What Can Local SEO Do for Your Business?

SEO can only get your website so far. At least, regular SEO can. Adding keywords to a website is all well and good, but doing a little extra in the areas that are up and coming can really boost a website’s rankings. But, what is local SEO and what does it mean for a website? How do you implement it? Does it matter? All of these questions will be answered in this article and hopefully by the end of it you’ll be a little surer of what local SEO can do for your business and your business’ website.

What is local SEO?

The short answer is: anything that means that your business is found more prominently by people searching in your local area. Makes sense, right?

The long answer is a little more complex and what this article is trying to explain. There are quite a few ways to get found locally, some a little harder than others. As with every aspect of SEO, it isn’t guaranteed that it’ll work. Experimentation is the key to success, after all and trying to optimise your website locally takes certain parameters that have to be met.

Depending on its implementation and what industry the business is in, it could help get the website in question higher up on Google’s rankings. Local SEO can definitely make a big difference when it comes to conversion rates and bringing in new leads.

How can you add it to existing SEO strategy?

Honestly, with how much SEO is progressing of late, as long as you’re doing it right and handling your site content the right way then your website should be doing rather well. But, local SEO is something that can add a little more. It could even keep you on the top spot for longer. There are a lot of different ways to affect your website’s local optimisation and with Google updates and algorithms changing constantly, it seems that the main thing the search engines care about is trust.

But, what does trust mean?

In terms of search engine optimisation, trust is something that is earned a few different ways. Through links from other websites, reviews and local landmarks on your website, Google can tell the difference between a website that claims to be a part of the local community and one that no one wants to go to.

Customer reviews

Reviews are a great way to boost any website’s credibility, whether it’s locally or nationwide. Asking customers to leave reviews that are meaningful and give your customers a good idea of what your company is capable of in terms of work ethic, what you can deliver and any other nice client-related titbits can really give your website a boost. Reviews show other, potential customers that you’re not just as good as it says on your website. Of course you’re going to say that about yourself; you want to sell your business. Getting your customers to leave a review shows that it’s not just you that thinks you're great.

There are some words of warning when it comes to reviews: don’t ask members of your company, or family, or friends to post reviews. They need to look organic, as if you haven’t just asked your mum to post something. Don’t ask a group of clients to leave reviews all at once; Google will pick up on what you’re doing very quickly. Do it naturally. A few reviews at a time here and there and you’ll soon have picked up a pretty good rating.

Location based

Locations are key to local SEO. Google won’t know where you’re situated unless you have it on your website. Not just on your contact us page, which may have the address of your business on, but all over.

Make reference to local landmarks, mention the town or city you’re in as well as other, nearby locations that Google can easily use to reference. Include a business name, address and phone number on the website. Your website will be an indicator of your geographical position and you need to make sure Google can find all of the breadcrumbs you’re leaving out through your content.

What about keywords?

The only thing that needs to change is putting locations that the business deals in within the keyword. For example, “plumbing” will garner thousands and thousands of search results and your website is very unlikely to have a high ranking. But, “plumbing Hackney” gives you a specific place to be looking for. Someone may not search “plumbing Hackney”, but if they’re searching from Hackney, then the location based keyword addition will hone in on your website over one from, say, Birmingham.

The only thing that needs to change is putting locations that the business deals in within the keyword. For example, “plumbing” will garner thousands and thousands of search results and your website is very unlikely to have a high ranking. But, “plumbing Hackney” gives you a specific place to be looking for. Someone may not search “plumbing Hackney”, but if they’re searching from Hackney, then the location based keyword addition will hone in on your website over one from, say, Birmingham.

If you’re not entirely sure how to choose keywords, check out our handy guide.

The words behind the words

Meta titles and descriptions are extremely important for placing high on Google’s rankings. When starting out, some developers don’t know about meta tags and it can make the difference between page 1 and 2. When it comes to a good meta title, it should be between 40 and 50 characters. Meta descriptions should be no more than 160 characters.

The title and description tags are seen when you Google something. This means that not only are they used to attracted potential customers and visitors to your website, but that search engine crawlers pick up on key words and phrases as well. To rank well, title tags and descriptions must have the keywords that you want to rank for. For local SEO this includes the location as well. Obviously, it needs to make sense and can’t just be a spam of keywords as Google will see this as negative SEO.

So, what can local SEO do for your business?

Well, as you can see, honing in on location can do a great deal for website rankings. While ordinary SEO is extremely important, if you want to make sure that you’re found high up on Google with local customers then this is the way to go. Of course, if you’re aiming to promote your business countrywide then maybe this isn’t the strategy to go for. But, local SEO can really help in the long run and is something that we, as a company, promote. For any professional looking to increase their clients’ rankings then it makes complete sense.

But, these are things that should be happening anyway. A good meta title and description, focusing on keywords that are relevant and getting customer reviews. They aren’t just good for local SEO, they’re good for SEO in general. Using ever little bit of on site and off site SEO means that your website has the most potential for growth. No one can promise instant page 1 results, but by doing that little bit extra you’re increasing that chance. And, who can say no to that?