Online presence is a major factor in marketing local businesses. Customers use search engines like google to find products and services near them. It’s the perfect opportunity to introduce your business to prospective customers.
SEO give businesses the means to boost their online presence in search engines. This article will discuss how SEO works and the impact it has on local businesses.
The Impact of SEO on Local Businesses
Customers want information on the best products and services nearby. All it takes is a quick search on Google to get those answers.
Search results are typically generated based on the user’s country. However, customers prefer to visit businesses that are physically near them. SEO takes advantage of this by actively marketing the business to nearby users. This process is called local SEO.
Local SEO is incredibly effective for promoting physical stores and local service providers. It integrates geographic location in the marketing process. Moreover, search engines like Google bump localized websites higher on search results. This creates an excellent marketing strategy for targeting local customers.
How does Local SEO work?
SEO generally works by using different strategies to boost website rankings in search results. For Local SEO, the process slightly differs since search engines use a different system for ranking localized searches.
Local SEO improves website visibility by using strategies that target particular geographic areas.
Think of it this way, an internet service provider can only work with clients in Udaipur. It’s profitable for them to use a general SEO that targets those in other cities. Instead, they use local SEO Udaipur to fine-tune their website. This causes their website to consistently rank higher in search results done in Udaipur, even if they’re competing with providers in the area.
Local SEO affects two types of search results: the local pack results and the regular organic results. Each type has its own purpose and often shows different search rankings.
Local Pack Results
The local pack (or map pack) results is a Google search feature that shows the top local businesses based on location from the user. Local pack appears at the top of Google’s search results. It also comes with a map on the side to visualize the location of all search results.
Google considers the following factors for local pack results:
- Relevance to the Search
- Distance from Search Location
- Prominence and Credibility of the Business
Local SEO mainly targets the local pack results. Boosts the visibility of the website to users actively looking for products or services in a certain area.
Regular Organic Results
Regular organic results are the “blue links” seen below the local pack results. This is what we typically see when we search for anything in google.
Some factors Google considers for search results are:
- Relevance to the Search
- Quality Content
- Website Performance
Typical SEO strategies like keywords and optimized content are enough to drive up website rankings in organic search results. Since these are already integrated in local SEO, you don’t need additional strategies to gain this effect.
An SEO expert who likes to help hobby bloggers and small businesses grow their digital presence on search engines like Google.
I have worked for a variety of companies and most prominent of them being an Australian tech startup called Simple Technology Corporation.