Search engine optimisation (SEO) is essentially the use of various different techniques, such as link building, to move your website higher up on the search engine website pages.
However, if you are someone with a specific business location, then you will need to utilise local SEO.
Why? Well, if you have a hair salon situated in London, it is very unlikely that you will be catering to those based in Liverpool. So, you need to make sure your marketing is targeted at those in your region.
But, what is the difference between local SEO and national SEO?
Essentially all of the same principles apply. However, there are a couple of unique elements. In essence, this is about identifiers that are regional and making sure that you’re utilizing them the right way.
For instance, you will need to claim local platforms on profiles such as Google. Your local listing will then show for all localised results.
In addition to this, when selecting keywords you will tend to incorporate the city next to the keyword, either before or after.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of companies who are still neglecting the use of local SEO. This is definitely at their own risk. You will have the ability to achieve a higher ranking if you go for local search engine optimisation.
Exploring the benefits of local SEO
Competition is a lot less
Just imagine how many hairdressers you would be competing with if you were using your marketing on a national scale. Now contrast this to how many you would be competing with when just taking London into account. You can now see the massive difference.
All you need to do is use your keyword program of choice, such as Google AdWords. This enables you to see how the competition for local SEO is a lot less yet the searches are still relatively high.
Lower your costs
Another benefit is the fact that you will be able to lower your PPC advertisement costs via going down this route. Using local keywords allows you to lessen your marketing costs.
Otherwise, you would be attracting a lot of clicks, therefore, costing you a lot of money, however, most of these clicks would be irrelevant. This is because the people clicking on the ad would not be in a position to take advantage of your location.
Enhance customer engagement
In addition to this, it is also worth taking into account the fact that your connection with your customers will enhance dramatically.
How? Well, social media plays a huge role when it comes to localised SEO. This presents you with the perfect opportunity to talk to your consumers and to build up a loyal bond with them.
You don’t merely need to send out updates on your products and services. You can also build up relationships via talking about topics that are relevant to your line of work or by dealing with any customer queries.
And finally, there are many instances whereby local searching proves to be much more beneficial. For instance, when people move from one region to another they may want a specific type of food that was sold in their previous location.
If you don’t localise your SEO then they will never be able to find you. Instead, your competition will be generating all of the profit that could have been yours.
Local SEO is useless if your website doesn’t impress
As you can see, the benefits of local SEO are extensive. All this effort to get people to your website will be worthless if your website is then a let-down.
You need to make sure your website is designed using a web builder to represent your brand effectively, it must be easy to navigate, contact details must be readily available, and it needs to be quick to load too.
Let’s say your local SEO strategy is working well, i.e. people are heading to your website. But your bounce rate is high. What does this mean? It indicates that some changes need to be made with regards to your site itself.
So there you have it: the many reasons why local SEO is so important for all businesses today. Not only is it imperative for small, local businesses but it can also be used by nationwide companies to target specific areas too.
