National and even global SEO was once a revolutionary way to gain visibility on the internet. Now it’s incredibly expensive and highly competitive. As a result, small businesses are turning to local SEO to increase their exposure to potential customers online.
So what are the elements of a good local SEO strategy?
The truth is that there are many components at work. First, create a free business listing on Google by signing up for Google My Business. Fill out your profile with as much information as possible to create a robust and attractive listing, including keywords related to your business description where appropriate. Customer reviews also play a big role in local search results. So does a well-optimized website with fresh and useful content.
Basically any company with a local target market can benefit from local SEO. However, there are some verticals where local search can really work wonders. Let’s take a look at the 6 big ones.
1.Medical services
Businesses that provide medical services, such as clinics, dental offices, and urgent care clinics, are great candidates for local SEO.
Beyond building amazing websites, there are many other things these specialists can do to boost their rankings. First, you can publish high-value, informative content on the platform. Google likes fresh and relevant material. Due to the highly specialized nature of these deals, providing insight through things like blog posts and how-to manuals is a great way to add value to your customers’ lives while improving your search rankings.
A search for dental clinics in New York City yields:
Let’s look at the second result, the New York Dental Office website.
Look at the navigation bar in addition to relevant keywords. You’ll find it packed with valuable and useful content for casual visitors looking for a good provider. One of the most attractive pages is the “Smile Gallery”. Here are some before and after photos of the work done by our specialists. It also has an excellent blog and FAQ section. These content-focused factors undoubtedly influence high search rankings in local areas.
In addition to providing top-notch content to online communities, professionals contribute their names, addresses, and contact information in local business directories, including general directories (such as Yelp) and health-specific directories. You can also improve your SEO efforts by reviewing and using them. (Like ZocDoc).
2. Law firm
Generally speaking, when people need legal counsel, they are looking for a professional nearby. Therefore, being visible in local searches is very important for law firms.
There are many things law firms can do to improve their local rankings. Creating a Google My Business page should be your first order of business. Then you need to properly build your website around relevant keywords. For example, let’s say someone is looking for a divorce attorney in the Los Angeles area.
The Charles M. Green APLC website appeared in the top three search options. Along with a well-designed and intuitive interface, you’ll find that the homepage is optimized for relevant keywords in the region.
Another important factor in local search is online reviews. Due to the unfortunate stigma around attorneys, third-party verification is extremely important to potential clients. Therefore, law firms should take a serious approach to creating reviews of their clients on popular platforms such as Google and Yelp. This can make a difference in increasing your local search visibility while building your brand reputation.
3. Bars and restaurants
this is a big one. The hospitality business has the highest turnover rate of any industry. For example, over one million restaurants opened in the United States alone in the last year. The restaurant’s main goal is to become a community staple. You need a lot of repeat customers to achieve this status.
Enter Local SEO. Bars and restaurants typically operate at the regional level, serving geographically targeted markets. When you type ‘restaurant’ in mobile search, you will most likely get ‘restaurants near me’.
Customer reviews play an important role in local SEO for bars and restaurants. As you may have noticed in the screenshot, reviews are very prominently displayed in the list. In a recent BrightLocal survey, 60% of respondents said they’d read his restaurant’s online reviews, the highest of any industry.
While good content strategy drives effective SEO in other industries, reviews play a central role in this area. You can raise or lower your local search ranking for bars and restaurants.
4. Plumber
If you had a pipe burst at home and needed immediate help, where would you look first?
Google.
In these cases, not so much Who helpful, but when Someone can contact you and solve your problem. Local SEO is therefore a prime resource for plumbers and anyone who helps customers solve problems quickly.
Plumbers are in a great position to increase visibility through local SEO. First of all, their business lives or dies by the local market. Second, there is basically an unlimited supply of educational content about solutions to everyday problems that can be published on your website to boost your rankings.
Bill Howe is a Google-famous San Diego-area plumber. With the help of such valuable content, his business appears on the first page for his keywords relevant locally.
Reviews also help with local rankings. Due to the high demand for plumbing services, our customers are looking for a reliable skill set that delivers reliable results. Unfortunately, getting customers to generate online reviews in this industry can be a bit of a challenge. Therefore, by going the extra mile to encourage feedback, plumbers can gain an edge over their competitors in local rankings.
Specialists in these areas can see immediate results if they put their time and determination into a local SEO strategy.
5. Pet Service
Pet services are highly specialized and in demand almost exclusively at the local level. Commonly searched keywords in this area include grooming, pet sitting, walking, training, supplies, and veterinarians.
Additionally, the potential for valuable content is virtually endless, and reviews are extremely important. Suppose you search for grooming services for Bruno.
The first websites that appear in the local pack are:
You will find that it has the most reviews in the region and provides content on trending issues.
Generally, pet owners want the best for their pets. Services must do all they can to create Grade A content while encouraging reviews to succeed in local search rankings.
6. Real Estate
Local SEO and real estate services go hand in hand. However, with the advent of platforms such as Zillow and Trulia, smaller local realtors need a hyperlocal strategy to gain proper search exposure.
The bigger platforms do a broad keyword search very well.
The key to success for real estate agents is creating pages that target specific geographic markets. This might show up in long-tail keyword searches for home buying. The goal of these pages is to be as granular as possible. This means doing things like decomposing into the names of the smallest regions within a region.
Of course, the real value is in the content. This is where skilled agents can really dive in and go above and beyond to deliver value to their users.
Located in Southern California, this real estate agent offers very detailed and informative listings for neighborhoods in the area. As you read, you’ll find him delving into the history of the area, its landmarks, his community events, the local school system, and more. The copy also makes use of related keywords like “luxury real estate” and “exclusive community” to help this page rank for long-tail search queries.
Localized content like this is great for showcasing your level of expertise and defining your niche. This is an area where larger platforms cannot compete and smaller agents can thrive.
Conclusion
I have been in digital marketing for a long time. There are many other industries that benefit from local SEO beyond what we’ve covered here. In today’s digital environment, going local can be a cheaper and more effective option.
SEO is like a marathon. It may take weeks (or months) to see the results you want. By creating great content and providing services that lead to positive reviews, you can always be proactive.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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About the author
Pratik Dholakiya is the founder of Growfusely, a content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO. He speaks regularly at various conferences on SEO, content his marketing and entrepreneurship. Pratik has spoken at the Florida Public Affairs Association’s 80th Annual Conference, Accounting and Finance Show, Singapore, NextBigWhat’s UnPluggd, IIT-Bombay, SMX Israel, SEMrush Meetup, MICA, IIT-Roorkee, and other major events . Passionate about his SEO and content As his marketer, he shares his thoughts and knowledge with various publications.
