Local SEO – What it means for small businesses?

Heard the term ‘local SEO’? Wondering what it is all about? Let’s take a little look.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

We can’t possibly answer the question ‘local SEO: what is it?’ without talking a little bit about what SEO is in the first place.

 To put it simply; SEO is the process of getting your website ranked to the top of the searches for keywords that are relevant to your business. For example; if you sold hand tools, then it could be “buy screwdrivers”, or something like that (this is a very general example)

The idea is that you will be the first company people see when they are searching for something that they want, and this means that you are far more likely to make a bit of cash from them.

This is all accomplished by building up the ‘reputation’ of a site online. This is (mostly) done through building up quality links and writing quality content.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is essentially all of what we discussed in the previous section, just done on a local level. It is perfect for those who are not planning to target people nationally, or even internationally. Let’s take the previous example. Let’s assume that you are running a professional SEO services company based in Utah or New York. You may now want to rank for ‘buy screwdrivers in New York’.

Basically, it is all about targeting local people. If you run a business that only focuses on the local area, then you need local SEO.

Why do you need local SEO

Nowadays, people are kissing goodbye to phone directories and the like. In order to find companies that they want to purchase from in the local area. If you can’t be found, then you simply are not getting that business. You need local SEO to ensure that your company can continue to do the business that it did in the past.

You can really just think of local SEO as a modern replacement for the telephone directory. Would you have gained business from the telephone directory in the past? If the answer is ‘yes’ (and it is going to be for every company), then you need local SEO today. No exception.

Remember; all of your competitors are likely to be doing a spot of local SEO at some point. By starting the process today, you will be able to get a ‘leg up’ on your competitors and take business away from them. Do you want to be the biggest company in your niche for your local area? If so then you need local SEO.

Find an SEO expert to work with

Even though local SEO is going to be slightly easier than trying to rank a website globally you may still want to employ a professional local SEO company
company such as i4 Solutions, Dynamics Digital etc it can still be a difficult process. This is why it is important that you work with somebody that has a bit of experience. This will ensure that your campaigns get off to a flying start. It also means that you have a chance to make some money sooner as opposed to later.

By James Kingsley – Contributor