Local search is the natural evolution of traditional off-line advertising, delivered to the Web. Traditionally, we've relied on local newspapers, radio and TV to find local product and services. With the advent of the Web, we're increasingly using search engines to find local products and services online. Hence the need for local
search engine optimization.
In recent years, local search has grown rapidly while off-line searches, have been on the declined. As a natural consequence, companies are slowly shifting their advertising investments from traditional media to local search engines, also known as
Inbound marketing.
Today, geolocation technology is integrated into every consumer device connected to the internet. Late last year, search engines made a quantum leap offering hyperlocal results, reflecting what they know their users are actively looking for.
You can't avoid the verdict: it’s vital to embrace local search engine optimization if you want your business to compete in today's marketplace.
Here are the top 5 best practices you can apply immediately for local search engine optimization:
#1) Get on the map - and get local reviews
Do you have listings on the “Big 4” online map programs? MapQuest, Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and Bing are all vital to your success. Search engines cull them all, because they’re all primary in different circles. Somebody finding your business through Facebook - with their new Timeline interface - will be finding you on Bing maps. People on various handheld devices may be finding you through MapQuest or Google Maps. And then, of course, people have their maps-of-choice on their home and laptop computers.
Of equal importance to getting on the map is getting great reviews. Building a proactive, positive presence on the “Big 3” social review sites - Yelp, CitySearch, and Google Places - will make or break your local search engine optimization. Whether people believe or discard reviews from a critical perspective is irrelevant. If you have a positive rating in reviews, people will trust you. And generally, search engines are working hard to bring the businesses their users trust to the top of SERPs.
Make sure you create listings for each location locally. And make sure your address on that location matches an address prominently displayed on your website. Which leads us to...
#2) Create local landing pages
Whether you’re a small business or a multi-national corporation, building hyperlocal landing pages is vital to local search engine optimization. If someone’s searching for “oil change”, for example, search engines will geolocate their device and give them results that match their particular, specific location.
Once people find your local landing page, you can welcome them personally, offering them location-specific details and deals.
#3) Make URLs local-friendly
Creating URLs that reflect your locations might seem like a no-brainer. When you have pages that reflect a local site, you’re more likely to come to the top of locally-driven SERPs.
#4) Build robust social media conversation
Gone are the days when you could rely on the number of “likes” alone to indicate how cool you are.
Social media is maturing quickly out of being a simple popularity contest. Now, the amount of conversation you generate is the only way to make social media an important part of your marketing strategy.
#5) Blog your heart out
Want to know local search engine optimization’s biggest secret?
Blogging is no longer an option.
Why? First, the more content you generate, the higher you come up in SERPs. Search engines are “trained” over a very short amount of time to crawl sites that generate information more frequently.
Second, creating quality content is still the only best way to make it to the top of local search engine optimization results. Search engines are continually finding new ways to cut through material that isn’t what their users are really looking for.
Third, offering content and media through your blog is the best way to generate social media conversation. The goal is to come up in your fans’ newsfeeds with content they re-share with their networks.
This sends a strong signal to search engines that you’re not only interesting and relevant - but you’re exactly what other people are likely looking for in local search engine results.