- If you're marketing a business with local customers,
you'll undoubtedly encounter the need for local SEO.
And this is how you make sure
all of the online elements of your business are optimized
so that your search result appears
in front of a relevant local audience.
Now, when you enter a term into Google
and hit submit,
Google determines where you're located
and then works to understand if your search result
should include local listings.
And there's a few type of local searches,
contextual,
inferred,
and intent.
Contextual is really easy for Google to understand.
In this case, a user gives Google all of the context,
say a search for "best bakery near me."
Now the next type of search is an inferred search.
Let's say I'm in Los Angeles,
and I conduct a search for the best bakery in New York.
Google has to infer
that I'm actually interested in local results from New York,
despite the fact I'm currently in Los Angeles.
The last type of search is intent.
And this is becoming one of the most popular types
of searches.
As Google gets better and better at understanding
the intent of a search,
well, people are less likely to include
any additional location context.
In this type of search,
let's say I'm in Los Angeles, California,
and the only thing I type into Google is cupcake bakery.
Google has to figure out if I want cupcake bakeries near me
or from anywhere.
Now, the first step in local SEO
is to set up Google My Business.
This is a platform that puts your business information
on Google Search and Google Maps.
It makes it easier to manage
how your business appears across those areas.
Another unique piece of local SEO
is the concept of what's commonly referred to as a citation.
And a citation is a mention of your business
anywhere on the web
with or without a link back to your website.
For local brands,
your citation is usually accompanied
by the business name,
address, and phone number,
or NAP for short.
Citations are a primary factor
that Google will use in deciding
how to rank your business in its search results.
So, be sure they are consistent across the web
and update any records that you can find online
to have the most recent information.
Now you'll also want to use structured data,
which will allow you to call out items on a menu,
reference your opening hours,
share products or reviews
and a whole lot more.
You'll also want to be sure
you have other sites pointing to yours.
This is referred to as generating backlinks.
Just as Google uses the quantity and quality
of your citation to determine the value of your business,
it too uses backlinks to provide those signals.
So the more relevant local backlinks you collect,
the better your local SEO is overall.