Local SEO: how to promote business at the regional level

Working for a local market and want your business to grow without significant investment in advertising? Pay attention to local SEO. For companies that operate in a certain region, this is one of the most effective tools for promotion on the web. It helps to attract exactly those customers who live near your office or production, as well as to increase trust in the brand and increase the number of customers.

Local SEO - what it is and what are the features of this promotion

Local Search Engine Optimization is a set of methods and strategies that are aimed at increasing the position of the site taking into account the location (geolocation) of the user. Unlike classic SEO, where the emphasis is placed on general queries, local SEO focuses on attracting customers from a particular region.

Local website promotion is carried out through such methods:

• specifying the location where the company operates;
• optimizing profiles in maps (e.g. Google Business Profile);
• working with customer reviews and mentions in local directories;
• matching NAP data (company name, address, phone number) across all platforms, which strengthens search engines' trust in the information and increases the chances of getting into the local Google rendition.

Within a single city, competition is usually lower than on a nationwide level, so the results from local SEO show up much faster. You will more easily reach the top of the rendition and get new customers.

Interestingly, promoting your website by city can successfully help you fight your competitors. When performing local SEO, Google forms a special block with a map and the three most popular companies - the so-called Local Pack. If you get into this three, the business will be seen by customers right under the query string. But to less successful competitors, who remained out of sight, customers may not reach.

What business without local SEO can not do

Regional SEO is necessary for companies whose success depends directly on attracting customers in a particular area. This is especially relevant for such businesses:

• retail stores;
• cafes, bars, restaurants;
• beauty salons, barbershops, spas;
• medical centers and dentistry;
• fitness centers and yoga studios;
• car service stations, service stations, tire service;
• offsite services - cleaning, repair, food delivery, etc.

If a company has offline outlets, without local SEO you will lose a significant portion of potential traffic. After all, this is how you can be found by people who are ready to use your services right now.

Where to start with local SEO

The first thing to do is to contact a proven IT company that creates websites and provides local promotion services. SEO specialists will develop a strategy to promote your company and after agreement will proceed to implementation.

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)

This is the name of a free Google tool - a kind of directory, the data of which is displayed directly in search results and Google Maps. In your profile, you should include your address, hours of operation, photos, services and other important data. You should also share information about products and respond to customer reviews.

This data helps Google determine what region you operate in and increase the chances of your profile showing up in local queries. If everything is set up correctly, Google will show the information to the user in response to a relevant geo query.

Regional Queries

Local search queries with location (city, neighborhood) help users find businesses in their area. It is important to take this into account when compiling the semantic core, and use key phrases with the region in the texts.

Internal optimization

Provides not only for the adjustment of content taking into account the geographical location, but also pays special attention to metadata (title and description) and content. These should include mentions of the region so that the site gets to the top of the results and attracts the attention of local users.

Local landing pages

If you do business in several cities, create a page for each of them. For regional optimization of the site, you should be sure to specify:

• the name of the region in headings, text and metadata;
• contact information, map and photo of the office or facility in that city.

Content should take into account the specifics of the region and the interests of local residents.

LocalBusiness

This micro markup in SEO helps search engines understand in which region the site operates. For this purpose, special tags and attributes are added to the code with information that contains:

• company name;
• address;
• phone;
• hours of operation;
• branches;
• rating and reviews;
• prices;
• other data.

This information increases the chances of the business being displayed in local search results.

Promotion through social media

Social media helps to increase brand awareness in the region. Regular geo-tagged posts, reviews, participation in local events, and targeted advertising help in gaining local attention.

Local SEO from Megasite IT studio

Take your business to the next level! Contact IT-company Megasite, which has been developing and promoting websites in Ukraine for more than 10 years. Our specialists:

• optimize the resource for geo-requests;
• design and configure Google Business Profile;
• form local landing pages;
• increase the visibility of the site in maps and directories.

We will make your company easy for customers to find in search. Contact Megasite and find out how local SEO promotion can increase your website's visibility with search engines and attract more customers to your business!