Local SEO (Local Search Engine Optimization), sometimes referred to as local search engine marketing, is an incredibly effective way to market your local business online, as it helps businesses promote their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re looking for them online.
This is achieved through a variety of methods, some of which differ greatly from what’s practiced in standard SEO, and some of which are far easier to manage using local SEO tools and can require specific local SEO services.
What is a ‘Local Search’?
First, let’s look at the differences between a standard informational search and what’s known as a local search.
DID YOU KNOW? According to Google, 46% of searches have a ‘local intent’.
Whereas anyone in the world with good enough SEO and authority can rank for a search query like ‘how to fix a blocked drain’, when the query has much more purchase intent behind it, it becomes ‘plumbers near me’ or ‘best plumber in [location]’.
For these types of search query, which typically include a location or ‘near me’ (which aren’t even necessary if searching using Google Maps or if Google knows your location and assumes the search has local intent), search engines understand that what the searcher wants is business suggestions or lists based on location, and so that’s precisely what they offer up in the local search engine results pages (SERPs). This difference in behaviour and result is precisely why local SEO is important and worth investing in alongside standard SEO.
What are Local SERPs?
What local businesses need most to improve traffic to their websites or through their doors is visibility on what’s known as the ‘local pack’ or ‘3-pack’. This is the block of three business listings that appear below the map in the results displayed after a Google search with local intent.
You’ll notice plenty here that’s different from standard organic results, such as opening times, review ratings, and even photos. Although Google is getting clever enough to pull this information directly from your website, that’s not where these elements come from.
Everything that’s displayed in the local pack comes from the business’ Google My Business profile, a critical part of Local SEO marketing that’s becoming more important as Google tries to satisfy more search queries directly in the SERPs.
