In a society so linked to the internet and with the facilities that exist to access all kinds of information,local SEO has become an essential activityif you want to grow your company.
Studies indicate that88% of people search for local businesses on their phonesonline each week. From this internet search, 72% of people will visit the store if it is not more than 8 kilometers away. For this reason, local SEO is of great importance for all types of companies. It is vital that users can easily find your website in search engines, especially the most important, Google.
Next, we will explain in detail what this popular process known as “local seo” is and why it is an essential factor to be able to compete against businesses in your area.
What is local SEO?
SEO is a set of techniques used in order tooptimize the online presence of a web pageor business. It’s about attracting the largest number of users to your business by appearing as one of the first organic Google results. To this factor we must add theimportance assumed by the geographical location in which the user is, and if this is related to the search that he has carried out. If this last positional factor is relevant, then we can categorize it as local SEO.
This local positioning process mainly consists of optimizing your content online, so that search engines prefer to show it as one of the first results when users search for solutions within a specific location.
It is important not to confuse the first searches for organic or SEO positioning with the first sponsored searches, that is, the SEM positioning. These are results that appear in the first non-organic positions and with the indicative of ads, since they are positions achieved with an economic investment.
Benefits of SEO positioning
Local positioning mainly gives you the opportunity toincrease the visibility of your business, get more sales and a greater awareness of the brand. This method, which does not require a monetary investment, allows you to reach a greater number of potential customers, especially considering that Google prioritizes local results in the first positions.
When conducting a search on Google or another search engine, the probability that the user will click on one of the first 3 results is 60%. Similarly, the first page of the search engine, or what is the same, the first 10 results, share 99.1% of the clicks. If your website is not in one of those 10 positions on the first page, I am afraid that at most you can aspire to fight for that 0.9% of total clicks along with all other businesses.
As an example, if a user from Barcelona searches for “stationery” on Google, if it does not appear among the first results, no matter how close it is and no matter how good the service it offers, it will not go because it does not know of its existence. If he does not know it beforehand, the user will opt for the one that seems to him a better option to solve his need among those that are better positioned.
Search engines are like a shop window, if it is located in a narrow and dark street, the influx of customers will not be the same as if it is located on the main street of the area where large businesses are concentrated and where many people usually pass. more clients.
Mainly the benefits of having this position are:
- Increase the visibility of your business
- Bring authority to your brand
- Attract more customers
- Get a greater number of sales
Theorganic positioning is necessary to compete in a saturated marketand also to build a better brand image. The first results of Google provide a professional and trustworthy image to your business, while helping to convey greater confidence to the customer. For all this, local SEO positioning and other variables such as SEO positioning in Google maps are so important.
Methods to improve the local SEO of your business
In order to improve SEO positioning, we will only take into account Google, the main search engine that has 92% of the market share. This search engine has a totally secret algorithm that decides where each web page should position as a result of each search. Despite not knowing this system, it has been possible to identify some of the factors that best determine the ranking of results.
Below we provide you with a series of steps or tips to follow to optimize the local SEO positioning of your company’s website:
1. define your business on Google
- Provide as much information as possible about your business and your activity to Google. As an essential point for this local SEO, correctly define your location.
- Use and optimize your presence on Google my business. This tool is essential and includes many determining elements for the online presence of our business.The location in Google maps is very dependent on this tool, so it represents a key point for users looking for nearby businesses to go to. In addition, it allows you to incorporate a large amount of information and interact with users directly through questions and opinions.It is important to include images of your company and services / products to be more recognizable and reliable.
- Define who your target audience is.
2.Basic SEO techniques
- SEO On-Page
On-page SEO is all the factors that are found within your website and that Google looks at. The main variables that are valued are the user experience and the quality of the content that is published, so it is highly recommended to create a blog section on your page.
- Create content that appeals to your target audience, but prioritizes creating quality content that is original and that really captures the attention of users before filling your page with irrelevant content.
- Make use of the appropriate keywords or keywords for the content you create.
- Prioritize user experience before any other technique.
- Have a simple web structure that allows easy access to all information.
- Optimize your website to have a good loading time.
- Adapt your page and content for mobile devices. Essential to benefit from local SEO.
- SEO Off-Page
Off-page SEO is all those factors external to your website that are relevant to your positioning. Most of these variables are not self-reliant, but various practices can be used to improve it.
- Spread your business through social networks and other influential people or media on them.
- Include links to other pages with a higher reputation and try to make these, and other websites related to your sector, do the same with your page.
- Encourage customers to comment on your business and add reviews on Google and other platforms.
3.Analysis of the competition
To stay up-to-date and maintain one of the top SEO positions, it is important to observe and analyze what techniques your competition uses. There are many online tools that allow us to know which keywords are giving them a better positioning and, by accessing their website, it is really easy to analyze which techniques and content are working best.
Do this regularly and adapt the best practices of other websites, but avoid copying any type of content, especially if it has nothing to do with your business.
4.Study of results and maintenance
Once you have started applying these techniques, it is important to periodically analyze the results. This will allow you to check what elements work and what should be changed to increase or maintain the benefits of this SEO positioning. These practices begin to give results in the medium-long term, so it is better to make small variations on a regular basis than to completely change the strategy when not having achieved results.
It is important not to stop doing these practices once you have achieved a good SEO positioning. Google rewards new content and if your page, especially the blog section, is not updated for a while, it will drop positions in the search engine quickly. Publishing between 2 and 4 entries a month on your website will be enough if the content is appropriate, and don’t forget to update and keep the information published previously up-to-date.
How to start local SEO in your company?
The first steps to position a new website are to define objectives and establish steps to follow, always taking your needs into account. Of course, when you plan the strategy of your local SEO positioning,focus on the users.
To begin,establish the foundation of your website so that search engines can find your content. If your site is not optimized for crawling, the system in charge of crawling and examining each website, search engines will not be able to access your content or index it in the results.
Once this is complete,focus on the technical structure of your website to improve the user experience. Mobile optimization, loading speed and having an intuitive structure are currently the most important factors for a website focused on local SEO positioning. Also, remember to optimize your business on Google my business to appear on Google maps and relate your positioning to your location.
Lastly,create valuable content that meets the needs and interests of your users. This part will be more complex since the objective is to capture the attention of the users and this is not always achieved in a short period of time. These techniques need dedication and perseverance to achieve medium-long term results.
Now that you know some of the methods to improve your local SEO positioning and increase the profits of your business, you will see that it is not an easy task to do them correctly. If with all these tools you do not achieve your goal, it is best to put yourself in the hands of professionals who have proven experience in the sector.
