You may have heard the term “local search optimization” thrown around by digital marketers and SEOs before. But do you know what it is and what it can do for your local business? Let’s break it down…
What Is Local Search Optimization?
Local search optimization is part of search engine optimization (SEO). As you probably know by now, SEO helps your website appear in search engine results for terms relevant to your business. For Hurrdat, that’s “digital marketing” and “social media marketing.” They’re broad terms, but they’re useful in communicating what we do to search engines.
Local search, however, narrows those terms to a geographic area. So if you search “digital marketing in Lincoln,” you’ll find Hurrdat. But you won’t just see our website. You’ll also see our local business listings with our address, phone number, hours, business reviews, and more. That’s because we’ve optimized for Lincoln-based searches.
How does this optimization work? Well, in basic terms, it’s focusing local business data and web content to show Google and other search engines that you’re in a local area.
With local business data—or NAP+W, which is the name, address, phone number, and website you see in listings—information must be accurate and consistent. That means your website and any online business directories where you’ve included your business’ information. This sends a trustworthy signal to search engines and helps your business show up for more local searches.
As for web content, it’s all about local keywords: city name, businesses or landmarks that are nearby your location, street names, and more. By including these in the text on your company’s Homepage, About page, and Contact page, search engines can see that your website is associated with a particular geographic area, which also helps you show up in local results.
Why Is Local Search Optimization Good for Businesses?
The best part about local search optimization—aside from improving visibility in search engine results—is that it’s an affordable way to market your business online. If you’re a small to mid-sized business, that’s music to your ears.
Most small businesses blow their marketing budgets trying to take down competitors that are well-known, established, or chains, whether it’s in traditional advertising or digital marketing. The big businesses simply have more money and more resources to stay on top, and that’s discouraging for a lot of businesses looking to compete in the digital world.
But local search levels the field. It makes it easier for small businesses to take advantage of keywords and audiences the big players aren’t going after, meaning you can perform equally or better than those businesses in local search.
Remember, though. Local search optimization still takes time and energy in order to see the benefits, like most things in the SEO world. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it type of marketing, nor is it free. But the investment you make in local search pays off in the long run. It’s a cost-effective way for your business to compete online, directly target local consumers, and attract more local leads.
And who doesn’t want more customers?
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