Many businesses provide services or products only to a certain location. A good example is a plumbing service. They will usually have a store and will serve a certain sized radius around that store. Local SEO refers to getting the plumbing service to show up high in the rankings for people searching for that service within the desired store radius.
Last Updated on February 14, 2024
Many of the normal SEO factors play a role in Local SEO. However, a big thing that sets Local SEO apart is the Google My Business listing. Google Business Profile is a free tool for businesses and organizations to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By verifying and ensuring that your business information is correct and accurately describes what you do, you can both help customers find you and tell them the story of your business. Here is an example of what results look like when information for businesses is pulled from Google Business Profile.
Local SEO is any action you take on or off a client’s website in an effort to improve their local organic search rankings. According to Google, 46% of searches have local intent. The best way a client can capitalize on local searches is by increasing their visibility on what’s known as the ‘local pack’ or ‘3-pack’. This is the block of business listings that appears on the SERPs when someone searches for a local business or service.Below is an example of the three pack for the search query ‘plumbers near me’:
As you can see, a company that shows up in the local pack will have a distinct advantage over companies that don’t. Everything that is displayed in the local pack comes from the business’s local Google My Business. This is why focusing on local SEO and making sure the client’s Google Business Profile is set up correctly is important.
So, what are the most important factors in Local search results? That depends on whether you are talking about the local pack or local organic results. According to Moz’s 2018 Local Search Ranking Factors, the most important factors for the local pack are Google Business Profile signals. In this image are the top ten factors for both the local pack and for organic results.
As you can see, getting your Google Business Profile set up correctly is very important to improving the local pack results. Which, as stated above, is one of the best ways to get local clicks. As far as the top ten factors for local organic results, they are mostly typical organic SEO factors that you would want to implement for any SEO efforts. However, there are still many ways to improve the local pack and the local organic results. The rest of this training will go over these best practices.
As we saw above, Google Business Profile is incredibly important for a local business that wants to maximize local search visibility. That’s because, according to the 2018 moz local report, 5 out of the top 10 most important factors for showing in the local pack have to do with Google Business Profile. So, do you want to learn the best practices for your Google Business Profile to maximize the likelihood that your client’s site will show up in the local pack? You’d better