A Local SEO Agency For You
There are many faces of SEO, however, one of the most critical is local SEO, a type of SEO which is all about promoting your website or business on search engines to a local audience.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO will depend on, well, wherever ‘local’ is to you. One of the best ways to get the most effective results with local SEO is by using a local SEO agency.
Where local and nationwide SEO come together, though, is in the critical aspects of having a high-quality website, well-written content, and optimised pages that will assist in your website or business appearing higher in search engine rankings.
When you are looking for the closest, most convenient place to provide us with X goods or X services, we all use Google. We are so familiar that Google is both a Noun and a Verb. Local SEO is great for targeting customers in your area so they can see that your business provides them with precisely what they are looking for. By optimising your website for local SEO, you are more likely to stand out amongst your competitors, especially if you are working within a niche local market.
Effective local SEO relies on a consistent and well-thought-out structure of business information across all platforms, including:
- Your website
- Google My Business listing
- Directories
- Social Media Profiles
How is local SEO different from nationwide SEO?
The significant differences between local and national SEO are the extent of the competition you’ll face and the importance of local ranking factors. If you sell something to a niche and local audience, you are likely to have a larger market share. This makes your content easier to rank than if you are trying to optimise for a term nationwide, but you must make it clear where you are.
The basics of ensuring that search engines know your location are straightforward, but as with all things, there is more to it than first meets the eye.
Gaining a competitive edge in a local market requires you to discover opportunities your rivals haven’t yet explored. This can be achieved through utilising SEO monitoring tools that allow you to compile a report on how your competitors are performing.
Importance of NAP consistency
As a starting point your Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP) should be the same and consistently written in all of the above locations.
This video explains well why your NAP consistency is so important:
A Robust Local SEO Review Strategy
Reviews are essential for all business activities, especially when looking at local rankings. BrightLocal estimates that 92% of consumers read online reviews and that 44% believe reviews need to have been written in the last month to be relevant – so you need to keep getting those Google reviews regularly from your customers. Reviews are a crucial part of the Google My Business listing, so ensuring you have plenty of them, and preferably good ones, will support your local SEO efforts.
Measuring local SEO
If you are using a local SEO agency, then they should have the tools to monitor your local SEO performance, and if you’re going it alone, then this is still important to do. Identify a list of target terms and keep a regular check on search engines of where you rank for these so you can monitor changes in performance over time. Make sure that you monitor local positions!
