Local SEO – The Hometown Advantage

Most SEO strategies are created to rank sites for competitive keywords relating to their product or service. However, there is often a largely overlooked ROI in local SEO. Although rendering lower search volumes, local searches usually carry a lot more intent and can deliver convertible traffic to your site.

With this in mind, we’ll look at how to go about local SEO Optimisation for your business. We’ll examine how you can rank in local search, whether or not your premises is bricks and mortar, and keyword research. In fact, let’s start with that…

Local Keyword Research

First things first, you need to take the time to research what your competitors are doing. Do they have dedicated pages to each location? Do they have contact details on every page? All you need to do is add their contact page URL into Google’s Keyword Planner tool and you’ll find out which keywords Google is associating them with. If there are terms that aren’t on your list, add them. Whilst on your research mission, make use of Keyword Planner and determine search volumes for your location. Don’t just stick to your city, but think of distinct areas (e.g for a search like ‘electrician Brisbane’ you may want to think of the locations you service or are near; so ‘electrician North Lakes’, ‘electrician East Ipswich’ or electrician ‘Albion’, etc.)

Individual search volume for specific areas will probably be low, but all in all can deliver a good amount of pre-qualified traffic with high intent. Remember though, it’s pertinent not to optimise for location search terms far away from your area(s) of business, as this will reduce your potential to rank for your actual location.

It’s also worth noting people variate how they do local searches, so mix it up with additional terms (e.g ‘electricians in Brisbane’, ‘Brisbane electrician’, ‘best electrician in Brisbane’). You should take note of long-tailed keywords, despite not having the highest search volume they can often have high conversion rates, especially those that express purchase intent (e.g Brisbane electrician emergency call out”.)

Lastly, a local search strategy should take into account people don’t always specify their location, as in most cases Google already knows this. So, don’t forget to add a term like “electricians near me”.

Local Search Optimisation With A Website

It’s not necessary for a business to have a physical location to rank for location terms. A local search strategy can enable a business without any bricks to rank for local search terms in the SERPs. If you do have an HQ however, then it’s essential you register it at Google My Business as this allows your page to appear in Google Maps as well as Google’s Local Pack, which has a higher CTR when compared to organic search results.

If you have a site for your business and you have a physical location, here’s how to get your site appearing in local listings:

Scheme data: Make use of schema markup for local businesses injected into contact pages to give clear indications to search engines of your shop’s physical location (example 4 is probably the most explanatory in this link). You can also add things such as opening times and the type of business. If read by Google, this will increase the chance of the knowledge graph being presented for a brand search of your local business.

Location keywords: Ensure you have your business location in at least one title tag, usually the homepage, as well as in the body of your content.

Additional content: If you want to service multiple locations, a good place to start is publishing location-specific guides or blog content. As a general rule, utilising your site’s blog to create regular content will help you target local and non-local long-tailed keywords

Mobile friendly site: We’ve covered this previously, but it’s worth mentioning again (it’s really important!). As well as ranking above non optimised sites in the SERPs, having a mobile optimised site will pay dividends if you wish to rank for local search. This is because more and more business searches are being done by smartphones. And, with the integration of map-based apps, it really is a no-brainer.

Optimising For Local Search Without A Website

It’s not necessary to have a website to have a Google presence (although, we highly recommend having a website). If you don’t have a website but you do have a physical shop or an office, you can still have a web presence for your chosen keywords in Google by doing the following:

Local directory listings: Find out which directories are ranking highly for your service in your area, and get your business on there.

Create a Google My Business page: This is important. When you create your page you can input your location and opening times etc, and you’ll then appear in Google Maps listings.

The benefits of local search term ranking are often dependent on your business. For many businesses that have a national or global focus, or those that exist solely online, then there’s not much use in ranking locally. For the majority of small business owners though, a well thought out local SEO strategy can form the foundation of a solid digital mark

Local SEO Optimisation can be a tricky road to travel, luckily for you, we’re the experts! Get in touch with our SEO team today on 1300 859 600 and get your business in front of the right people! 

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