Local SEO: Optimizing Your Rankings for Google Local Search

When a user enters a query with a local keyword (or a geographic indicator is telling Google their location, usually either via IP address or a mobile phone’s geolocation), Google produces a separate set of results near the top of the SERPs.

For local businesses, relying on customers in their own communities to thrive and grow, this distinguished set of ranks has been a boon—it means a shortcut to visibility for the audiences who matter most.

But what about other companies that operate on a national scale? Or local businesses that haven’t yet dabbled in online marketing?

Our local SEO guide is an extensive overview of the ins-and-outs of local search engine optimization. The menu at right (or below on mobile) will provide you with the subsection areas that impact local SEO rankings. We hope you enjoy!

Introduction to Local SEO

Local SEO is important for most businesses. It’s changed a lot in the past few years, and it’s going to change even more in the next few. In 2021, will it be necessary for you to leverage the strategy?

As a supplement to this extensive overview of local SEO, we also created the following PDF guide, available here or as a download from the link below.

A PDF version of this local SEO guide presentation is available here.

Benefits of Local SEO

First, a quick recap of how local SEO can help your business:

• Lower competition. Because your list of competitors is narrowed down to only those in your geographic vicinity, you’ll have an easier time earning a rank quickly.
• Increased visibility. You don’t have to fight for a top spot—the top three local entries will always rise above the other results for local queries.
• Peripheral ranking options. If you want to rank, it’s not just about ongoing content and inbound links (though those are important too). You can hedge your bets by using other ongoing tactics like review optimization and citation management.
• Greater visitor relevance. Anyone who sees your local entry will be a local resident, meaning the relevance of your traffic will ultimately increase.

Source: WebFocusMarketing

How Local SEO Is Changing                          

Aside from these benefits, local SEO itself is changing. Be aware of what local SEO is today versus what it will be in 2016.

Greater unification with mobile

Local results on desktop are starting to shift to a layout friendlier for mobile devices. Earlier this year, Google released its local 3-pack update, which reduced the top pack of local results on desktop browsers from seven to three. Website and directions are available with a click, meaning local entries are probably going to keep getting easier and more convenient to interact with. Accordingly, you’ll stand to gain more and more from being in one of those top slots.

Increasing specificity

Local search is getting even more local. Instead of just focusing on a city or region, new local searches could drill down further into neighborhoods or even based on proximity to the user. That means even less competition for even more specific niches.

Increasing importance

Users are starting to grow used to local results, and are using mobile devices (which almost always make queries local) more than ever before. In 2016, local results will be more important to users than ever—which means they’re even more valuable to rank for.

Mobile ecommerce growth has been massive over the last few years. This mobile trend has a huge impact on how we optimize websites for the mobile experience. Source: BigCommerce.

Conclusion

Local SEO, like any marketing strategy, will never be wholly “necessary.” Your business won’t automatically fail because you haven’t adopted a local strategy. However, if you’re without a local SEO strategy in 2016, you’re going to miss out on a ton of traffic, and your competitors will have an easier time accumulating that traffic for themselves.

For businesses reliant on community and neighborhood populations for revenue, local SEO is an absolute must in 2016 if you do any marketing whatsoever. For other businesses, it’s a little grayer; if you’re doing a national SEO strategy already, you might as well throw in some local optimization strategies to round out your visibility. If you operate nationally, have never touched any kind of SEO, and are fine with the stream of leads you’re currently getting—you can stand to benefit from local SEO, but it’s probably not going to break you if you decide against it. Use your best judgment and remember that local SEO, when implemented properly, almost always yields a positive ROI.

Aiming for local ensures that your business gets found by your target customers with ease. By properly optimizing your site for the local search terms, getting listed on local directories, and claiming your profile on Google Plus Pages, you can place your business in the best possible position to dominate the local market.

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Timothy Carter

Chief Revenue Officer at SEO.co

Industry veteran Timothy Carter is SEO.co’s Chief Revenue Officer. Tim leads all revenue for the company and oversees all customer-facing teams - including sales, marketing & customer success. He has spent more than 20 years in the world of SEO & Digital Marketing leading, building and scaling sales operations, helping companies increase revenue efficiency and drive growth from websites and sales teams. When he's not working, Tim enjoys playing a few rounds of disc golf, running, and spending time with his wife and family on the beach...preferably in Hawaii.

Over the years he's written for publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, ReadWrite and other highly respected online publications. Connect with Tim on Linkedin & Twitter.

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