14 Common Misconceptions About Local SEO step by step

Posted by Shawnna on April 8th, 2021

If you’ve tripped over to this page while you were looking for local seo and it’s marketing content, you’re in the correct place.

In this guide to local SEO, we’ll show you through the ins and outs of getting your business found in local search results, from online reviews to citations, local link building to content creation, and beyond.

What Basically Local Seo Is?

Local Seo is a strategy which helps your business be more evident in local or common search results that has a local location or specific local geographic area.

According to results and sources approx 87% of local business owners use Google as their ultimate source of advertising their place or any item they sell.

Oops! I dropped wine on the carpet!

Okay now above image shows two kinds of results:

● Snack Pack Results

● Organic Results

I’m sure you guys are aware of organic results but snack pack results? What even?

So,

Google Snack Pack is a boxed area that appears on the first results page when a local online search is made through Google's search engine. The Snack Pack box displays the top 3 local business listings most relevant to the search enquiry.

Percentage counted according to Google is :

33% Snack pack results and 40% organic results.

Ok now before we get started there’s one thing you’re supposed to know,

Make sure your website is optimized for mobile users since those users tend to visit snack pack results first before getting into your website. You can assure this by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

1. LOCAL KEYWORDS:

To understand searching behaviors better and, overall, understand your target audience better you need to search for the common primary words relating to your business.

Doing this is easy. Just make a list of all the services you offer and the locations you serve… then merge them together to create a bunch of potential keywords for your search results.

For example, you might be an artisan plant-based pizza restaurant, but that’s not necessarily what your customers are searching for. They might be more likely to search for ‘veggie pizza’, ‘healthy pizza’, ‘best vegan pizza’, or something else. So you need to be aware of the search trends and adapt to them.

2. GOOGLE MY BUSINESS:

Google My Business is a free and easy-to-use tool for businesses and organisations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps.

It is considered as the most effective way to advertise your business.

For this, follow these steps :

● Step 1 : Enter your business name and choose if your business is already existing or you want to create a new business.

● Step 2 : Enter your address, if it already exists then it will be filled already or else enter your office address or home or from wherever you want your customers to contact you.

● Step 3 : Enter your exact address. You’ll see a map on the screen with a red pin on it, All you need to do is drag that pin and point it exactly where your location is.

● Step 4 : Choose the category most suitable for your business. You can have more advice from Google itself.

● Step 5 : Enter your contact info and website URL if you want to because that’s totally optional.

● Step 6 : Listing, add more details to everything for instance opening hours, quality etc.

3. LOCAL CITATIONS (NAP) :

Citations are online mentions of your business, which usually display your

business name, address, and phone number—collectively known as NAP (Name, Address, Phone).

There are two main types of citations:

● Structured and Unstructured

Here’s a type of structured citation:

Basically, structured citations are those where NAP information is presented in a visually-structured manner. They usually reside on business directories, social profiles, etc.

And here is an unstructured citation:

Unstructured citations are mentions of your business in an unstructured format (surprising, right!?). These usually reside in blog posts, on newspaper websites, on business blogs, etc.

4. ON-SITE SEO :

While off site tactics like GMB is important, on site seo comes along the way too. There are some ways by which you can actually boost your site searches, as in;

➔ Optimize for mobile :

Make sure your website is friendly for mobile users because most of the time people are on their smartphones searching for stuff they want. You can test it by using Google Mobile Friendly Test Tool as mentioned above.

You also have to check your site speed and Core Web Vitals and Technical SEO.

5. LINK BUILDING :

According to sources, Link building is the most important factor in organic results, However, it is the second most important factor in snack pack results.

It’s more important that you’re building links with local SEO sites, whether that’s a church down the road or the local high school. These sites also don’t need to have a high domain authority to influence your rankings. With these links you’re just showing Google that your business is where it says it is and is also trusted by these other local institutions, in order to boost prominence.

Here are the few ways by which you can build links;

1. Local Sponsorships

2. Local Events

3. Local Organizations

4. Local Connections

Talking about other ways you have to be really active on GMB like keep updating them with new stuff u go through or listen to their reviews or comments and correct anything that upsets them, just keep up the track of your moves both positively and negatively.

6. GOOGLE POSTS:

Google Posts is a micro-blogging platform within Google My Business. All updates are visible in the Knowledge Panel and on your listing.

Not only does this increase your SERP real estate, but it provides an opportunity to attract more attention and boost conversion.

I hope this helps you with Local SEO checklist the info you’re searching for, keep visiting, and i wish it helps you compete for the high ranking you want. Thank you.