Samidha
In every industry, entrepreneurs are breaking the mold with small purpose-driven businesses. Along with opportunities to work, small businesses also drive economic growth of the country. Growth for small businesses leads to flourishing local communities.
For small businesses, Local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes as a useful strategy to be discovered much more quickly. The google algorithm by default prioritizes local businesses even if the search intent does not include “near me”. The top few search-related businesses that show on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) are usually the businesses local to the conducted search areas.
A lot of consumers believe in patronizing businesses in their own vicinity as an essence to give back to their local community as well as support small businesses. Local SEO has been existing as long as SEO has, but only after the recent growth of the internet in India, Local SEO has been optimized by businesses to be discovered easily and as often by customers.
Consumers can discover a brand on a lot of platforms available but their first action to query is always in the search engine. On a regular basis people are on search engines looking for brands, products and services. As of 2022, 95% of such users utilized the search engine to find a local business online. While 78% of them are conducting these searches weekly the rest 21% of them are searching for them daily. With more people searching for local business online, the chances for small businesses to be found are also increasing. Visibility in local searches allows small businesses to not just spread online brand awareness but also gain consumers through local word-of-mouth publicity, inviting in-store traffic and online conversion.
SEO can be broken into many categories and optimizing the local SEO allows smaller businesses to build a local audience through Google My Business and including location-based operations like local links. Other location-based aspects that inevitably affect the local search results are listings on Google My Business, local citations, reviews, and social signals from local customers. When executed correctly, these signals allow small businesses to escalate their brand awareness and leads.
Small businesses with local content strategies thrive in their distinct and niche market (Local SEO Practice)
Content is one of the basic yet important aspect of any marketing strategy. Small businesses with a local audience base require to have exceptional content that is locally familiar and relevant leading to. Google optimization as on-page local SEO.
Local links are links from sources that are location specific like other local businesses. Small businesses with local links backed with a well-organized Google my business page are more credible in the eyes of the consumers. Local listings often have reviews and they influence search engine optimization, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Responding to these reviews impacts and improves the rankings since the users can see the business’ attitude. According to a survey, many users have responded to reading and being influenced by the reviews. Google states, “Google review count and review score factor into local search ranking. More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’s local ranking.”
The local search rankings continually grow and change due to multiple factors influencing them. Amassing a lot of reviews can help smaller businesses get better ranking and improve your business. Small businesses require regular optimization of factors that influence their website’s footprint in the local search results.
