Local SEO is very efficient and useful in marketing and increasing customers. If you plan to develop your small market in the world of the Internet and Google search engines, local SEO is very useful for you. When you follow the principles of SEO in local search, your website visitors will increase and if you have good services, your customers will also increase.
To optimize the site for local SEO, we have put comprehensive training through which you can promote your business. At the end of this article, you will have a complete understanding of how to optimize your business to be on the first page of Google search results.
What is local SEO?
Local SEO helps your business to offer your products and services more efficiently to your local customers. For example, if you have a clothing store in Mashhad, you can give easier access to your customers with local SEO. You may have a website for your business, but many of your customers are not aware of it. Now, with local SEO, you can inform your local customers and increase their average number.
Learning how to find the best keywords for local search
Finding local SEO keywords is a very important issue that you should consider before any technique or strategy. When finding the right keywords in local search, you can use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or SEMrush to get data on how many words are being searched on Google for your geographic location. Of course, our special suggestion is to use Google Suggests when searching.
Do not limit yourself to your area.
Expand the search to other nearby locations.
For example, if you have a home appliance store in Mashhad, be sure to work on phrases like home appliance stores in Neishabur and other cities.
Data related to the number of searches for a word in Google for a specific area may not seem very important, but the collection of this type of data together can help you attract the right amount of traffic with high purchase intent.
Do not go too far from your area
Some also work on local keywords of other regions to attract all the users of their field of work. For example, in one project, we found out that the SEO, in addition to working as a local SEO, has also worked on phrases such as “mobile purchase in Mashhad” “mobile purchase in Tehran” and even “mobile purchase in Isfahan”. Not only is this useless for your local SEO, but it will hurt your ranking over time.
The reason for this drop in rank is due to the increase in bounce rate and decrease in click rate. Because you attract audiences who are not in your area and intend to buy in person and visit the store.
How to find the best keywords?
Google is trying to provide more local search results.
Until a few years ago, people who searched for a topic in Tehran and those who searched for the same topic in Is got similar results.
But now Google tries to rank local results higher when ranking search results, that is, it prefers businesses that are located close to the searcher.
Of course, this work is not only based on the geographical location but also on the personal taste and choices of the user are considered.
The personalization of results by Google is important for your local SEO in two ways:
Use generic and competitive keywords
Previously, local businesses could not rank high for keywords such as “confectionery” or “florist”; But since the Possum update, Google’s algorithm pays more attention to the user’s position in local searches.
Subsequent updates have only made improvements to this process, and now with Google’s emphasis on local results, you can rank well for these types of competitive and generic terms.
More competition for fewer positions
On Google, local businesses face a lot of competition for fewer positions. This part of the search results is called Local 3-pack and it is displayed in the SERP like this:
We found the first three results in Google results in the form of search results on Google Maps.
If you want to occupy one of these three positions, you should make local SEO one of your special priorities.
Local SEO tools to improve local search
Surely by now, you are familiar with the concept of local SEO. Google has provided tools for you to rank well in local SEO and reach the first page of local search results. Next, we want to introduce tools that will help you a lot in local SEO.
Whitespark Local Citation Finder tool
A directory is very important for local SEO. A strong directory works when you have more local citations. To have a strong citation, you must put appropriate and optimal information for it. The citation includes the address, phone number, and website details or yourself, by introducing it to some sites, you can get more links from other sites and get a better position in local search.
For this purpose, the Whitespark Local Citation Finder tool is very useful. This tool has both a free version with limited features and a paid version with more features. By entering your profile, you can examine your competitors in local SEO, analyze your performance and make your citation stronger.
Screaming Frog tool
Screaming Frog tool can be installed on your system as software. You should introduce your site to it. Then the Screaming frog tool crawls your website and checks things like 404 errors, things related to meta descriptions and headings, etc.
This tool analyzes 500 URLs for free, but you have to pay a certain fee to get unlimited features.
Moz local tool
This tool has provided more expensive services than other competitors. The Moz Local tool provides you with a lot of information; It also ensures that your information is placed correctly on Google and Facebook. Using this tool, you can make sure that the website and its related information are optimized according to local SEO rules.
Keep in mind that NewSeo’s experience has shown that this tool is not very useful for local SEO of Iranian sites, but it can be a very useful tool in the international field.
Ahref tool
If you are properly familiar with the concept of local SEO, you will understand the effect of backlinks on local SEO. This tool checks the backlinks for you. Of course, it also checks the items related to keywords and anchor texts. With this tool, you can create the best anchor text for yourself.
There may be many tools for local SEO, but in general, if you completely master the topic of what a local user is, that is, know your user, you can create good content for users who are looking for you in your city.
In this article, we tried to introduce you to what local SEO is and also what a local user is so that you can get a better understanding of local SEO. In general, following the principles of local SEO can greatly help you in increasing the incredible number of customers in your business.
The best local SEO techniques and tips
In this section of the local SEO training article, we intend to fully explain the experiences and important tips for website optimization in the local field:
Optimizing Google My Business account for local SEO
In local SEO, you must first create an account on Google My Business. As the name suggests, you introduce your business to Google in this way. Then, after verifying the validity of your business, Google will offer you a service in return. One of these services is improving the status of your business in the Internet world, in which local SEO plays an essential role.
After you create your account, you can start using Google Posts. Next, you can ask your customers to give you their real opinion on Google. If these opinions and points have a positive approach on you, it can naturally increase your number of customers. One of the things that are in the business section of Google is to specify the exact location of your business on Google Maps. Maybe many people don’t contact you because they don’t have an exact address.
Updating website content and internal SEO issues
In this section, we want to discuss five website updates for local search in SEO:
- Improving the structure of internal links
Internal links create proper communication between the pages of your website. Now imagine a big store like Ofek Korosh, the communication ways between its stalls are designed properly and you can easily do your shopping, you will feel more satisfied with that store. This sense of satisfaction will make you come back for your next purchase.
The process of improving the structure of internal links is also the same. For local SEO, you must structure the links in such a way that users can access the pages of your site more easily.
- Optimizing URLs, title tags, titles, meta descriptions, and site content
URL optimization has its structure and rules. Things like the number of words in the URL and its English language can play an effective role. But for local SEO, you have to act in such a way that users realize that your business is located in Mashhad or that your business is on a certain street.
Title tags and titles themselves should also be optimized for local SEO. Try to use locally relevant words in the titles. such as Mashhad, Azerbaijan, etc. With this, users who are looking for something specific in their city, if your business meets their needs and of course, your business is in that city, can easily access your site.
Meta descriptions and site content should be optimized for local search, along with attractiveness and a strong CTA. The use of a phrase that can bring the user closer to you in local SEO is very important. Things like addresses or phone numbers are good for this.
- Determining the location of your business on website pages
For example, if your business is a car sales and service agency in Tehran, you can attract many users by placing your exact location on the website. In this case, for many users, even the proximity of a representative to their place of residence is very effective in purchasing and using their services. In addition to your location, you can also put the contact number, working hours of the agency, and customer comments.
- Create local content
Local content means content that is used for a specific part of a specific city or even a specific province. For example, the article on the best furniture stores in Tehran is usually useful for Tehranis who intend to buy a sofa and are looking for the best.
- Optimizing the website for display on mobile (Mobile Friendly)
These days, Google is very strict about whether the site is mobile-friendly. This strictness is due to the importance it gives to users. Today, many users visit your website through mobile phones. For this reason, this trend also affects the SEO of your site. In local SEO, the story is the same. In general, if your website is well-optimized for mobile, it has a big impact on your website’s local SEO.
