If you’re a small local business, then there’s a good chance that when you hear of “SEO”, you either assume it’s something that only big companies do, or get worried by the amount of effort it will take for you to get results. Many incorrectly assume that SEO can do little for small businesses, and instead, it is better to allocate marketing budgets elsewhere. However, this is far from the truth, and a local SEO strategy is something that can be done relatively quickly, affordably and lead to massive results.
What is local SEO (search engine optimisation)?
Local SEO refers to efforts you make in order to attract local customers to your business via Google. For example, say you run an Indian restaurant in Bristol, good local SEO will mean that when people search for “Indian restaurants in Bristol”, yours will appear as one of the top suggestions. Essentially, Google comes to respect your company as a great local business and will refer it as relevant when people make searches for services you offer. This has the obvious benefit of attracting more customers to your business, free of charge, as you don’t need to pay Google for that suggestion.
How does local SEO work?
When deciding whether or not to rank you for relevant local searches, Google will classify your business based on factors such as:
– Your quality and number of Google reviews
– Your number of profile views
– The number of sites that link to you
– The relevancy of your on-site copy
At the end of the day, Google’s main aim is to deliver searchers with the most accurate response to their needs, and there are tools in place to help you do that. You just need to make use of these tools and to put in the effort to make your website as relevant as possible to the exact service you offer.
How do I get started?
To get started, you can register with useful tools like Google My Business, and start building your reviews and filling out all the information about your business. On your website itself, you can start publishing useful content that your customers will like to read and that highlight you as a crucial part of the local business community. Over time, the quality and trustworthiness of your site will rise for visitors and you will hopefully start to get more external links and Google can rank you higher.
To help get you started on the right path and to maximise results, it is often best to speak to an experienced marketing agency like us who can guide your business through the difficult initial stages of a local SEO strategy. To find out more get in contact with us at https://www.dpom.co.uk/contact-us/
