Opinion holder entrepreneur Contributors are their own.
Local search engine optimization is no longer just for local boutiques. Virtually any business can take advantage of local SEO. The importance of local SEO has increased since Google’s 2014 update dubbed “Pigeon”, with many entrepreneurs focusing on inbound strategy for years without considering local touchpoints in their marketing campaigns. I came to Others already practicing regular local optimization strategies saw this update as an opportunity to step up their efforts even further.
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These moves are clever as local SEO is becoming more important, but we’re not done yet. Over the next few years, we expect local SEO to become even more impactful and useful for businesses. Here’s why:
We love local businesses.
Over the years, Google has shown little favor to newer, smaller, more agile companies. Most ranking biases have to do with brand history and authority, but Google wants to give people what they want. That often means introducing more agile and popular brands.
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It is also related to increasing the potential for small business owners with limited access to resources to break new ground. Google has a long history of providing free tools like Analytics and Webmaster Tools for the sole purpose of helping business owners increase their online presence. Google cares (or dare I say “loves”) his business locally, so you can expect Pigeon to be just the beginning of its locally focused updates.
Get more personalized results.
Google also likes to give people personalized results. Predictive and customized search capabilities are relatively limited for the time being, but search engines can already generate specific results based on who you’re searching for. Both location and geographic location affect the type of results displayed.
As Google becomes more sophisticated and users demand more personalized results, local optimization will only become more important.
Growth of mobile and wearable devices.
The percentage of online searches performed on mobile devices steadily increases each year, and as you might imagine, the majority of mobile searches are performed on the go. With the advent of wearable devices such as the Apple Watch, users will start using search on the go more frequently, making it a more pressing need.
As a result, proximity-based searches are likely to become more common, and local searches will be based on very specific locations rather than just region- or neighborhood-specific bases. In fact, wearable devices facilitate geographically relevant information networks, further breaking down the barriers between the digital and physical worlds.
Competition is heating up.
Every year, millions of new sites are created and thousands of new businesses stabilize as strong enterprises. Correspondingly, with features such as the Knowledge Graph dominating search engine results pages and long-standing blue chip brands dominating the national search landscape, potential search visibility is positive in many areas. is declining to
Increasing competition forces business owners to find smaller target niches to achieve proper visibility. One of the most efficient ways to do this is by optimizing locally. So local SEO becomes more important as the competition increases.
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How to start a local SEO campaign.
If the idea of starting a local SEO campaign terrifies you, don’t worry. It takes time and effort, but it’s actually a very easy process.
Correction of local citations. Your first job is to make sure your business is listed accurately and properly across the web.In local directories and review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, and other directories related to your business, Register a local business profile.
Make sure your most important business information, especially your name, address and phone number, is accurate and formatted consistently across all these platforms. Local authorities could be withdrawn if Google noticed a slight discrepancy between two different sources.
Local content and relationship building. Once you’ve verified that all your local information is in place and accurate, you can begin the process of optimizing your content and external links for local relevance. For articles, this is relatively easy. Be sure to include the city, region, or neighborhood name in your blog title to make sure the content is relevant to your location.
Local events and local information articles are great opportunities. Be sure to guest post on your local external blog and get featured in your local press with the latest press releases.
Local review and ongoing control. Finally, encourage customers to post reviews about your business on Yelp and other review sites. You can’t buy these reviews or solicit them from your customers, but you can indirectly persuade your customers to leave feedback by letting them know you’re visiting these sites . Do everything you can to increase the number of positive reviews you receive, and don’t forget to log in so you can review and respond to these reviews regularly.
There it is. Unless you already have a dominant nationally established presence in a major search engine that new entrants can’t touch, or you don’t have a single physical location, in a search engine If you want to achieve visibility, you will need local SEO. Years to come.
Take steps now to implement a consistent, ongoing strategy and focus on getting it done. As the effectiveness of your efforts is doubled, you will begin to see results within weeks to months.
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