ranking if it is closer to the center.
Local Pack
The local pack is the way local search results are displayed on the SERP. It is a box containing three companies whose location is shown on Google Maps. It is below the ads and above the organic search results. Each of the companies displayed usually also contains a telephone number, address, rating and opening hours. The three most relevant companies for Google locally
displayed in this box:
NAP
The abbreviation NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number and describes three points that should be present on your company website. They contribute to your local SEO performance.
The business name, address, and phone number should look the same and appear in the same format on every landing page on your website, as well as other pages on the web where your business is mentioned. Checking all the listings about your business on the internet is difficult. Limit yourself to your most important portals and always keep your information there up to date.
Local links
In addition to on-page factors, off-page factors such as local links are also important. Local links mean backlinks that are locally relevant. These links can come from local businesses, local news sites, etc. Entries in yellow pages and local guides are also included. High quality local backlinks can help your local SEO –
Help performance to a better ranking. As always with backlinks, it depends on the quality of the linking pages. You should avoid unnaturally strong link growth and backlinks from rather questionable and inappropriate sites.
Reviews and ratings
Another important point are the reviews and ratings. A review is a rating that your customers can give. This rating does not include any text. A review is a rating that also includes text. Good reviews and ratings contribute to a better (local) ranking and increase your click rates. You probably know this from personal experience, you are more likely to click on a website with very good ratings than on one with bad ratings.
Google Business Profile
The next item that is a factor in your local ranking is Google Business Profile. Since the end of 2021, Google My Business has been called Google Business Profile. Google offers you the opportunity to manage your company information via your Google Business Profile. There you can store important facts for your customers, such as opening hours, telephone number, exact location and other important points. With this entry you can keep company information up to date and generate more attention.
