If you are looking to increase your visibility in your local area, local seo services are essential.
When you search for a service in Google, it’s very likely a map listing comes up with businesses nearest your location. Getting your business showing up in these map listings is a key part of local SEO.
Understanding the difference between local SEO compared to traditional SEO services is very important so you can attract more customers within the areas you serve.
That’s exactly what we are going to talk about… answer what actually local SEO is, the key components within local SEO and how you can local SEO to help increase your local search visibility.
So, What is local SEO?
Local SEO focuses on improving a business’s visibility in geographically relevant search results. It applies when people search with location intent, either explicitly (‘plumber in Crewe’) or implicitly (‘emergency plumber near me’).
Unlike broader search optimisation that focuses on ranking in search engines regardless of the location, local SEO prioritises proximity, relevance and prominence signals, perfect for those businesses with physical premises. These factors determine which businesses appear in local packs, map listings and location-based organic results. The goal is not simply to rank, but to appear in the moments when users are ready to act within a specific area.
At its core, when someone searches for your service in your local area, completing local SEO activities will get you shown. For example, when people search for potential trades like ‘mechanic’ or a ‘cleaner’, it’s more than likely Google will firstly show results of businesses within your local area first as they can actually reach your location. If you are based in London and a company in Manchester pops up, it’s very unlikely they’ll be able to do the job so it prioritises local businesses instead.
And how to do local SEO effectively
There’s many elements that goes into local SEO to get your business visible for relevant local searches and understanding these is essential to start winning business in your area.
These key local SEO strategies include:
Creating & Optimising your Google Business Profile (GMB)
For local SEO, having an Google Business Profile is the most important and easy thing to do. It’s a free listing that you can create through your Google account, which allows you start ranking within the Google map listings. There’s many things you can do to optimise your profile, including adding a clear business description including local keywords, regular having your customers within the local area adding reviews & adding all your products/services with detailed descriptions. That’s just some to name a few!
Even stuff as simple as uploading new images, regular posting updates to the business and adding accurate opening times all comes together to help increase your visibility within those Google map listings and local packs.
Producing Location Specific Content
When creating any piece of website content, some type of keyword research should be conducted to understand what people area actually searching for related to your niche. For local SEO, they can differ a bit from national ones so it’s important you understand the common phrases people say in your area so you can match local intent.
When you have found those terms, it’s important you add them throughout your website’s content so search engines understands who you are targeting. But, and it’s a huge but, make sure you do this in a natural and organic way or else it’ll be resembled as ‘keyword cannibalisation’ and your rankings and visibility will be penalised as a result.
Make sure you mention about all the areas you cover, not just the main county, but nearby cities, towns and even neighbourhoods so search engines can fully understand your target market.
Local Testimonials From Local Customers
Having success stories from customers within your area signals to search engines you’ve got trust in that specific location. It’s more important than ever to get all of your customers to leave a positive review on their experience with your service as it’ll only improve your local reputation and increase your enquiries as nearly everyone look at other people’s experiences before converting.
Showcasing this on your website with a detailed story on what you the customer wanted, how you completed it and a little review from them will really support your local SEO rankings.
Gaining Local Backlinks & Citations
Link building activities and brand mentions can go a long way in traditional SEO and even more in local SEO. If you can get your business listed on directories like Yell with your full business details, including phone number, address and name, it’ll consistently show Google where you are based and support your local rankings. Make sure you are consistent with your listings throughout, using the same details or else it could really hurt your local rankings. If we said we were ‘Online Marketing Surgeons’ instead of ‘Online Marketing Surgery’, search engines like Google will just get confused
It’s even better if you can get listed in hyperlocal directories as well as interacting in local forums around your business. Getting featured in local publications as well is huge when it comes to local SEO as the people who’ll be their pieces are in your area so it’s brilliant brand visibility to potential customers. You can do this through digital pr pieces related to the brand.
Increase Your Local Rankings Today!
Understanding how to do Local SEO is only the first step, actually implementing it correctly and being consistent is what will actually help increase your local rankings and enquiries. Things are constantly changing with algorithm updates happening constantly but if you regularly focusing on the local side of your business, search engines like Google will only reward you for this and you’ll be the number one local business in no time!