Having an effective local SEO strategy is one of the best ways to make your business stand out. While SEO optimization is important for every business, local SEO is crucial for local businesses that are looking to improve their conversion rates. 

But, what is local SEO strategy, how does it work and how can you improve it further? 

 

These are some of the important points that we’ll try to outline in this article. 

 

What is a local SEO strategy?

 

Local SEO is a set of procedures by which local businesses improve their visibility in Google Search. 

 

Why is this important? Well, about 46% of all searches on Google are local. 

 

Searches are often related to location, and when a business appears in a local search, it means that it is serious about its local SEO strategy.

 

Therefore, a local search is every search related to a specific location. 

 

Local SEO strategy may seem very simple at first glance. Most people think that entering the correct information in your Google Business Profile is enough. We have already written about the fact that accurate information is very important, but not everything ends there. A lot depends on the content itself, reviews, and the Google algorithm.

 

How does Google’s local SEO algorithm work?

 

We all know how important the SEO algorithm is. The local SEO algorithm is no less important, but it is important to understand that it differs in some elements from the global one.

Three factors have a huge impact on whether your business will appear in a user's search:

 

 

• Proximity

• Prominence

• Relevance

 

 

Proximity refers to where the user is at the time of the search concerning the location of your business. Expectedly, if these two locations are close, Google will recognize them, meaning that your business will appear in the search results. 

 

Prominence is about the relationship between your business and your competition. Does Google think you're relevant enough? Is there a reason for you to be found in the search results before your competitors? 

As we have already said, it is not enough to have a clearly defined location. Content on your site will also greatly influence whether Google will rate you as a relevant source.

 

Last but not least, Google pays attention to whether the words in a search query match the results. If your website content is optimized correctly, Google will recognize it as relevant for certain search queries. Thus, analyzing what keywords are popular in your area is essential when creating your SEO strategy. 

 

Okay, so the situation seems pretty clear for businesses located in one area. But what about the multi-location businesses? 

Why is local SEO important for multi-location businesses?

 

Local SEO strategy is especially important in the case of multi-location stores. Sometimes it is challenging to optimize even just one location, but creating the right balance between multiple locations can be a real challenge. 

 

Generating joint leads that you would later direct to separate locations is not simple at all. Connecting with users from different locations can be very tricky. Therefore, local SEO strategy gains even more importance. Optimizing the website, listings, reviews, and Google Business Profile is the key to obtaining local-oriented leads.

 

Tips for improving your local SEO strategy

 

There is no one size fits all answer, but there are some useful points that can be taken as guidelines:

 

 

• Check your Google Business Profile

 

 

Having a Google Business Profile is one of the most important things when it comes to running a successful business. We already explained how Google treats and values Business Profiles, so the first thing you need to do is to make sure that all the information is accurate. This especially goes for your address and working hours. If your address is not correct, Google won't recognize your business as something that relates to the users' search intent. 

 

Definitely one of the most important aspects of local SEO strategy!

 

 

• Monitor online reviews

 

 

Once potential users find you online, their next step is to investigate you a bit more. Okay, you are close to them and that’s great, but if other users don’t have anything nice to say about you, proximity won’t be of much use. Thus, make sure to stay on top of your game when it comes to online reviews. 

 

Reviews can be left on your website, third-party websites such are different listings, and social media. All sources are equally important and must not be neglected. However, that's easier said than done. Monitoring reviews on various platforms, analyzing them and timely responding can be very demanding. That’s why using an online review aggregator tool would be a smart thing to do. This tool helps you handle all your reviews from one place and therefore saves a lot of time and resources. 

 

 

• Optimize your business for voice search

 

 

Did you know that 58.6% of US customers use voice search? So, optimizing your content for voice search could be beneficial for local SEO strategy. This can drastically improve your ranking for mobile search, so try to analyze the most relevant keywords and questions and optimize your content accordingly. 

 

Conclusion

 

Mastering any kind of SEO strategy, let alone the local SEO one can be very demanding. Staying on top of everything takes a lot of time and resources, so it would be wise to consider looking for help. There are many agencies and tools that can help you with optimizing the website content and keeping track of online reviews. Unfortunately, online reviews are usually taken for granted and there are not so many companies that fully understand the effect of online reputation management. Don’t let that happen to you! 

 

What steps did you take in the local SEO strategy? Feel free to share your observations with us.

 

We are waiting for you in the comments.