Search engine optimization typically focuses on bringing in visitors from around the world. This is because many online businesses can ship within the country or even globally. However, if your business is more local, you may not necessarily care if people in other states or countries find you. A local attorney, flower shop, or small boutique that doesn’t ship products won’t get any benefit from their website being found by others outside of the area they serve. This is where local SEO comes into play. It allows you to target those who specifically live near your business.
Local SEO Uses Locations as Keywords
You may already be using your location in your keywords, but local SEO is especially focused on this. You want to think of the many different ways someone might search for an attorney in your area. For example, keywords might include attorney in Baltimore, Baltimore lawyer, and legal help in Baltimore MD. If you have customers in several different cities or towns nearby, you may even want to include those city names in some of your keywords. Remember to avoid keyword stuffing, of course, and always make your content sound natural. That’s not always easy to do when you’re trying to work in your city and state, of course, so don’t overdo it.
Local SEO Goals
The goal of local SEO is for someone nearby to get your business as the top result. You want someone who does a search for a florist in Boston to see your store before they see options like 1-800-Flowers. Search engines often put these local results in their own section, too. For example, Google often includes a map with pinned results of two or three local businesses that match the query before showing other results. If you can get your business on this map, customers are much more likely to visit your website or store.
How Easy Is it to Add Local SEO?
Chances are, you already have some local SEO keywords incorporated into your content. If you don’t, simply look at where you discuss your industry or your store and see if you can add in your location. Consider adding it to your “about us” page and to your “contact us” section as well. Again, don’t use your location more than seems natural. BlendIM’s team of experts can also assist you in building up your local SEO. Contact us today to learn more.
