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Local search engine optimization (SEO) puts your business on the map. Without it, people searching online for businesses like yours won’t find you. Local SEO optimizes your website to target people nearby searching for you online.
Say you run a plumbing company in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Your local SEO strategy puts you in front of Cincinnatians who are looking for a “plumber near me.” You might have heard that Google’s AI Overviews and other tools have made local SEO optimization irrelevant, but that’s not entirely true.
Local SEO helps you end up in Google’s Map Pack Snippet, which is a block that shows a map of three local businesses matching a user’s search. Adapting your local SEO services will also improve your chances of being cited by AI Overviews, which boosts visibility for zero-click searches.
So how do you optimize a website for local SEO? Follow this guide.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO involves tailoring your website, social media, and other content for local-intent searches. These are the people looking for products and services “near me.” You achieve it with smart use of your Google Business Profile, local keywords, and AI optimization strategies to land in citations.
Think of local SEO like a brilliant window display in a department store. It attracts foot traffic and gets people who might not know your brand in the door. For local stores and service providers, a local search optimization strategy makes you visible online to searchers in your service area and guides them to you with Local Pack map results.
Local business SEO is different from national SEO in that the strategy centers around users in a geographic area. If you’ve ever been looking for a business in an unfamiliar area, think about the signs you see in front of strip malls. Each one contains logos of the biggest businesses in the complex. Local SEO is how you post these signs to the algorithms traveling through a new neighborhood looking for the grocery store.
Why Local SEO Matters for Businesses
Local SEO connects you to people in your area when they’re ready to buy. You reach high-intent customers in their moment of need by appearing in Google Maps and the local 3-pack, a SERP feature that displays the top three local search results on the map. These features put you front and center over the competition to attract new business.
Since customer and social proof are a big part of local SEO, optimizing your online presence for these searches builds your reputation. It also establishes your business as a legitimate and active provider of the products and services people are searching for.
How Do Local Search Results Work?
The main purpose of local SEO is to help Google understand where your business is located and what it offers. Google crawls your website to match it to local search intent and displays your business in maps, local listings, and organic results. Its ranking factors include:
- Relevance: How closely does what you offer match what a person is looking for?
- Distance: What is your proximity to the person searching online?
- Prominence: How well reviewed and well known is your business?
Get Discovered With These 6 Local SEO Strategies
Help Google, AI Overviews, and other search engines show your business to local searchers with these local SEO tools and strategies.
1. Target Local Keywords
Local keywords are relevant keywords combined with modifiers specific to your location, such as “Hairstylists in Chicago” or “Best Italian restaurants in Atlanta.” Target them by listing your core services and other keywords you could rank for.
Combine them with location modifiers throughout your website in natural, conversational language. Start with local keyword research to better understand what terms people are using to find you online. You can do a local SEO audit of your website or look through your analytics to see where you rank for different keywords. Then build authoritative content around your best keywords.
For example, if you run a landscaping company, write blog posts about seasonal yard maintenance and include your city’s name in the title.
Use the Google keyword planner to identify keywords you could rank for easily. You can enter a keyword into the planner and see how many people are looking for the term and how easy it is to rank.
Target a mix of high-volume and low-volume keywords, and pay attention to long-tail keywords. These are phrases that target specific users, such as “Estate planners in Jersey City.” Hyper-local keywords often have less competition, so it’s easier to rank.
2. Create Your Google Business Profile
Your free Google Business Profile is a listing that pops up in Google and on Google Maps. Setting up a Google Business Profile gives you control of your own listing. All you need is a Google account (Gmail works, too). Once you’ve signed in, look for your business. If there is already a listing, claim it.
If not, click “Add your business to Google” and follow the prompts. At the least, you need to list your name, address, phone number, hours, and website. You can improve visibility by adding photos and other content. Google also lets you add service menus, direct messaging, and even appointment booking through your listing.
Once you’re done, Google will verify you through an instant message, phone call, text, postcard, or another method.
3. Improve Your Website SEO for Local Search
Add on-page SEO to your website by adding city and neighborhood names in your content and titles. For example, if you’ve been ranked by a local publication, add a photo with the caption “Named best pizza shop in Denver by Westword.”
Make sure your site works on mobile devices. Mobile optimization for SEO puts you in front of people searching with a phone or a tablet, which is frequent for local searches.
4. Show Your Business on Local Citations
Any online mention of your name, address, and phone number (NAP) proves you’re a legitimate business to a search engine. Make sure your NAP is consistent across the internet. This includes sites such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, and industry-specific directories. If you’re not listed, claim your business.
5. Build Trust Signals With Reviews
Reviews have moved from a “nice-to-have” feature to a ranking factor. Local searches prioritize businesses with multiple reviews. If your reviews are recent and varied, you'll rank higher than a business whose last review was five years ago.
Encourage your customers to rate and review with calls to action on social media or on their paper receipts. Add a fillable form to your website that makes it easy for people to leave a review. Send follow-up texts and emails to ask for reviews.
6. Get Local Backlinks
Anytime a credible website cites you and links back to your website, it improves your authority online. Posting trustworthy, credible, and authoritative content builds your reputation as a trusted source.
You can also get local backlinks by sponsoring local organizations and events, creating city guides, being featured in local lists, and guest blogging with other businesses.
Local SEO Best Practices
These best practices will help your business compete more effectively online. Use them to stand out from other local competitors and broaden your local customer base.
Use Local SEO Tools and Audits
Find and fix any lingering local SEO issues on your website with a local SEO audit. Most businesses offering local SEO optimization services can run website audits and enhance your local keyword strategy. Regular audits will help you keep pace as algorithms change.
Take advantage of these local SEO tools to simplify the process:
- Google Business Profile: A tool to manage your online listing and reviews
- Google Search Console: A tool for seeing how you rank for local queries and identifying issues impacting local SEO
- Paid software: Paid platforms can help you manage local listings on multiple sites in one location. They’re good for managing multiple sites, as well as technical SEO.
- Plugins: If your site is on WordPress, add plugins to automatically add schema markups and manage business information in one place.
Maintain NAP Consistency
Your business information should be consistent across local citations. Google and other search engines use it to verify that you’re a legitimate match to a user’s search. Check Yelp, Yellow Pages, Google Business Profile, and other directories to make sure your NAP is accurate and updated.
Even if you’ve operated in the same location with the same phone number for years, check all your listings. It’s always possible someone entered your information incorrectly. Use a local SEO tool to manage your listings across platforms without logging onto each site.
Create Localized Content
Local SEO isn’t just about your online listings, it’s also about content marketing. Go beyond adding local modifiers to blog post titles and subheadings. Create content that’s relevant to local users. For example, if you operate a landscaping business in Austin, Texas, include posts about xeriscaping and maintaining your yard in a humid, subtropical climate.
Localized content also helps if you run a business with multiple locations. In this case, create location pages and change the copy on each to make it regionally relevant. A location page is a sub-page linked to your main website, tailored to a specific location.
Each page has a valid business name, address, phone number, and hours of operation. Enhance local SEO by adding driving directions or a location map. Some large retailers make location-specific pages that feature city-specific sale ads and popular items.
To create location-specific content silos, create the main hub and build landing pages for each city or neighborhood. Differentiate them by adding the city name to the URL, such as /businessname/cityname. Connect each related city page to the main hub and other local content by adding internal links. Add links to your top-performing pages in blogs and other content.
Include Schema Markup
Modern search engines prioritize results based on how well they match a user’s intent. Schema markup, also called structured data, gives search engines context. It also adds rich snippets to your listing in search engine results, including customer reviews or your address. These details offer more information to users before they click on your website.
Structured data can also improve your chances of appearing in carousel results for local searches.
Use a schema generator tool to add these to your website. Follow the guidelines and search for your website to see if the code is working. Google also offers a Rich Results Test that tells you which rich snippets you can add to your website.
Ensure Your Website Is Mobile Friendly
Google uses mobile-first indexing, which prioritizes the mobile version of your website in search results. Think about how users search online when they need you. They may be visiting your city for the first time and using a phone to search for food and activities. They might be sitting in the car looking for a gas station.
Or they might be sitting on the couch watching TV and scrolling through their phone. Making your site mobile friendly ensures that mobile users can navigate it easily. Have you ever tried looking at a restaurant menu on a website that’s not optimized for mobile devices? You probably had to zigzag an oversized page to find what you were looking for.
Mobile-friendly pages also rank higher and are more likely to end up in the local 3 pack. Start with a mobile-friendly template from your website builder tool or ask your site developer to create a responsive layout.
Next, check your website’s loading speed. Keep pop-ups subtle so they’re not hard for mobile users to close. Test the site on a phone or tablet before you publish it.
Manage Your Online Reputation
Set Google alerts for your brand and use other tools to track how people mention your brand on review sites and social media. Engage with reviewers professionally. Respond to negative reviews with empathy and grace, and take steps to resolve issues when possible.
Customer reviews serve as valuable feedback. If you notice consistent issues in customer reviews, address them. This improves customer experience. It can also build your relationships with customers by showing them you value their opinions.
Create more comprehensive content to improve your authority and encourage happy customers to rate and review you.
Conduct Competitor Research
Search the internet for businesses in your industry to see who shows up in the maps and in the top results. Enter your best keywords into a keyword research tool and note who is consistently ranking at the top.
Look at their Google Business Profiles and other directory listings. The top performers usually have detailed product information, photos, and other features that enhance the user experience. Click on their websites and social media feeds to see their content, customer engagement, and reviews. Use the information to optimize your online presence.
Boost Visibility for Your Local Business With Expert SEO Services
Partner with Compose.ly to make your website more visible online. Use our local SEO optimization services to audit your website and develop a strategy around your best keywords. We work with you to create optimized content that improves your visibility in the long term to boost foot traffic and attract new customers.
Contact us today to learn more.
