In today’s highly competitive world, companies of all sizes and industries can grow their business by attracting more customers using local SEO marketing. It is a wonderful way to market your local business, enabling you to promote your products and services to local customers online. In this  comprehensive guide we will learn about the importance of local SEO and how local SEO works.

What Is Local SEO?

Local search engine optimization (SEO) optimizes a website for local search results. It is a search engine optimization strategy which helps make the business more visible and rank higher in the local search results on Google. Any business that is serving a specific geographic area can benefit from local SEO. If a customer searches Google for important keywords related to any products or services, Google will list the websites that offer the products and services. If keywords include words like “local” or “near me,” Google will list out the results of businesses in the vicinity or near the customer. This is known as local SEO. To gain a better understanding of local SEO, you will need to understand how Google works.

How Does Google Work?

In the early days of the web, search engines were created to help the users easily find the websites they were searching for. The user types a few words or phrases related to their search in the search engine. The search engine matches these words with the content in the websites and lists the websites matching those keywords. Google is the best and most commonly used search engine today. With the advancement in technology, Google considers hundreds of factors, both on and off the website to determine if the website or content is sufficiently relevant to be ranked in the search results. Each time a user enters any keywords or phrases, Google does not do a live search of the entire internet. Google has created a copy of all the sites and created the Google Index. When a user searches something, Google comes out with the results for the corresponding words from the Google Index. The Google Index is formed by using small programs called “spiders” that crawl through the web collecting information and going through the web. A spider starts on a single page, then moves onto the links on that page, and so on. As the spiders crawl through the web, the content gets stored on the Google servers and the Google Index is built. The crawlers are on job the whole time, ensuring that the index is as up to date and that connections can be made quickly.

How Does Google Rank the Websites and Web Pages?

A number of processes called algorithms are used by Google for ranking the thousands of websites in just few milliseconds. When a user searches for something on Google, an algorithm goes through the Google index and sorts the list of websites that match the search. These results are then ranked depending on their relevance by the algorithm. Therefore, to improve your visibility and search engine ranking, it is important to optimize your website and its content. Ensure the content on the websites is relevant and prominent. If you are able to create relevant content, it will help boost your search engine ranking for your business.

How Can I Improve My Business Search Ranking on Local Searches?

Now that we have discussed what we mean by local SEO and search engine rankings, next let us see how we can improve the business search rankings. Before learning how to improve the rankings, it is important to understand the three main elements of local search ranking:

• Proximity: The location of your business. The distance of your business from the searcher’s location.
• Relevance: How relevant your business and your products/services are to the search query entered by the user.
• Prominence: The response or feedback of your customers to your business and products/services offered.

What Are the Important Local SEO Services?

Search engines like Google are dynamic in nature. Hence, you too will need to keep up to the changing requirements and changing outlook of Google to optimize your business search rankings. In such a scenario, local SEO can take a lot of time to perfect. The rules and goals of local SEO are different as it results in higher visibility of the businesses in local search, leading to improved footfalls compared to the website visits. The following are the important local SEO services that can help make a difference:

Localizing the Website

Website localization means including the name of the city or region or state in the content of your website. Businesses located and catering to several locations would require creating separate pages for each location. Another strategy is to get involved or sponsor some local events and get featured in local newspapers or magazines. This information can be used on the website.

Building Citations

You need to ensure that your website is featured on various citation sites and online business directories. Your listing on these business directories and citation websites will make it easy for your prospective customers to find and locate your business. You need to ensure that your basic company details like the name, address, phone number, and website address are published correctly on these citation sites.

Google My Business Listing

Creating and verifying your business on a Google My Business page is an important step. It displays your business on various Google services, like local search results or Google Maps.

Reviews and Ratings

Authentic and honest reviews and ratings received from consumers are crucial for both highlighting the quality of your service and for letting the search engines like Google know that your website is genuine and trustworthy. The number of positive reviews and ratings you receive is important for determining your local search rankings.

Receiving Relevant Backlinks

Organically receiving backlinks to your website from respected and well-known websites will help the search engines know that your website is trusted and genuine. Backlinks boost the ‘prominence’ aspect of the local search ranking algorithm. Receiving backlinks from local newspapers or business associations can similarly help to improve search visibility. A good local SEO company can help you improve your search engine rankings and optimize your online presence. To increase your footfalls and grow your business, it is important to hire services of a well known local SEO company, which can improve your online traffic and generate a higher number of leads for your business.

Why Choose GSM Marketing Agency for Your Local SEO Services?

GSM Marketing has been helping local businesses and multi-location businesses to improve their position and ranking in the local search market with their Local SEO services. GSM Marketing Agency is one of the best local SEO Company in Tucson. Our highly experienced and qualified team can increase your businesses online visibility and improve the web traffic and leads for the business. We can optimize your online presence and help you be on the top of the search results when customers are searching for services related to your business.