What is Local SEO?

What is Local SEO? 

If you haven’t heard of local SEO, you may be wondering, “What does it entail?” Well, it’s an organic and offline approach to local search engine optimization. Listed below are three key elements of local SEO: the Company name, Google’s Knowledge Graph data source, and building local landing pages for each location. 

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Company name plays a role in local SEO 

The name of your company plays an important role in local SEO. Specifically, Google gives higher rankings to companies with names that have keywords in them. This is good news for businesses that want to increase website traffic, as increased traffic often translates to higher sales. However, it is important to remember that your company name is not the only factor in SEO. 

A business’ name is an important part of local SEO, especially for small businesses. Local search is more relevant to local searches, and this can help increase visibility. Google sorts local results into three main groups. The first group is sponsored results, and these results will typically have an “Ad” label attached to them. 

Offline and organic approach to local SEO 

There are many benefits to using both an organic and offline approach to local SEO. The main difference between the two approaches is the way in which they influence location. For example, organic SEO focuses on building a brand and authority within an industry. Local SEO focuses on ranking for specific terms and locations. Local searches are typically conducted by people in a particular area who are actively looking for a service or product. They use the phrase “near me” or the city’s name to find a business that offers that service or product. Hence, businesses that do not utilize both approaches could risk losing business. 

Using an offline and organic approach to local SEO can improve your rankings on search engines like Google. For example, if you were looking for a pizza place in Auckland, you could look up the word “pizza” in Google and see three nearby locations. This is because Google prioritizes locations with the most relevant business information. 

Google’s Knowledge Graph data source 

If you’re trying to rank higher on Google, you might consider optimizing your webpage for Wikipedia’s Knowledge Graph data source. Wikipedia is an excellent resource for all sorts of information and most Google Knowledge Graph results pull from the site. Furthermore, Wikipedia pages are typically very accurate. On average, Wikipedia pages are 99.5% accurate, but you can optimize your page for specific interest groups. However, if you’re still recovering from a Google penalty, you may not want to try and optimize for Wikipedia just yet. 

If you’re looking to optimize for Knowledge Graph for your website, you need to make sure that all your information is relevant and consistent. This means using proper, semantic markup. This is a process known as schema markup, and if you’re unsure of how to go about it, hire an SEO agency to help you. 

Building local landing pages for each of your locations 

One way to increase traffic to your local pages is by embedding user-generated content (UGC). Consumers often rely on user-generated reviews to determine whether to do business with a particular company. Embedding these reviews on your local landing pages builds social proof and trust with consumers. Make sure to post the most positive reviews you can find online. Adding reviews to your landing pages will help you rank higher in search engines. 

Creating individual landing pages for each location is a proven way to boost local SEO and digital traffic. Local landing pages will also help you stand out from the competition. When your customers are looking for your products or services, it’s essential that they find you in their area.