If your eCommerce business is looking to grow, you need to consider how local SEO can help. Local SEO will help drive traffic from a close distance and increase the number of potential customers in your area.
This post will break down the basics of what local SEO entails for an eCommerce site.
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to optimizing a website so that it ranks higher on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPS).
It is generally more effective than traditional forms of advertising because people are actively searching for products or services within their geographic location rather than being told about them by ads online or elsewhere. In other words, they’re already interested!
What is Local SEO and Why Does It Matter
Local Search is all about the customer’s search for products and services in their area. This means Local SEO should be a top priority for any business or company that wants to make it in the world of online sales and marketing. So what exactly is Local SEO and how can you use it to your advantage?
There are two main types of Local Search: People-Based (which relies on social media) and Place-Based (an alternative to Google Maps). We’ll discuss both in-depth, but let’s start with People-Based Local Search.
People-Based Local Search
The idea behind People-Based Local Search is that people rely on friends and family for recommendations. Therefore, it’s a good idea for companies to build a presence on social media networks and encourage their customers to check out those profiles as well as provide reviews.
People-Based Local Search means you have to have a Facebook, Twitter, Yelp profile, and more. This allows customers to see which places their friends like or go to and which ones they’ve reviewed.
Place-Based Local Search
The idea behind Place-Based Local Search is that your company gets ranked on Google Maps. Local companies can be found in local searches because of this – provided they have the proper Local SEO set up, of course. Local SEO for e-commerce sites is not just including Local SEO in your on-site SEO, it’s also having Local SEO measures in place.
How to Optimize an Ecommerce Website for Local SEO
For a business, it is important to have a strong online presence while being easy for users to find. Local SEO helps businesses achieve just that. Local SEO is a field that helps businesses be listed in their local area. The Local search engine results are tailored to what the user is looking for, and can be a large source of consumers for a business. It can help a business expand its market and increase revenue.
A website is the best place to start for Local SEO. Local search engine results are tailored to the users’ location, so it is beneficial that a business website is localized to its location. Local SEO can be done by following these simple steps.
Target Location Specific Keyword
When building a website, Local SEO should be one of the top priorities for a business.
Add geographic keywords to your site as local SEO provides the nearest and the most obvious results to its users.
The geographic keywords should be included in the URL and page title, as well as the body of text. Local SEO is also performed by including local links and citations.
Local links and citations help to improve Local SEO, by increasing Local SEO rankings and making the website seem more legitimate.
Sign Up For Google My Business
Local search engine results include Local Map listings and Local Business Listings. The Local Map listings show up in the Local Pack, and Local Business Listings show up where Local Pack results are not available.
Optimize your GMB profile to rank higher i the SERPs.
Include local links and citations to Local Map listings and Local Business Listings. Local links are links that contain geographic keywords relevant to the business, Local citations are reviews from Local Business listings.
The importance of customer reviews and social media
There has been a seismic shift in the way consumers find and use businesses. Local businesses are now competing with nationally recognized brands; even small and medium-sized companies must think and act like they’re big in order to compete.
This has meant increased competition for local Google rankings, which are increasingly important in online discovery.
Local businesses need to focus on improving their Local SEO—and that means gaining the trust of local search engines like Google and consumers themselves.
Unsurprisingly, word-of-mouth can make or break businesses—especially in industries where Local SEO is essential, like restaurants.
A 2012 Harvard University study revealed the truth about word-of-mouth: the majority of recommendations come from friends and family, and 80% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Social media has also changed consumer behavior—and Local SEO
The Local Consumer Review Survey, a study by Bright Local and PhoCusWright, revealed that 89% of consumers read online reviews as part of their buying process, and 85 percent will visit a business’s website after reading the reviews.
Another Local Consumer Review Survey found that consumers are five times more likely to visit Yelp.com than any other site for local information, and half of the consumers say that positive online reviews make them trust a local business more.
Preferred contact is email, which means that Local SEO is even more important for local businesses with active social media campaigns.
Earn positive reviews by providing quality services. Local businesses should not leave customers frustrated by ignoring their online presence, failing to respond to requests for information, or providing bad or incomplete information.
They must be proactive—and Local SEO efforts should begin first and foremost with a responsive website that provides the information consumers need.
Local businesses should also commit to remaining active on social media and responding to reviews—both positive and negative.
Tips On How to Improve your Site’s Ranking in the SERPS
One of the best ways to do this is to optimize your site for Local SEO. Local SEO refers to optimizing your site so that it appears higher up in Local search results.
The results are becoming more and more popular as people seek out information about local businesses close to them easily, quickly, and on their mobile devices.
It can be a great way to generate traffic for your site and improve its visibility in the SERPS.
Here are some Local SEO Tips to help boost your site’s Local rank:
1. Localize Your Site
Localize your site. Localization includes Localizing your website’s content, including Local addresses and contact information.
This means ensuring that the Local Address, Telephone number and opening hours are correct on every page of your site.
Localization also includes Localizing your website’s metadata, including Local business name, Local address, and Local telephone number.
Localized Local content and local metadata can be easily verified using Google’s free Local Business Centre.
2. Optimize your site for Local Search
Local SEO includes making it easy for Google, Yahoo, and other Local search engines to crawl your Local Business Centre and Localize your website for Local search.
Optimizing Local SEO involves ensuring that you have Localized Local content, local metadata, Local links, and Local Schema markup. Localized Local content and local metadata can be easily verified using Google’s free Local Business Centre.
Optimizing your site for Local search helps Google to localize your site.
3. Local Links help improve Local Search Rankings
Having Local links pointing to your Local Business Centre is a great Local SEO tip. Local links help
- Local search engines understand your Local Business Centre,
- Localize it and figure out the Geo-Location of the Local business.
Local links are especially important to Localize Local Business Centre pages that do not have Local-optimized content or local schema markup.
Localizing Local Business Centre pages with Local schema markup is more important than Localizing Local business directories.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve gone over the basics, it’s time to take a look at how you can execute these strategies.
Start your local SEO campaigns by optimizing your website and social media pages.
Next up is setting goals and defining metrics so you know when your efforts are paying off. Finally, be sure to track progress by using tools like Google Analytics or Facebook Insights because there’s no way of knowing what works without data!
