Local SEO is actually a Saviour, which elevates your local business in no time.

As a matter of fact, 85% of purchases by customers happen in physical stores near them and 80% of disposable income is spent within 20 miles of their home.

These are some alarming stats that emphasize the need to have a strong Local SEO strategy for your business.

If you are a local business holder and don’t have your Local SEO organized, then you will repent with your act as you are missing an opportunity every time someone searches for your products online.

As per Go Gulf stats,

• 46% of all Google searchers hunt for local information
• More than 50% of ‘near me’ searches result in a physical store visit.

So believe it or not, there’s a lot of people searching.

And Hubspot states, out of that search, 72% will visit a store within five miles.

It’s no surprise, Local SEO acts as a marketing mantra for smaller businesses to utilize this possibility and to make most out of it.

But what Local SEO is entirely about?

Local SEO is an effective way of optimizing your business for a local audience. It is similar to our traditional SEO but with added geographic elements. It doesn’t make sense if you are having a coffee shop in Hyderabad but you are ranking high in Bangalore.

Here Local SEO plays a pathfinder, by optimizing your website ensuring people can find you in real life. Despite targeting audiences located in the same geographical area, you are not getting any visitors, then you need to optimize your business for that specific area. This is what we call “Local SEO.”

Now, what’s the “Pack” we are talking about?

It’s not an ordinary pack, it is indeed a fate spinner for most of the local businesses.

Let me untangle it for you.

If you are in the Bike Servicing business, a prospect staying in Gachibowli will probably search for ‘Bike service Gachibowli’ and get the results below for Local SEO

These 3 mentions appearing after the map are termed as Google’s “Local Pack,” “Map Pack,” or “3-Pack”. This is the spot where a customer decides which business to call or visit.

Now the aim is clear, you have to get your business right here in this Google’s Pack.

But how?

Let’s explore each strategy in detail.

Initially, you need to understand the fact that, Local SEO is not completely about search engines, but is about user experience.

So put yourself in the user’s shoes and take a call.

Get Listed in Review Platforms:

A review is one such positive element that boosts customer loyalty towards a brand. A person who takes of his/her time to write a positive review for a brand is likely to come back for more business.

Making this fact even stronger, Google’s 3-pack is often followed by main review platforms, like Google My Business, TripAdvisor and Yelp.

So listing your business on these platforms is very important.

Let’s get started with Google My Business, an approach to get your business on Google Maps/search. With this tool, you can locate your business’s physical address to grab people whenever they search for similar services you offer.

So initially create a business page with accurate details and get verified by Google, encourage customers to share reviews online and respond authentically to those reviews.

Optimize Your Website

Website optimization is much needed to uplift your search engine rankings. In Local SEO case, there are few more additions to be considered of:

Contact Page Optimization

Make sure your contact page is filled with detailed and accurate information on your company’s name, address, and phone number. If you are running a business in multiple locations, create location pages.

Location pages are meant to display name, address, phone number and store hours, store descriptions, parking information, customer testimonials, etc.

Adding Google Map directions on your location page is like a cherry on the cake.

Mobile Optimization

An increase in mobile usage is very evident these days, and so are the mobile searches.

As per the latest marketing statistics, 30% of mobile searches are location-related.

So it’s very important to optimize your website for mobile.

Make your button sizes large enough to work on mobile and compress your images and CSS.

Ensure your phone number is clickable in any device because people might be annoyed to type mobile number manually.

Add Schema

Schema is actually a mark-up language tool for search engines to understand what exactly your business is about.  Based on this schema, search engines will classify whether it is a local business or a big brand and will determine rankings.

So adding Schema to your website is crucial.

To create a Schema mark-up, you can use the Hall Analysis tool. After generating code, you need to check it with Google’s structured data testing tool.

Create Local Content

Writers need to create content keeping users in mind and not search engines.

Content needs to be original, business related and stuffed with long-tail question based keywords. The reason being, local searches always include geographic areas and an inquiry.

You can also make use of Quora, search console and tools like Answer The Public to find more questions based search queries.

Local Business Directories

You need to submit your company’s presence in business directories like Foursquare, Bing Places for Business, Yelp, etc., to stress search engines about your existence. While submitting these sites, make sure you are consistent and accurate with business name, complete address, business timings, and phone number.

Scale up your Social Media Presence

Promoting social media is always been an effective asset to create brand awareness and reach.  Be proactive in social media and share your business content in all ways possible.

Share interesting photos of your business to grab eyeballs. Be it any event-related images, new products, happy customers, anything that takes someone’s attention.

How often do you blog?

Blogging is an effective tool to crack Local SEO. So create blogs including locality and neighborhood names. Make the blog interesting with your news and happenings or upcoming events etc., Add comment and start conversations in other local business blogs. This will help you build relationships and possibilities of others adding your link to their website.

Final Thought

SEO is not a one-time event. So don’t limit yourself to traditional SEO practices. Adapt all the mentioned strategies and make a move, to get the catbird seat.

Reach Us: Looking for an affordable SEO Services, we are here to help. Call us Today!