Drive Your Business Listing to the Top of Google Maps

Digital marketing can be a complex and overwhelming process, especially since it's possible to reach a global audience — but what about local SEO?

How important is it to optimize your website for local search and how do you go about showing up in local listings?

Data shows that 46 percent of Google searches seek local information and 88 percent of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphone call or visit a store within a day.

What Is a Local Search?

If you operate a business that is highly dependent on in-person sales, you need to make local search a top priority.

Local search marketing or "local SEO" involves the online strategies you use to promote your physical business, targeting a localized audience. You are considered a local business if you meet with customers either in your store or in a service area.

When you attract new customers, you can then take that opportunity to showcase your unique selling points. Whether you offer competitive pricing, quality products, or excellent customer service, what begins as a local search initiative can develop into repeat business.

A significant part of local search is making your site and business visible to local consumers. This involves optimizing your online content with search engines in mind.

Let's start with the basics — why bother with local search?

How Does a Local Search Help Your Business?

Being in business isn't easy. Whether you're the owner or manager, you know that there's a never-ending to-do list.

So, what makes local search so special? Why is it worth your attention?

The answer lies in your ability to rank higher. Since 75 percent of people will never scroll past the first page on a Google search. When you invest in a strong search strategy, you'll get more traffic, more leads, and more business.

There is a multitude of data online showcasing the importance of local search. For example, four in five consumers use searches to find local businesses. While focusing on conversion rates, as many as 80 percent of local searches result in conversions, with a total of 78 percent of local mobile searches ending with a purchase.

When consumers are looking for a business near them, how will they ever find you if you don't show up in their search? What's worse is that if they can't find you, they're finding your competitors.

Some of the greatest benefits of local search include:

• Improved online visibility
• More traffic
• Building a community of trusting consumer
• More return local business.
• Reducing ad costs
• Increased revenue

Now, HOW to show up in local search listings.

Conduct a Local Search Ranking Audit

One of the best starting points is to understand where you currently stand. That way, you can develop realistic goals and timelines to hit those goals.

• Clear your cache and browsing history. This will provide you with more accurate insight.
• Go to Google and search for your industry plus your city (e.g., "window cleaning Detroit" or Italian food Miami") — is your business visible on the first page?
• Next, search for your business name plus location (e.g., "Papa's Pizza Portland"). Are you easy to find?
• Be mindful of who else comes up during your search. This will be the start of your competitor analysis.

Now that you have an idea of how you're ranking, you can develop a strategy that works for your business. Ask yourself, do you have any customer reviews? Do you actively work on building a strong social media presence? Have you been publishing content on your website?

Create Hyper-Local Content

Are you not ranking as well as you'd like? Then it's time to create a hyper-localized content strategy.

Optimize Your Business Information

Google determines local SEO ranking based on distance, relevance, and prominence. One of the easiest things is to update your business info for greater, more accurate visibility.

This means entering complete data, including the following:

• Phone number
• Physical address
• Category
• Attributes

You should also verify your location(s), ensure your hours are accurate, respond to Google reviews and add photos.

Ask for Customer Reviews

Word-of-mouth is everything when aiming to boost local business.

Online reviews are a major go-to source of information for consumers. Data shows that in 2021, 77 percent of consumers 'always' or 'regularly' read reviews when browsing for local businesses (up from 60 percent in 2020).

Positive reviews help build trust, as 85 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

To get more reviews, you can ask a customer to leave you a review after you close a sale. Offer guidance on how they can do so. For example, how to leave a Google review or a review on your Facebook page. Consumers who sign-up to receive email updates are a great starting point. After a customer makes a purchase, send an email asking them to leave a review. You can also include a link to leave a review in your monthly newsletter.

When consumers leave reviews, respond whether they're positive or negative. It's important to show not just that consumer that you appreciate them but that you appreciate your customers as a whole. When someone leaves a positive comment, thank them. In the unfortunate event that someone leaves a negative review, publicly address it.

Focus on a Keyword Strategy

The keywords you use help you rank higher. To improve your local search ranking, you must be specific.

Focus on where you are and what you offer. For example, if you're a flower shop in Allentown, Pennsylvania, you may want to include keywords such as flowers in Allentown, florist in Allentown, top flower shops in Pennsylvania. These keywords should appear on your website, particularly within your blog — but more on that in a moment.

There are plenty of local keyword research tools available, including KWFinder, SEMrush, and MOZ, just to name a few.

Need assistance with this step? There are SEO specialists that can help you with this process.

Prioritize Consistent Blogging with Local Search in Mind

Blogging offers an incredible return on investment when done right.

Data shows that without content marketing, such as blogging, most businesses will have a conversion rate of around 0.5 percent. However, those that invest in content enjoy conversion rates closer to three percent.

Some strategies include:

• Writing posts about local events, people in your community, or how your business is involved in the local community.
• Promoting local guides that would appeal to your target audience. For example, do you own a brick-and-mortar that specializes in natural health products? If so, you may want to publish content on "The Top Vegan Restaurants in New York" or "5 Green Spaces in Burlington, Vermont to Practice Yoga." Think about what your audience would want to read and plug-in local keywords.

To get the most out of your blog, you'll need to publish quality content consistently. Blogs that post four times a week get 3.5 times more traffic. Within these blog posts, you will include keywords you discovered during your local search research.

For many business owners, this is a daunting process. After all, you want to position yourself as an authoritative, professional brand. Plus, quality blogging is time-consuming and requires a certain skill set. That is why many businesses now invest in a fully managed blog.

Improve Your Local Search Ranking

When you invest in your local search ranking, you'll experience a wide range of benefits — the type of benefits that keep on giving.

The sooner you make your local search ranking a priority, the better.

Not sure where to begin? Partner with a full-service content creation company that understands your goals. Outsourcing your content's creation, promotion, and management means you can focus on the most important thing — your growing business!

If you need help creating content for and managing your business blog, contact certiBLOG today. We handle everything from ideation and content creation to posting and promoting your SEO-optimized content. Schedule a meeting today!