If your business consists of dealing only with customers near you, then you're going to have to seriously focus on local SEO. And for good reason: 25% of queries performed on Google have a local intent and 85% of internet users have already searched for local businesses on search engines.
But what's remarkable about local searches are the conversion rates, especially on smartphones: 88% of localized queries on phones turn into a visit or a call within 24 hours!
Now that we have your attention, here are 10 essential tips to optimize your local SEO and attract visitors from your catchment area.
Get a free audit of your local SEO Sponsored
Do you want to improve your local visibility? Get a free, instant SEO audit with Digitaleo, the local communication specialist.
When you know that nearly half (46%) of Google searches are intended to find a local business, it's important to take care of your local SEO to drive traffic to your points of sale.
To guide you in this process, the SaaS platform Digitaleo has created an audit tool that analyzes the essential levers to appear in first position on Google (presence management, customer reviews, Google Business Profile listing…) through key indicators: average rating, recency of reviews, completeness rate, engagement rate…
The platform even goes further by offering to compare you with a competitor of your choice.
1. Geolocate your on-page SEO
Using relevant keywords Using them on your web pages, whether in titles (h1, h2…) or in the body text, is essential to rank well.
However, it can be very difficult to distinguish yourself from your competitors in some keywords very competitive cases: take, for example, the word "hairdresser", which is highly searched and very competitive.
A hair salon will have a hard time ranking well in Google results with that single keyword (especially since it would not necessarily be relevant).
But by adding the keyword with a city (for example: "hairdresser Lyon"), the business greatly improves its local SEO. Always take the geographic component into account in your on-page SEO.
2. Optimize your title and meta description
The <title> tag and the meta description do not necessarily have a direct impact on local SEO, but they do play an undeniable indirect role.
Understand that these (most often) are the two elements that will be displayed in Google search results. It is therefore on these that users will rely to choose which link to click.
By indicating your location in your <title> tags and meta description (e.g., "Dentist in Nantes"), you significantly increase your chances of getting users to click your link. Moreover, those users will not be disappointed because they will find exactly what they are looking for where they want it.
A positive signal for Google which could, over time, improve your site's ranking as it notices that it satisfies people searching for your keyword.
3. Optimize your Google My Business page
Google launched Google My Business to allow local businesses to have a quality page grouping their contact details, as well as information about their activity. This page, which strongly resembles Google+ business pages, is also located on Google Maps.
Consequently, having a Google My Business account allows local businesses to appear prominently in geo-localized searches and to provide potential customers with all the information they need: address, email, phone number, map, types of products sold, etc.
To optimize your My Business page, here are some tips:
- The basics: make sure you have entered a correct business name, address and phone number;
- Stand out with original, high-quality photos;
- Be as precise as possible when choosing your categories (for example, prefer "Fresh vegetable shop" rather than "Store") to be more easily found;
- Highlight the best reviews left by users and respond to negative reviews in a reassuring manner;
- Offer a 360° virtual tour of your establishment to attract even more customers.
4. Be present in local directories
If print directories are dead, the online directories are booming!
PagesJaunes, Yelp and TripAdvisor are regularly consulted by users looking for a specific place in their area. In addition, these sites allow them to leave reviews, telling others whether the products offered are good quality… or not!
However, for this strategy to be effective, make sure all information is consistent. It's the best way to strengthen your local SEO and avoid losing customers who will be confused by contradictory details.
5. Take care of your site's microformats
To improve your ranking in local searches, you need to give Google some details using microformats. These are enriched tags that help search engines better understand your site's structure, so they can rank you more accurately.
Suppose you have a hotel located at 3 Gardens Street in Bordeaux. Here is the code to add to your website:
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Hotel">
<span itemprop="name">Hotel</span>
<div itemprop="address" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/PostalAddress">
<span itemprop="streetAddress">3 Gardens Street</span>
<span itemprop="addressLocality">Bordeaux</span>,
<span itemprop="addressRegion"> Bordeaux</span>
<span itemprop="postalCode">33000</span>
</div>
Google will then understand the type of business you have and will be able to pinpoint it precisely on a map.
6. Encourage online reviews
As we said above, when you sign up on directories or create a Google My Business page, you expose yourself to user reviews. And that's a good thing! The better a business is rated on various sites, the more likely it is to rise in the results.
By encouraging your satisfied customers to rate you and leave reviews, you positively influence your local SEO.
7. Develop a mobile site
All the following points will be useless if you don't have a mobile-friendly site. Indeed, 60% of local searches are performed from a smartphone.
Moreover, voice search on mobile is particularly used to find nearby businesses.
Needless to say, if your site is unreadable on a small screen, you risk losing a lot of traffic and conversion opportunities.
8. Implement a store locator
We mentioned earlier the importance of optimizing your Google My Business page to improve your local SEO and help users find you easily.
But implementing a store locator strategy is also an effective way to maximize in-store traffic. Here’s why.
A store locator is an interactive map that geolocates physical stores or points of sale and helps users find the one closest to them. Easy to use, this feature is found on websites and/or mobile apps.
This tool generally uses the user's geolocation to suggest the nearest point of sale. In some cases, the user must enter their postal code to display a list of establishments. Thanks to the store locator, it's easy to find opening hours and access information for a location. It's also a handy tool to check product availability before making the trip.
Knowing that on average 90% of users perform an online search before going to a store, there are many reasons to implement a store locator strategy:
- maximize your in-store traffic and sales;
- reassure users (for after-sales service they know where to find you);
- optimize your local SEO ;
- analyze your web traffic by measuring the impact of your in-store conversions;
There are many plugins or simple-to-use SaaS tools that you can already add to your website to boost your local SEO. Users will be delighted if they realize one of your locations is near them and won't hesitate to visit you.
Typically a store locator is accompanied by other web-to-store or app-to-store strategies to drive as much traffic as possible to physical points of sale.
9. Use presence management tools
Before discussing how presence management helps you grow your local SEO, let’s start by defining what presence management actually is.
Presence management is the set of valuable tools that allow you to manage and update all the practical information about your business in one place so it gets updated across all the digital channels where you are present (e.g., Google My Business, Apple Maps, PagesJaunes…).
Why is this interesting for you? Because these platforms already benefit from optimal SEO that you can easily and freely take advantage of to promote yourself.
These channels automatically publish your business information (address, opening hours, phone number…), boosting your online presence and your local SEO. It is therefore essential for you to ensure the consistency and uniformity of this information. Otherwise, you could face the disappointment of internet users who go to your store because they saw it was “open” online while you are closed that day.
As you’ll have understood, using a presence management strategy lets you save a huge amount of time when optimizing your local SEO. But above all, it allows you to ensure the consistency of your information across the different digital channels you use.
Our tips for successful presence management
- Provide as much information as possible about your establishment;
- Regularly update your information (opening hours, address, phone number…);
- Create consistency between the information you publish on these different digital platforms;
10. Implement a web-to-store strategy
We mentioned store locators earlier and the significant traffic they generate for physical outlets. They are generally part of a broader strategy known as web-to-store.
Web-to-store, also called ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline), is a strategy aimed at generating online interest to attract people to physical stores.
Digital marketing and physical retail join forces through web-to-store to offer an even higher-quality customer experience to consumers. It’s a good way for brands to meet their customers’ various needs and to get to know them better.
Let us present three web-to-store strategies that work and that you can implement to grow your local SEO. Let’s go!
Click and Collect
It has become widespread in recent years with the closure of many shops during the recent health crisis. The click and collect involves making purchases online and picking them up in store.
It’s a valuable time-saver for consumers since they’ve already paid online and don’t need to wait at the checkout. By picking up their purchases directly in store, they avoid both delivery fees and delays.
Mobile-to-store
This strategy is effective because it uses geolocation systems to direct potential consumers to a specific point of sale.
With a promotional action or advertising, you can target consumers who are in your catchment area to draw them to your store.
Product locator
On a website or mobile app, this feature allows users to check a product's availability in store.
Many stores allow customers to reserve their items online so they can be sure to find them in store. In this case, it becomes a good complement to Click and Collect.
Our tip to improve your local SEO
With these 10 tips, you can begin to make your way to the top of local SEO.
To go even further in your SEO strategy, find a freelance SEO consultant on Codeur.com.
