Ways to Maximize Local SEO

If your small business serves your local community, you may not understand the significance for search engine optimization, or SEO.  But it is crucial - most of today’s consumers search the Internet whether they plan to buy locally or use a service inside their communities.  To make your business rise above other competitors, local SEO is key.  Here are a few ways you can capitalize on your local SEO efforts.

Comprehend the concept of Hummingbird.

Google recently experienced the major update to its algorithm.  A result of the updated algorithm, called Hummingbird, made some changes to the way businesses are ranked during a Google search - now we see an increase of local business at the highest rankings.  When people enter a search term, the top businesses will likely be local.  For example, if a search is performed for a “pizza place”, their results will probably be places in their town.

The change also encourages businesses to update their website to include content with local context.  As opposed to writing paragraphs about jewelry, it’s more beneficial to talk about jewelry and the city where your business is located.  People who live locally and search for a jewelry store will then see your business pop up in the search results.

Photo via localbusinessmarketingsuccess.com

Reflect on mobility.

Many people who search for a business aren’t sitting at home on a desktop computer – they’re on the go using mobile devices.  People will search for a pizza place when they are ready to head to eat.  For your business, this means you want to design your website for mobile and ensure that it or your app are user-friendly.

Contemplate local marketing.

Sites like Foursquare have honed in on the fact that people do research online for local businesses.  Even the popular pinning site, Pinterest, now has a service in place where business content can be put on a map so users can see your location.  If a person looks for shoe stores and sees that you are local to them, they are very likely to look further into making a purchase from your business.

You may not have lots of time to establish a solid presence on each social network, and that’s okay.  Instead, research and find out where your potential customers are spending their time – this increases the likelihood that they will also go to that social network as they look further into making buying decisions.  Customers can’t learn about your business if you don’t have an online presence.

Small businesses that cater predominantly to local consumers often don’t realize that they need an online presence.  However, more and more people continue to own mobile devices and the amount of time they spend using these devices to research prior to making a purchase will only grow.  The ultimate success of your business relies on making its presence known and showing customers why they should make purchases from your business instead of your competitors.

How do you optimize your local search engine optimization to sell more locally?