Every business needs to make sales for it to survive. It doesn’t matter the product or service being offered, if sales aren’t made, the business most likely won’t survive.
One thing that helps business sales is how visible the brand is. The importance of visibility to a business can’t be overemphasized. If your business is located in a particular geographic area, then you can generate more visibility to it via local SEO.
You may have just heard about local SEO and the wonders it can do for your business, so you would like to know more about it. Or you may have been hearing about it for a while and you have decided to give it a shot but would like to know more before you get engaged. Whatever the case may be, you are in the right place.
In this article, we will be discussing some important things you need to know about local SEO and how it can profit your business.
The Evolution of Search Engine
For you to properly understand the workings of local search engine optimization, you have to understand search engines, and what better way to understand something than to understand its origin.
Hence, we will briefly explain the evolution of search engines. When the internet first came into existence, websites on it were not much. Therefore, navigating the net then was relatively easy. But as the internet grew, navigation became harder.
This is how search engines came to be; to help people look for and get the websites they needed easily. Search engines work by matching phrases typed into the search box with websites that have the keywords searched for.
Google soon topped its competitors when it started using links between websites to indicate websites that had authority and were trusted. Now, before a website is displayed when a query is made, several factors are considered by Google.
SEO considers these factors and optimize them to meet some standard to enable your website to rank better. You can visit https://snohomishseoagency.com/local_seo to learn more about this.
How Search Results are ranked by Google
Google employs several processes when ranking websites, thousands of websites can be ranked via these processes in a matter of seconds. The processes used are known as algorithms.
When a query is made, the index is checked by an algorithm, and then sites that match the query are returned as organic results. These results are selected and ranked according to popularity, prominence, and relevance given to them by their inbound links.
Several factors both on and off the site are considered to figure out the sites that contain something that relates to the search. All sites with relevant content are made into a list and ranked according to their prominence. The factors are also considered to find out which site answers the query best, those that do are put higher on the list.
Search engine optimization includes prominence and relevance for the site. When the correct elements of a website’s digital properties are properly optimized the site tends to rank higher when a search is done.
Local SEO – A Different Approach
Now that you know how SEO works, you are most likely wondering what is different when it comes to local SEO. Well, Google analyzed users’ behavior over trillion searches and discovered that people want results gotten from their surrounding areas when they look for some type of service.
Hence, Google started considering proximity as a factor when giving results for searches. What this means is that your location is taken into account whenever you make a local query. It doesn’t matter if “near me” or the name of the city is added in the search.
Local searches have existed for years now but were limited because people tend to use desktop computers for their searches. However, since the surge in mobile searches, local searches are ever more important. You can read this to learn more about the surge in mobile searches.
Since searches can be tailored to fit the location of the searches, some factors have to be considered for a website to rank locally. An SEO expert will optimize these factors to ensure your website ranks in your locality. This is an approach to take for your business to improve your sales; this is especially true if your business offers services or products locally.
Things That Matters
Google search listings may contain a local map pack and the main search results. If you are a business owner, then you can appear both on the main search result as well as the local map pack. This can only be achieved if the right factors are optimized.
To get visibility locally, some factors like the popularity of local links and localized content should be considered. It works the same way the normal Google algorithm works. So, building a local landing page or pages for your business locations is important. This is especially true if your business has multiple locations.
The page(s) should have your firm’s name alongside other details like phone number and address. The meta descriptions, title tags, and other SEO practices should be properly optimized as well. Link building and content marketing are considered too.
Also, some location-based aspects should be covered. Like, review signals (published by local customers) and the business being on Google My Business are also considered. Therefore, you also need to consider them in your search engine optimization efforts.
You can also employ some SEO tools that focus on local searches. Tools like these can develop SEO audits that are local-oriented. Although web content happens to be a major factor here too just like with the normal Google search algorithm, the factors listed above are also important.
Conclusion
If you want to improve your business’ sales, then its visibility is something you have to properly consider. Local search engine optimization can help you achieve proper visibility for your local business. Harnessing it to ensure your business is seen by people in your locality may just likely be the break you need for your business.
