Do you want your business to rank well in search engines? If so, search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that can have a big impact on your business. One part of an SEO strategy is a global approach, which optimizes your website to rank for the keywords people use when they search in general categories.
But when it comes to businesses, such as smaller grocery stores, it might be most important for people looking for local businesses to find your store.
Let’s take a look at what local SEO does and some reasons why it can help your business.
What Is Local SEO?
When people search on their smartphones, they tend to type in the name of their city. That’s why search engines are now also ranking local businesses based on the city they serve. For example, if you live in Los Angeles, and search for “restaurants,” the results are going to show you local businesses near you.
So, how can you make sure people are looking for your business type in the city you serve? That’s where local SEO comes in.
Reasons It Can Help
1) Mobile-First Indexing
If your site is not mobile-friendly, no matter how well it ranks, Google will not show it in search results.
Google is one of the top-ranking search engines, and websites need to be mobile-friendly in order to be on their list of results. They will not show you in the first few pages if your site is not optimized for mobile phones.
People are using their phones to search for local businesses. You want them to be able to find you, and that means your site needs to be mobile-friendly. (For more on why mobile-friendly is important, see this article.)
2) Geo Modifiers
When people search your city, they are looking for businesses within the city or in a certain area. One great way to optimize your site for local search is to use the geo modifier “near me.”
For example, if you are a bakery in Los Angeles, you could add the modifier “near me” to your keywords. When people type in “near me” and your city, you’ll show up for that search.
3) Reviews
Your customers can also help with local SEO, especially if you have a lot of 5-star reviews. Sites with a lot of reviews, especially positive ones, rank higher and tend to get more traffic.
Your customers can help with this and you can also ask them to help by providing reviews on your shopping cart, on your site, and on your business listings on Yelp, Facebook, and Google.
4) Hyper-Localized Marketing
You want to reach customers in the local area. Local SEO helps to get you higher rankings on the search engines that cater to local searches.
The local search results are optimized to show local businesses, not national chains. You can get more traffic and more business by optimizing your site for local searches.
You can also market your business by targeting local keywords.
Conclusion
Local SEO can help you make sure that your business is on the first page of local search rankings. It’s one of the most important ways you can get more traffic, more customers, and more sales.
Invest in your online presence by working with Silo Hill Media. We are a digital marketing agency in Boise dedicated to helping you improve your local SEO. Get in touch with us today to learn more.