Social Networking Sites
Local searches are very crucial for the future of your business. Many search engines place emphasis on recommending and making local businesses visible. This is the reason why when people search for a particular keyword, search results often display businesses that are within the same location of the searcher.
Currently, local searches are a great way to reach your local audience compared with other internet marketing channels such as conventional commercials, direct mailing and so on. If you are an internet marketer, it is therefore crucial that you consider local SEO as one of your internet marketing campaigns that you can use to attract your local target market.
What Is Local SEO?
When people search for a particular business, they usually have local businesses in mind. This means people who tend to search for a particular keyword is expected to come across a business establishment that is located near them. Searching for a keyword in a specified area is known as local search.
The consumer behavior of people is that they do not go around looking for companies located on the other side of the globe unless they cannot help it. Most potential clients will opt to transact businesses that are located near them.
Why Should You Consider Local SEO?
With the many internet marketing strategies that are available now, why is it still crucial to consider local SEO? While your aim is to enter a bigger market if you want to expand your business, it is important that you start promoting your business in the local market first. By doing so, you will be able to establish your reputation within your local clients. By building your own brand to your local target audience, it will now be easier for you to be able to bring your business to a larger market.
Local SEO Versus Traditional SEO
There is a big difference between local SEO and traditional SEO. The latter relies heavily on Google’s algorithm thus it weighs factors such as relevant incoming links and social marketing. On the other hand, local search is dependent on the optimization of your site as well as who is talking about your site. Moreover, local SEO is not as complicated as traditional SEO and there are only three essential ideas where local SEO revolves.
• Optimizing websites for local search and for mobile users
• Use social networking wisely to generate local clienteles
• Engage people to talk about your local business
Currently, the hype with local SEO is to incorporate it into mobile marketing. There is a high percentage of the population in the country who owns smart phones. With the convenience that it provides, it is no wonder why most people log online using their smart phones to access different websites. If you are an internet marketer, it is important that you jump in on the bandwagon. You will be able to reach more people that way if you create local SEO strategies that are geared towards mobile users.
Why Is Local SEO Geared For Mobile Users?
With the many people using internet-ready mobile devices like smart phones and tablet computers, it is estimated that by the end of next year, mobile web traffic is set to exceed traffic generated from laptop and desktop computers.
This colossal shifts on how people browse the internet is one of the reasons why it is so important that you use local SEO that is geared towards mobile users. Currently, about 53% of traffic in local SEO is derived from mobile traffic. And with the many people bound to own such devices for convenience, it will take just a few months next year for internet marketers to see the percentage mobile traffic doubling.
How To Launch Local SEO?
Local SEO is simple to launch. There are several strategies that you can do in order to achieve this. Below is a short description on the different strategies that you can use if you want to take advantage of local SEO.
A. Google Places
One of the most important things to do to increase your ranking in local SEO is to use Google Places. This is a great tool that will allow you to put your business within the virtual map, thus making you more visible among your prospect clients. You can create a profile on Google Places and include standard information such as your business name, address, contact information, hours of operation and email address.
When setting up a profile, make sure that you do not spam Google Places. Apparently, Google is not so forgiving to those who spam the Google Places listing. Once you’re done setting up your profile, you need to verify that you are the owner of the business by entering the PIN that they give you.
B. Social networking sites
Another important way that you can do local SEO is to use social media. Creating social media accounts for your business is important. Take note that social indicators are very important in local SEO. Moreover, Google usually uses social media accounts in order to verify the information sent in Google Places. One of the most important social networking sites that you can use to promote local SEO is Facebook.
Facebook has clear social networking sites instructions on how you can claim a Facebook page for your business for the sake of improving your local search thus it is important that you follow the instructions stipulated by the site to avoid problems. As soon as you have claimed a Facebook page for your local SEO, you can then start building your own pages in other social media sites. The more accounts you create, the more visible your business will be in local searches.
The success of your local SEO largely depends on online business listings as well as social networking sites but there are still other strategies that you can use. If you launch this particular strategy for your business, you will definitely enjoy the benefits of acquiring more local website traffic as well as better sales conversion from your local target social networking sites market.
