Every small business needs to reach its potential customers through its website. The company’s website can help you reach an audience without any geographical restrictions. Your website needs to rank on Google’s top search result page to make all these things happen. The implementation of SEO is an effective way that boosts the ranking of the site. What if you want your small business to rank higher on the top search pages of Google for any specific location? For this, you need to consider implementing local SEO.
Local SEO optimization harnesses multiple opportunities for the business. Are you curious to know the benefits of SEO for small businesses? If yes then go ahead and read this blog:
What is a local SEO?
According to reports, around 45% of all searches on Google search engines are about looking for local information. So, your business must be optimized for local search pages. As local search is crucial for small businesses to stay relevant, business needs to implement an effective SEO strategy.
In simple words, local SEO is all about optimizing a business website and local business listings (for example, GMB) in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Implementation of an effective local SEO strategy helps the site to rank higher on the local search results.
Local SEO benefits for small businesses
By investing in local SEO, small businesses can get a lot of benefits. Let’s have look at the most relevant benefits of local SEO discreetly:
• Helps in finding relevant customers
When the local SEO strategy is done in the right direction, it will help improve the visibility of business in local search results with the website and Google Business Profile. This way, you’ll be able to put your business in front of the relevant customers that are looking for your products and services.
• Brings better sales
Audiences perceive that the search results that appear on the top of the page are genuine and the best. Once you’ve implemented the SEO for small local businesses, you will start experiencing the attraction of potential customers to your sites. So, there will be massive sales and a better conversion rate.
• Reduces the cost of advertising
To flourish the local business, business depends on the local audience. That’s why most businesses spend too much on the traditional way of advertisements such as banners and hoarding. However, you can reduce the costs of advertisement to a great extent by implementing local SEO for small businesses.
Around 70%-80% of mobile users search for anything with “near me” keywords when they want something particular in their location. Optimizing local SEO not only reduces advertisement costs but also builds your brand.
How to optimize a GMB (GBP) and a local website for small business Local SEO?
Quick tips that help to optimize the Google My Business
What is GMB (also called GBP nowadays) all about? Before looking at strategies to optimize it, it’s necessary to understand what it is. Well, Google My Business (GMB) local business profile was released by Google itself to help small businesses to improve their online visibility. For this, you need to set up a Google My Business listing and then verify it. Once you’re ready with your Google Business listing, you need to follow these strategies or tips:
• Fill every section of the GMB page
Enter all the crucial data and keep all the information updated on the GMB page. Some of the important details for a GMB profile are below:
- Business photos
- Title
- Description
- Phone number
- Opening and closing hours of the business
- Website of the business
A GMB profile of a business can also be updated with important questions and answers and with regular posts about the business. The outdated information on your GMB page can sometimes lead to a loss of website traffic and calls.
• Always upload clear and high-quality images
Uploading good-quality images on the GMB is vital because of many reasons. Adding clear photos regularly indicates that you have an active profile and it’s not outdated. This indication to Google impacts the website’s ranking positively. Also, Google is now following various advanced features such as image recognition. Therefore, these uploaded images can be included in the local results.
• Respond to the Google/customer reviews
As per the Google algorithm, customer reviews are the topmost factor that influences consumer buying. In simple words, reviews from customers are the main ranking factor and therefore your business needs to respond to every customer’s review. Responding to the reviews will help also improve your local SEO and display a lot about the business to potential customers.
• Keep a track of the GMB listing insight feature
GMB listing insights are also crucial for getting an understanding of how your business listing is performing and what improvement is required. With this feature, you will be able to know many crucial pointers such as
- What actions do customers take?
- What search queries are triggering the business on top results?
- How many users visited the website from GMB?
- How many people called your business in the last month?
How to optimize a website for small business Local SEO?
Ranking of your local business’s site on Google’s search page can be improved in these ways:
• Adding local search intent keywords in the content:
Without having a local search intent keyword strategy, local SEO for a regional business website is incomplete. You must research keywords that are more popular among your business customers. The local keywords you select will help the content writer in writing content for the home page and other landing pages.
• Adding local business schema code:
Search engines like Google and Bing have created schema codes or scripts that help them understand a local business better. These scripts ask you to add your business details in a pre-decided format. A local business schema strategy makes your business more competitive and helps you rank higher in search engine results.
• On-page optimization:
On-page optimization is also a necessary local SEO element. You can let Google know that your website is focused on a local audience searching for your products and services. Adding local keywords to heading, meta, and alt tags will strengthen your on-page SEO.
• Set up social media accounts:
Create social media accounts for your business on different platforms if you don’t have one yet. When it comes to optimizing the website and improving its ranking, one of the best ways is to set up a business page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
To sum up
From the above, it can be concluded that investing in local SEO is the best way to get more potential customers for your small business. Optimization of GMB and local websites is also a crucial factor when it comes to improving the ranking on search pages. Therefore, small businesses must implement efforts and strategies relevant to local SEO marketing practices.
Naveen Sharma specializes in SEO and organic growth marketing. He has extensive experience working with startups and established companies. As an SEO expert, he has helped businesses increase organic traffic and conversions.