For certain types of businesses, local SEO is incredibly important. An example is construction. This is a locally-driven business where customers are going to be searching for a provider in their geographic area, making SEO services for roofers and other similar service providers very important.
The same is true for retail businesses with a brick-and-mortar location or really any business with a local presence.
With those things in mind, the following are important facts to be aware of with local SEO in 2023.
1. What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is what helps increase your business’s visibility in Google local search results. If you search on Google for any keywords relevant to your business and then a map with listings below it is in the results, then you should consider leveraging local SEO for business growth.
Local search algorithms include different patterns than other organic search results. They include a proximity factor, meaning basically that Google is factoring in the location of the person searching when returning results if a local keyword is used.
The map pack or local pack is the name of the feature on Google’s search engine results pages that shows the top local businesses as well as a map. It’s at the top of the page for the results of a local search. Then, the other organic search results are below the map pack.
2. Keywords for Local SEO
When you do keyword research, it helps you understand how people are searching for local services or products that your business offers.
When you understand what people are searching for, it’s beneficial not just from an SEO standpoint but can help you personalize and target your other marketing and advertising as well.
As you’re choosing keywords for local SEO, you want to think from the perspective of what a local searcher has in mind. Try and consider what they might type in when looking for your services, aside from the more obvious phrases.
When it comes to local SEO, your homepage probably isn’t going to rank for all the keywords related to your business, so you’ll need to create separate pages to target them individually.
3. Relevant Ranking Factors
The ranking factors for SEO are a bit different and include the following:
- Your Google Business Profile, which used to be known as Google My Business. Your Google Business Profile is a local listing that includes key information about your business. It’s free, and when you complete it and optimize it, your business can show up in Google Maps and in the map pack. If you want to rank on the map pack, you have to complete your Google Business Profile. The signals are becoming increasingly important that are derived from Google Business Profiles.
- NAP citations. These include your business name and address as well as your phone number, and they’re usually found on business directories and social media.
- Reviews. The quality and also the number of reviews for your business online and on your Google Business Profile can impact your local SEO rankings. Reviews are so important not just for SEO but for conversions, so remind your customers to leave reviews. You can create and then share a link so that people can review you in your Google Business Manager.
- Links. Links are a big part of not just local SEO but all organic rankings. Links are like a way for other sites to say they trust your content or business or that they consider you an authority. Way back in 2016, Google itself said backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors, and that hasn’t changed.
- On-page SEO. On-page factors related to local search can include having pages that are customized for search intent and the use of SEO-friendly and descriptive URLs. Look at other pages in your area and see what they talk about as you’re figuring out on-page SEO.
4. Useful Tools
There are a lot of useful tools for local SEO.
Google Business Manager is one because that’s how you manage your Google Business Profile. It’s free to sign up for.
Google Search Console is another free tool that can help you monitor the organic search performance of your site, and you can use a tool like Ahrefs to track local keyword rankings.
5. Video Content
Finally, in 2023, video content is really front and center in terms of SEO, and that includes local SEO. If you own a local business, consider creating a YouTube channel and optimizing your videos there for local search. Google also tends to like to show video content in organic search results when possible. You can also publish videos to your Google Business Profile using Google posts, as long as you follow the content policies.
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