As the Internet evolves, web users are turning their attention towards finding local services and products. This is suitable for businesses that sell their products directly online, and for those who use the Internet to promote their business. Most of the people are using the internet as a marketplace since establishing a presence on the web is important for increased traffic, sales and popularity. Nowadays search engines are providing local search features by embedding maps inside search pages as part of their organic search results.
The trend towards local search is growing every day and local SEO is a must for businesses that sell products locally to a specified geographical area. In local search optimization, our focus should be on increasing our business name’s relevancy to our local information such as our address, local phone number, city, or any other neighborhood area names. The ideal local business profile includes the following,
- Business Title
- Street Address
- City, State Zip Code
- Phone Number with Local Area Code. Don’t forget to include toll-free number if it is available.
Local business listings are usually displayed on top of the first page in SERPs. This shows the importance of local SEO. The aim of traditional SEO is getting a page to rank. But in local SEO the complete focus is on keyword targets. Local keyword research is must and Make sure our web site utilizes local speak and reflects the way your customers actually talk and search. Four reasons why it’s important to optimize for local keywords:
- It helps to dominate our local market
- It can give a considerable advantage over competitors.
- It is cost effective and increases our ROI.
- It is relevant.
One of the ways to check these listings is to look through Web Pages when you search for a relevant local keyword in Google Maps. The following figure shows an example of how the results will be displayed for the search of a keyword phrase “Software Development Kolkata”.
We can reach our targeted customers in the following ways,
- By getting listed in all of the major local search engines
- By getting links from related local sites
- By getting reviews from customers and/or suppliers
The process of submitting our local business is so easy. We can start with submitting in search engines and free online local directory that generate good traffic, such as Yelp. In order to get local references make sure that those sites are crawled by Google for local content. If a local directory is not on the list to be crawled by Google, then all your efforts to build local relevancy will not be so effective, since local references do not get a link back.
Remember that our company should be unique from other local companies and it should be reflected in our local reference portfolio. So don’t focus on the company which is ranked at #1 in local listing and don’t try to obtain all the local references that company has. Make sure to have a unique combination of keywords and service areas. Optimizing for those local keywords can only help us to reach our targeted local audience.
For our company to be unique among the other businesses, it should not be just about Internet Yellow Pages or local directories. Contributing helpful content about our industry, can help our local references to grow naturally.
There are more chances to create popularity about our business and you can easily gain trust as an industry expert within your online local community by the help of local optimization.
Disclaimer: The post is completely based on individual thoughts and SEO Services Group bears no responsibilities for the thoughts reflected in the post.
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