Local SEO: a guide to applying this technique on your website!

When someone searches for a business or place near where they are, they’ll find local results on Google platforms like Maps and Search. To improve your business’s local rankings, use your Google Business Profile to claim and update your business information.

Google Support for Local Searches:

When performing a search with local characteristics such as “x near me” or “y in [city]” we are demonstrating to Google a search intention about something we want to solve now and in a nearby company. It is with this in mind that the search engine has developed ways to optimize results to provide the user with answers that make sense with their location. This is also why local SEO techniques were born. Click here for SEO Services in Calgary

We will also talk about the ranking criteria for this type of search and how to apply local SEO strategies. So, let’s take off?!

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is nothing more than a set of strategies designed specifically for those searches that involve some geographic factor. This search can be for information, product or service, but it is always associated with the name of a state, city, neighborhood or even accompanied by a “near me” complement. For example “English school near me”.

These optimizations involve the technical and content aspects of a website, but it doesn’t stop there. There are factors beyond your website that contribute to the good organic ranking of a domain, such as Google my Business and the construction of a network of cohesive backlinks for this purpose.

When identifying a search for local terms, the algorithm begins to operate in a slightly different way than what we always mention in our content here on the blog. Issues such as page speed, user experience, site taxonomy, among other factors, continue to be relevant in this type of research, but it is not the same as in other cases.

Seeking to deliver the most improved results that are in line with the user’s intentions, the Google search engine gives priority to companies and domains with well-configured local information. Therefore, the factors mentioned above begin to be valid for ranking that select group of URLs that are at a certain distance from the user.

Obviously, Local Search (the name given to the searches that justify Local SEO strategies) does not mean that all website optimization planning is made with users in the region of the headquarters or one of the company’s branches in mind. There are many points of convergence between these tactics and those that would usually be applied in cases of domains that do not sell in your region.

All of this makes Local SEO a plus in your strategy, not its entirety – but don’t underestimate it, it can make a huge difference to your revenue at the end of the month!

Why is it important to think about Local SEO?

There are several motivators for a company to decide to invest in local SEO. Among them, we have separated the ones that stand out the most:

Alignment with customer expectations:

As we already know, Google’s main mission is to offer relevant and universally accessible information. To achieve this, there is a need for the search engine to deliver results in line with users’ expectations and this became even more explicit with the Helpful Content Update in which it mentions:

The useful content system aims to better reward content that offers a more satisfying experience to visitors, while content that does not meet visitor expectations will not perform well.

Google Updates on Useful Content

And when we think about searches with regional characteristics, we can understand that, for the experience to be satisfactory and truly help the user, there must be well-configured location information on your website. This way, the searcher will be able to find it as an answer option to the pain that led to that search.

Increasing the alignment of what you deliver on your website with customer expectations also makes loyalty from people in the region more likely. After all, if when they search for tour options, services, products, etc., it is your website that appears – and delivers! – what she wants, this audience will understand your domain as a reliable source.

Strengthening the brand name:

Continuing with the logic of customer loyalty mentioned above, adequate Local SEO work leads to a strengthening of the brand’s name in its region. It can lead to the famous “word-of-mouth marketing” which is nothing more than the organic promotion and referral of your customers to other potential consumers.

This happens due to the trust relationship established with the user by frequently offering them assertive information. This way, when a friend, relative or acquaintance ends up commenting on a specific need that they know your brand meets, they will end up recommending it. Click here for SEO Services in Calgary

However, for your connection with the consumer to reach this level, your website must first appear in Google’s local recommendations, responding to readers’ search intentions. Therefore, Local SEO is an essential practice for establishing and strengthening brands in their regions, especially if we are talking about new branches or new competitors in an already consolidated market in that location.