What is Local SEO to a Local Business Owner

Acronyms.

No matter what industry a person finds themselves within, it seems they are lurking in the shadows just waiting to cause mass confusion and frustration.

SEO is certainly no exception.

So What Is SEO vs Local SEO?

It is the technique of using free Google results to drive people to a website. The actual acronym itself stands for search engine optimization.

I’m sure it is no secret that the number of websites on the Internet today continues to explode.

But wait!

This title held an additional word: LOCAL

https://viraltnteam.com/local-seo-local-business-owner Click To Tweet

They are as different as night is from the day. Yes, both are targeting ranking websites on the top of Google in one fashion or another but local SEO goes a step further by being expressly interested in brick and mortar type ventures.

Here’s a quick comparison to help understand the difference.

EXAMPLE 1: You need to uncover Boeing’s history. To do so you open Google and enter the words – history Boeing to review the results. What you have just done is complete a process known as global or traditional SEO.

EXAMPLE 2: You need to find a Dentist in your geographical region. You log into Google and enter your search term of (city) Dentist or. The results that you come away with are vastly different and are the fruit of what is called local SEO.

3 of 50 Experts Speak Out On SEO

Monetize.info did an SEO roundup recently which I happened to have been happy to participate within. Following are thoughts from 3 of the 50 contributors as it relates specifically to local SEO marketing strategies.

50 SEO Experts Roundup – Where should we focus our SEO efforts in 2017

Build your business pages on Bing and start working on building your local SEO and relevance. – @superderek
As we all know search result varies for different geographical location, leveraging local SEO is crucial for business. It tends to give your business an edge over local competitors. – @Pro_Bima
In 2017, if you are executing SEO for a local business or just SEO in general, mobile optimization is super important this year! Google is launching its Mobile Index & if you have the development capacity great, if you don’t, make room for it. – @lamarhull20

GeoTargeted Google Results Explained

So when you are looking for information within a given geographical region you are most likely performing local SEO. While local SEO certainly is not limited to just businesses as it can also contain product-centric results, typically speaking it is more of a service-oriented search process that local business owners should find incredibly valuable to the success of their businesses.

Here’s why.

Think of the last time that you were looking for a service-oriented business within a local area. It matters not what the service might have been. Ideas might have included but not be limited to:

Restaurants
Dentists
Roofers
Lawyers
Accountants

And the list literally goes on for what may seem like forever. Whenever your desired results target geographically related results there is a high probability that you are involved in a local SEO search process. I’m sure there must be exceptions to this rule, but typically it would be considered a local SEO search.

Why Businesses Should Target Local Google Strategies

Where do you go to perform such local searches?

According to my research, https://viraltnteam.com/local-seo-local-business-owner Click To Tweet Perhaps you’re different, but your customers and clients probably aren’t.

If that is where your customers and clients are searching shouldn’t that be where you’re showing up?

But wait, you say.

I think my clients and customers are searching Yelp, Yellow Pages or Trip Advisor.

These are directories that any local SEO expert worth their salt should include within their offerings so you’re covered.

Or perhaps you believe YouTube brings better results for your local business. After all, a video does convert if done right. The good news here is that local SEO services can easily include ranking local videos for you though it is typically at an additional cost.

HOT TIP: You should know that when you choose to include ranking a local video or two or three within your strategy you are increasing the power of your local SEO results so it is highly advisable.

Concluding Thoughts About Local SEO Marketing

As you can see, there are many components to local SEO strategies that a local business owner needs to keep in mind.

Here is a 12 point local SEO checklist Click To Tweet for you to keep handy.

Keyword Research
Title Tags
Meta Descriptions
NAP Information
Customers Reviews
Image Optimization
Anchor Text Optimization
Mobile Friendliness
Citations and Social Profiles
Google My Business
Schema Markup
Link Building

These 12 points are described in detail in Nick Footer’s (@nickfooter) article 12 Point Local SEO Checklist that he posted on May 12, 2016.

Following the above advice can result in increased rankings on Google which lead to more clients and customers finding out about your service (or product) thus increasing your overall income generation results within your local business.

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Guy Siverson

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at ViralTNTeam

My mission is to deliver high quality online marketing information that you can easily grow your business by. Please use the comments below to ask about points I missed, provide further thoughts of wisdom or request new topics for me to cover. Thanks in advance. I look forward to being your one stop shop for all things related to the online marketing niche.