Did you know that local searches account for almost half of all queries on Google?
Positioning for location-related phrases is, in practice, one of the best strategies your company can adopt as part of its SEO efforts. Want to learn how to do it effectively? We have some hints.
How important is local positioning?
If you're looking for arguments to allocate a slightly larger portion of your marketing budget to local SEO - let's take a look at the numbers compiled by Think with Google experts.
- As many as 86% of consumers search for information about local businesses online - most of them using Google, of course.
- 30% do it regularly - at least once a week.
- 76% of local inquiries end up with a visit to a nearby store, restaurant or service center....
- ... of which as many as 28% lead to a purchase - that's several times the number of "regular" inquiries.
The Polish market, according to our observations, does not deviate from these trends - especially in larger cities. And that's why positioning websites "for the region/city/district" is proving to be a game changer for many companies operating locally.
Three pillars of effective local SEO
In theory, the ideal local SEO strategy does not exist. In practice, almost every company that chooses this form of SEO efforts is based on at least three pillars.
1. start with the Company Profile
Just 5 years ago, more than half (!) of local business owners did not have a Google My Business card. Today that percentage is certainly lower (and GMF itself has transformed into a Company Profile), but that doesn't change the fact that by optimizing your company's business card you can still stand out.
Why is the Company Profile a must have? Because:
- It increases the chance that the related page will appear high in the organic results;
- also gives the company a chance to be highlighted in the local results section and, of course, in Google Maps;
- gathers in one place all the most important information about a company for a potential customer;
- provides a kind of hub for customer-generated content - photos and, most importantly, reviews;
- Adds credibility to the brand.
2. publish content related to the location and take care of key phrases
Positioning sites stand with good, keyword-saturated content. It's exactly the same for local SEO. Phrases targeting a specific location, like "pizzeria Krakow" or "hairdresser Warsaw" boast huge volumes of queries - so there's plenty to fight for.
A basic local content strategy is generally a mix of several elements:
- classic content under SEO (e.g., blog articles) with local phrases woven into it;
- Location-targeted landing pages;
- separate subpages within the homepage for each of the most important locations.
But that's not all. If the specifics of your industry allow you to do so, perhaps it's also worth thinking about more elaborate, expert content aimed strictly at an audience in a particular region? Remember also about social media - online activity of many companies boils down (with not bad results) to Facebook, Instagram and a well-run Company Profile on Google.
You can also find more details about the positioning process in our post.
3. harness the power of local links
We've talked about on-site activities, now a word about off-site strategies. In the case of Local SEO it really makes sense to focus on getting links from regional sites. Local news portals or city hall sites very often offer the opportunity to plug a link in a local business directory or post a sponsored article. Yes, the authority of such portals is generally lower than that of national sites - but when positioning for local phrases, links leading from them will be very valuable.
Want to learn more about how to effectively position a local business in practice? Check out case studies Semcore that show the results achieved in cooperation with our partners.
