Can you tell me why local SEO matters now more than ever?
Nowadays, most of successful online business owners have realized why local SEO is that important. Mainly due to the fact that the Search Engine Optimization at the level of locales makes their brick-and-mortar endeavors show up when people search for a given related vendor or service provider – specifically in their area. But why local SEO has recently become even more important than ever before? And what’s the right approach to this precisely-targeted way of online promotion? Well, let’s see.
Here Is Why Local SEO Does Matter:
1. First of all, let’s face it – nowadays, more and more people are going for mobile search via portable devices like smartphones or tablets. That way, Google itself takes the searcher’s actual location when considering what search results really deserve showing up right in front of the users. That’s why local SEO is that important – simply because it can give a critical competitive advantage at the local level to all websites and even tiny businesses over the world’s giants involved within the same region.
2. Secondly, now SEO matters even more than ever – simply because the whole reality of local search has been recently shaken by Google’s local SEO three pack. Put simply, some time ago the leading search engine used to show up to seven companies in its local list form (a.k.a. “The seven pack”). Given that now there are only three listings displayed (mainly being motivated by mobile-friendly user experience), it means that much fewer local businesses have now a chance of squeezing themselves into the top of the relevant Google’s SERPs. Of course, desktop users can click on “More Places” button to uncover the rest of local search results unaffected by this update – but how many people will actually do that? Let’s be realistic.
The Very Basics of Local SEO for Beginners
- Claim Your Business – create your own Google My Business page and verify your business, or claim already existing listing (should it happen that your business already exists in local search). Make sure to fill only accurate NAP data – it must be kept consistent throughout the rest of online directories and business listings/citations.
- Categorize Yourself – yes, it may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s really important to pick the right primary business category. It’s so critical because your primary category determines the set of nine secondary categories available for you to embed your business too.
- Manage Reviews – Google reviews are arguably among the most crucial things that give now a direct impact on your rankings in the local SERPs. Of course, you can do much to elevate your good reviews, but you can easily encourage people to drop some positive feedback – consider setting a compelling Call-To-Action button (for example, on your website’s homepage), using polite email requests (but avoid being too pushy), or driving your current customer engagement to even higher level via creating multiple social media profiles for your business. Of course, you will have to pay with your own time & effort to maintain a sufficiently benefiting social activity with your business. Or you might as well consider hiring professional staff workers to handle the whole campaign in Social Media Marketing for you. That’s it.
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