7 Ways From Semalt To Improve Local SEO And Attract New Business
Local SEO is vital for small businesses that operate in a small geographical area, like small towns and provinces, rather than the whole country. Local SEO concerns businesses in specific local areas that appear on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) after a search.
A 2017 study by ReviewTrackers estimated that 35% of search traffic comes from local sources. This means that if local SEO isn't present, your business might miss out on many customers. This is why optimizing your local SEO is a necessity for your business.
Optimizing your local SEO will get more traffic, leads, and sales to your website because the strategy will be more relevant to your local customers. You can think of this focused strategy as a way to compete better with more prominent national brands that can spend as much money as they want.
Achieving this can be a challenge, especially if you are not an SEO professional, and that is why you need a professional like Semalt. We can help you improve your local SEO so that you can enjoy absolute visibility while running your business.
To help you better understand the importance of local SEO, here is a background on what it means and how you can make it work for your business.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the process of making your site work better for searches that are focused on a certain geographical area or location.
When a user types in the name of a city or the search engine figures out where the user is based on their device location, the user can get results from that area.
This plan is based on marketing your brand, products, and services to leads and customers within your location.
By focusing on specific local SEO tasks, you can even out the playing field with more popular brands that often optimize for bigger keywords and depend on brand awareness rather than value propositions to generate traffic.
7 Ways To Improve Local SEO
There are several ways that you can improve your local SEO. It is not enough to try only one way since a combination of factors gives better results. Here are 7 ways that you can improve your local SEO
1. Monitor Your Competitor's Google Business Profile Q&As
The questions and answers section of Google Business Profile (GBP) is a great feature that can do a lot to bring in new leads.
Using it well enough for your business can help you win over customers who were initially sitting on the fence.
Don't stop there, though. Spend some extra time reading the Q&As of your competitors as well. Find out what questions your potential customers are asking other businesses in your field.
You can get new business from people looking for things in your area by asking potential customers these questions. In addition, those who have never visited your establishment could also have some inquiries.
They could be interested in the brand but need a little more info before making a decision. You show that you understand what they want and need when you answer a potential customer's question before they ask it.
2. Use Google's Business Messages While You Can
Google Business Profile can have features that let businesses talk to customers right from the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
When GBP is turned on, it will show a button with the inscription "Message," which users can click to start a direct message with the business.
Google Business Profile has had this feature since 2017, and Google Maps has had it since 2018. It has only been on the desktop for a short time, though.
If you own a GBP, you should set the option to "Turn on messaging" under the Messages tab on your desktop dashboard.
Then, when a visitor sends you a message for the first time, you can activate an auto-responder to reply to their messages. Google suggests you answer all messages within 24 hours to ensure the service is quick.
Google may turn off your account's messaging service if you don't. Google Search and Maps can also show your response times.
Some people don't have the time or motivation to call a company they haven't done business with yet. So it's a great way to make conversations with local customers easier if you let them send you a message from your GBP.
If you respond quickly, the customer may likely buy from you.
3. Change a Google listing for a product to get more attention
Google lets businesses that use GBP add information about the products they sell. This can be seen in mobile and desktop search results by people who might be interested in your business.
The listings show up in the GBP on Maps as a carousel and in Search both as a carousel and under the Products tab.
Users can click on the product cards in both formats to get more information, call, or go to the website.
It is now easier to add your products to a Google Business Profile. Google has come out with a new way to do this, which they call "Pointy."
Pointy is a device between the barcode scanner and the point-of-sale device. Pointy adds items to Google as they are scanned.
This is an easy way to add all your products to your Google Business Profile. However, there are restrictions around this.
Putting that stock at the top of the GBP list for that location will help local customers find it. In addition, it will let you market certain products more to the right people based on where they live.
4. Make sure your GBP has all the essential new features
Google keeps adding and changing the features of its Google Business Profile. So, ensure your listing is always up-to-date with all the correct information as it becomes available.
Google adds features to Google Business Profile all the time that your business may be able to use. Not all types of businesses can use every new feature, though.
Whether or not you can get new updates depends on what category you have set as your primary in GBP.
Any new change to your Google Business Profile will put you ahead of the pack if you do it first. Even though these things won't necessarily change how you rank in the map pack, they can make your business more appealing to potential customers in their area.
5. Don't forget Bing, DuckDuckGo, and other search engines
You don't only have to worry about Google regarding search engines. Others might be the first place people go when they want to learn about local businesses.
Most of the natural traffic to your site comes from Google. However, don't forget that you might not be keeping track of how people find you through searches.
Your profile might not get anyone to click when it shows up in the SERPs. Because of this, it won't show up in the program you use to track web traffic.
So, unless you track how often your business has been seen on different search engines, you won't know if it has been seen on Bing or DuckDuckGo.
Again, you will be in good shape if you are where your competitors are not.
If your competitors don't show up in the Apple Maps results on DuckDuckGo, you will have a much better chance of getting customers there looking for local businesses.
6. Join local forums and markets
To do an excellent job of marketing your local business, you need to know what your customers want. Spending time where your target market is, is an excellent way to get to know them.
Make sure that your business is listed in local forums and directories. This isn't so much for the usual benefit of citation. But, on the other hand, you can hang out with your potential customers and hear what they say.
Look on sites like Facebook for local markets selling the things you want. You don't have to interact with the audience to know more about what they like and who they are.
This information can help you change your voice, search marketing strategy, and more.
Go to places where people in your target audience freely talk about your area. Then, find out what they want from the businesses in their neighbourhood.
You can talk to your audience on these platforms if you're brave enough. This needs to be done with care and honesty.
More attention and study of your target market increases the likelihood that you'll be able to provide them with products and services they'll appreciate.
7. Monitor your reputation
Reputation matters a lot in business. A bad reputation can have devastating effects on a business which is why you must pay close attention to what people say about your establishment in reviews.
It is also important that you pay attention to other parts of the search engine results pages (SERPs) that may offer potential buyers an unbiased image of your company.
Local search queries in the top and middle of the funnel can return different types of results in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Large directories, niche directories, and social media sites are listed in the top carousel. This lets potential customers find information about your business and reviews on sites you might not even check.
It's important to remember that a potential customer might not only see what you write on your website or in your Google Business Profile.
It might not even be the reviews people leave on the sites you closely watch and answer.
People's thoughts and experiences with your business will significantly impact a potential customer. Local businesses get a lot of reviews because sites that promote them make it easy for people to leave them.
If someone has a wrong opinion of your business, it could significantly limit your chances of getting a new customer.
Always keep an eye on the SERPs around the search terms that bring you the most leads. Find out where people could get the wrong impression of your business and make efforts to fix it.
Final Words
If you want your business to become more popular among people in your area, consider improving your local SEO.
How your website appears on SERP or Maps when people search for something around you can make or break your business.
Semalt has some of the best SEO experts. As a result, we have built a reputation for making powerful marketing campaigns that work for our clients in the long run.
We know that good digital marketing can get you to rank high on google. It can also get you a lot of traffic and great leads, which is vital for the success of your business, and that's what we are all about; Helping you improve the success of your business.
Give us a call today for your local SEO!