HOW LOCAL SEO WORKS

Want to learn how local SEO can help your business rank higher on search engine results pages and attract more customers in your area?

These tips will provide you with the needed information, from optimizing your website to building citations to managing online reviews.

WHAT IS LOCAL SEO?

Local SEO optimizes your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches.

When you type “best restaurants in Lagos” into Google, you will see that the first page of results is dominated by a box of local listings on Google Maps called a snack pack.

Following that, you will find your typical organic search results.

The snack pack is significant because it is most likely to be clicked on by search engine users.

However, ranking high in organic search results is equally relevant since they also attract more clicks.

The bottom line is that it is beneficial to appear in both the search engine results and the organic results, and this is where local SEO plays a crucial role.

You may find it helpful to read Basic SEO Knowledge: 19 Tips You Should Know

Google is the most widely used search engine, and most people use it to search for local businesses.

Imagine you open a costume boutique in Lekki Phase 1 that is open 24/7 for your customers. It provides free Wi-Fi and free delivery to any location if the costume is ordered online.

So you have invested in this boutique with a lot of money and even thought of these few concepts to make you stand out in the industry.

However, no one knows about your business because they find other boutiques like yours on search engines.

What do you do?

I will describe how you can use local SEO to maximize your business in search engines. Follow these steps I will lay out.

1. ENSURE YOUR WEBSITE IS OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE

This is something you need to do for your business. 

Most internet users use their mobile phones to surf the web.

To achieve this you can use the “Google mobile-friendly test tool”.

All you have to do is enter your domain or URL and Google will tell you whether your page is mobile-friendly or not.

These 7 Creative Link-Building Strategies To Make Your Site Rank may be helpful!

2. CLAIM AND OPTIMIZE YOUR GOOGLE “MY BUSINESS LISTING”

This is arguably the most significant part of local SEO and it is easy to do.

All you have to do is visit to google.com/business, sign into your Google account and enter your NAP (name, address and phone number).

If you have a business with multiple addresses, you can start by typing in the business name. The first thing you will see is a list of companies already listed in Google’s database.

For instance, let us suppose that you have a boutique named “Mr Johns”, so all you need to type is “Mr Johns.”

Note that your business name is not designed for keyword stuffing, so writing something like “costume boutique Lekki Phase 1 24/7 Mr Johns” is not recommended.

It will not increase your ranking.

The next thing you enter is your address. In this case, since you own a boutique you will have a physical location. Let’s say your store is your house.

You enter your home address and select “I deliver goods and services to my customers” and choose to hide your address since it is not a store.

Now when you do that, your business will only appear in Google searches with the city or state you work from.

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3. PIN THE MARKER ON THE MAP

Now most search engines like Google are pretty efficient at this. However, you will want to examine the map and make sure it is in the exact position where your store is located.

All you have to do is drag and drop it onto your exact store location on the map.

It is recommended that you not list all your products and services in multiple categories, as most search engines recommend you do.

What you need to do is focus on a statement like this “My business is a _____“ rather than “My business has_____ ”. So, in the case of your boutique, “your business is a costume boutique” even though “it has virtual office space”.

Just type a description and select the best one from the drop-down.

You can find out How Google My Business Features Help Your Business.

4. ENTER YOUR BUSINESS DETAILS

This is pretty straightforward to set up, all it requires is your office phone number and website. 

Finish by verifying your website. You can do this using your phone number or email address.

Follow Google’s instructions and your business listing will be up and running in no time.

Another thing you should do to set your operation hours is add specific URLs to key pages.

You can also add a description of your business and photos of your actual location.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to local SEO, you must use sensitive keyword research. There are some obvious terms you will want your business to rank for.

Examples include “costume boutiques near me”, “what time do boutiques around me open or close”, and “boutiques around me phone number”.

For these local search queries, Google pulls information from Google My Business listings.

For example, if you type in “What time does ShopRite close?” the search engine will pull up all the ShopRites in your vicinity and show the hours of operation for all locations on the map.

When you specify a location, Google My Business will provide you with information about the location.

This will appear in a quick answer box. I believe the tips shared are helpful!

These 9 Steps To Create A Website For Your Business For Free may also interest you.