How to optimise for local SEO and sharpen your marketing
Brands must have a local presence
There is an old saying that goes ” All business is local ” and no one knows your business better than the local customers. Make sure that the website uses what is called “citation”, ie addresses in a consistent way and is also included in various directories such as Google My Business.
More and more searches are related to local searches
The strongest brands often have a very strong local presence. According to Google Australia, local searches account for 40% -50% of all searches and these searches have increased. Examining searches and the search for the various local places that are important in the niche is often a first step.
A very large proportion of all searches are for local searches and in English nowadays there is talk of the term ” Near me ” which many people use. These types of searches have increased dramatically in 2020 and
many people use ” near me ” in their mobile search.
Onsite optimise your site
Be sure to include city, place, town or county when writing pages and do onpage optimization of specific pages. This means that your pages have a greater chance of being seen when users search for keywords in combination with a city.
If you are located in Melbourne and need high local visibility, Consult SEO Melbourne for improved visibility.
Google My Business and Google Maps
Make sure you include Google business and Google Maps, which is a map service that shows local businesses. For large companies, it is imperative to have the correct addresses so that users can find the right information and maps for the offices. Having the right information gives you more phone calls, more clicks and views which leads to more business.
In search engines, people talk about “local package” as a device that appears when doing searches on Google. The local package shows companies that have registered with Google and and their list “Google My Business” (GMB) that you can register here.
If you have several places in Australia, you can upload an Excel file in the Google Business Center and include the addresses of all the offices.
Google has added more and more functionality to Google Business so you can add images, frequently asked questions, events and records.
Local searches cause search engines to display two types of results on the search engine results page: local organic results and “Local Pack”. GMB also means that the probability increases that you will be included in the Google Local 3 pack, ie search results with 3 addresses.
The local organic results include web pages related to the search query that have local relevance. These often include directories such as Yelp and Facebook.
Use NAP Citation consistently
Large search engines have algorithms that determine which local companies are ranked in the local searches. Primary factors that affect a company’s chances of appearing in geographically local searches include categorization in company directories with company names, addresses and telephone numbers that can be crawled on the website and mentions of local companies on other relevant websites.
A term that is beginning to be used internationally is NAP citation , which means that you write your company name, address and telephone number ( N ame, A dress & P hone). Google uses them to display your authority online. It is good if it exactly matches the one you use in Google Maps and you need to be consistent, for example how to write area codes and spaces. If the same NAP is used in several places, the probability increases that the information is correct, which improves the local search result.
In addition to NAP, links and reviews are important factors for site search.
Do not forget about Bing and in-app advertising
The search engine Bing has started experimenting with hotel bookings and other intelligent searches such as price guides, coupons and offers in their search results.
Local advertising in the Waze map service can increase sales in, for example, car repairs, car salvage etc. An article in Search Engine Land reported on a car repairman who increased sales by 57% and 120 more customers in one month.
Local search reports
Consider paying to be seen locally because this is where you get customers and the competition is less and the probability of finding your business increases. Be sure to use address links and various website extensions as phone numbers. If you run Adwords, you should check if there are some sites that have more sales than other sites and you can also get local statistics in Google Analytics. In Google Analytics you will find local information under Audience – Demographics -Geo – Location where you can select Australia or another country and get more information from which places you are looking for information.
International local searches
Internationally, local SEO (local SEO) is a buzzword and a lot is written about it in various forums. In addition to Google maps, you can search the local searches through tools such as Consumer Barometer, Google Trends and Google Market finder. Local search engine optimisation in the US is much more competitive and includes several local directories ( Infogroup, Neustar Localeze, Acxiom.com, Superpages.com, Yelp.com, Yellowbot.com, Factual, Yellow Pages ) that gather local information in addition to Google Business places and Foursquare. There are tools like Moz local that can help you with the local SEO.
Facebook and the local search
Do not forget that Facebook has special ad formats for local awareness that help local businesses. Local awareness ads are an effective way to reach people when they’re near your business, whether it’s walking distance or a few miles away. Ads can be created directly from your site in just a few minutes. And by adding a “Send Message” button, customers can send messages directly from your ad in the news feed.
What is the difference between geo modification and geo location?
Geo-modification is when the applicant manually adds geographical terms to the search query itself, for example in the search
“best SEO company in Brisbane”.
Geo-location and IP location is when the searcher’s unit automatically shows location data as part of the search query, for example in the search “best digital marketing Red hill” when it is performed in Brisbane near red hill on a smartphone. There are tools like IPdata.co that has IP localisation and Geodata to display local data on the website, for example, where the visitors come from, but the technology can also be used to tailor ads.