Local SEO: how to improve it?

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Today, 60% of web searches are carried out on mobile and according to Google, 40% of Internet users choose the smartphone for their shopping experience. Banking on the local SEO of your business or your store is therefore essential!

Often overlooked by businesses, local SEO is a formidable marketing tool for attracting prospects to your points of sale. It is therefore important to have in mind the operation and strategies of local SEO.

Discover our advice and best practices to improve your Google positions in the context of geolocated search.

Part 1: What is local SEO?

Definition of local SEO

Local SEO allows businesses to rank better in Google’s local web searches. This is called the local pack, a specific insert with a Google Maps and the 3 best results in the search box.

Example: you are a cleaning company in Montpellier and you have implemented a local SEO strategy. You will then appear in the search results from queries such as: “Montpellier cleaning company” or “cleaning company Montpellier”

Local seo is based on 5 essential criteria:

• Location: Google offers Internet users addresses located near their home. If you live in Brussels, Google offers you the most relevant results closest to you on a Google Maps map.
• Relevance: your business or establishment must be located in the user’s geographic area, but also be relevant to the query. When a visitor searches for a clothing store on Google, only that type of business is driven by the algorithm. It is therefore important to properly optimize your listing on Google My Business, to be sure to come out in the right category.
• Your website: Google also uses certain elements of your website to deliver relevant results to Internet users. It is therefore essential to work on your organic seo to appear in Google’s local pack and in the SERPs.
• Customer reviews: this is one of the priority criteria on which Google relies to reference the different establishments in the local pack. The better your reviews, the better your ranking will be.
• Your presence on the Internet: the fact that your company already has a reputation on the Internet can promote good local SEO. Consider soliciting quotes from your customers and partners and feel free to register on local directories.

Who is local SEO for?

Geolocated search is aimed at all VSEs and SMEs that have a physical address. Here are some examples of companies and businesses that have a real card to play with local SEO:

• restaurants: the first instinct to find a restaurant near you is to take out your smartphone and do a geolocated search;
• small traders: the local search is used to find a business and find out its opening hours;
• doctors and medical practices: Internet users always look for medical practices located near their homes and are very attentive to the opinions left by patients;
• building tradesmen (plumber, heating engineer, electrician): Internet users often contact building professionals during emergencies (water leaks, power cuts, etc.). A good local SEO can be a great strategy for attracting new customers.

What are the advantages of local seo for the organic seo of the company?

More and more Internet users are using a smartphone or tablet to search for the best addresses around them. And this is precisely the main advantage of local SEO: doing marketing in a defined geographical area.

In fact, nearly 50% of Internet users who make a local request visit the store they are looking for and nearly 20% go through with the act of purchasing.

You should keep in mind these few statistics shared by Hubspot:

• 46% of searches on Google are local;
• 64% of Internet users use Google search to find a business or business;
• Companies rated 5 stars get 25 times more clicks;

One of the main advantages of local SEO is to generate qualified leads and increase traffic to your store or business. Indeed, an Internet user who seeks a plumber in Paris XVe is close to the act of purchase. It is a prospect who can easily be transformed into a customer.

Thanks to geolocated seo, you can also easily promote your offers and products to a very targeted clientele, in a defined geographical area. This proximity is an important advantage in attracting new customers.

Finally, local SEO helps to gain visibility and popularity. Indeed, an Internet user looking for a particular offer will look for the address that offers the best service or the best product. The location on Google Maps increases your visibility of company on the web and the customer feedback system helps improve your popularity.

Part 2: The Google local pack

The local pack is simply a specific display of Google search results based on information collected on Maps and MyBusiness as part of a local query.

When an Internet user searches for a company or a business around him, the proposed answers are displayed in the local pack. It is one of the priority levers of your local SEO strategy. It impacts your business because it drains customers into your store or outlets.

How does this local pack look?

The local pack is displayed in the SERP’s (search results) as follows:

• A specific insert with a Google Maps map corresponding to the geographic search area;
• A list of 3 links which correspond to businesses or companies referenced by the algorithm;
• A hyperlink that allows you to consult additional addresses, by opening the Google Map in full screen.

What are the criteria for the local pack?

The local pack is displayed in the SERP’s (search results) as follows:

• A specific insert with a Google Maps map corresponding to the geographic search area;
• A list of 3 links which correspond to businesses or companies referenced by the algorithm;
• A hyperlink that allows you to consult additional addresses, by opening the Google Map in full screen.

To display the TOP 3 of links locally, Google uses different criteria such as:

• Geographical proximity;
• MyBusiness sheets;
• Customer reviews;
• The backlinks.

How to appear in the local pack?

To list your establishment in the local pack, you must first complete your Google My Business listing by adding all the requested information:

• address;
• phone number;
• website;
• opening time;
• etc.

The reviews posted by customers on your MyBusiness listing are also very important and influence your ranking in search results.

Part 3: Local SEO on the website

Local seo also involves the creation of appropriate content dedicated to the establishments and points of sale of your brand.

Local SEO on your website: create city pages

Most SMEs and VSEs display all their location information on a single page, even if they have several establishments at different addresses.

In local SEO, it is important to create optimized city pages for each address of your business. They must contain:

• The name of the place, the address and the telephone number;
• Content referring to the place indicated: news from the place, information on the team, customer testimonials, etc.
• An integrated Google map;
• Explanatory information on the location and how to get to the establishment;
• Customer reviews of the establishment;
• A title tag and a meta description including the location;
• Photos showing the premises and the teams working there.

Think of your localization pages as microsites that you can develop by creating relevant related content.

These city pages or location pages should be deployed as a mini website within the website.

And as in any organic seo strategy, don’t forget to optimize your content and fill in the title tags and meta descriptions associated with each location.

Apply local business schema markup to every page so that all the practical information (hours, addresses, contact details) appears in the SERPs. And don’t forget to send your sitemap back to Google every time you add a city page.

How to optimize title tags and meta descriptions with localization?

In local SEO, it is essential to work well with the title tag and the meta description tag:

• The title tag is the title of your page. Google uses this tag to classify pages based on user queries.
• the meta description tag does not directly influence organic seo. However, if it is well written, it will encourage the user to click.

So do not forget to add location information in your title and meta-description tags (example: “Montpellier cleaning company”) to increase your chances of being seen and visited as part of a local search.

Part 4: Other actions to work on your local SEO

Register in local directories

Many Internet users still use local directories to do their research on the Internet. Choosing the right ones is essential as part of a local SEO strategy. They also help boost your netlinking strategy by earning quotes and inbound links.

Today there are very relevant and highly targeted directories such as Yelp, Foursquare, Francesurf or quite simply PagesJaunes. Select those that offer personalized descriptions and a real company listing, possibly associated with a Google map.

Even today, SEO directories are a real plus for the local SEO of your business.

Local SEO: Optimize your profile pages

The consistency of the NAP “Name, Address, Phone number” is an essential element for local SEO. Indeed, as we saw above, Google robots examine how your name, address and phone number appear on the web.

And if this information is not optimized and harmonized on your different profiles, it can have an impact on your SEO. It is therefore important to perform a Google search to verify if the information relating to your business and its location is the same on each of your profiles (MyBusiness, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Bing Places, etc.).

Local SEO: Using a local marketing tool

Many tools dedicated to local marketing allow you to optimize your local SEO by automating a number of tasks. You can try SEM Rush, Mobilosoft or even Adplorer.

These local digital marketing tools allow you to:

• Communicate information to your customers: schedules, promotions, closure…
• Target your communications at the scale of a village, a city or a department;
• Create libraries of content to share with the managers of your franchises or different points of sale;
• Respond to your positive or negative reviews;
• Guide people looking for a local merchant in your area to your shop, restaurant, gym, doctor’s office; (Store locator system)
• Manage communications on all of your network pages: Tripadvisor, Facebook, Google Maps, Google MyBusiness …
• Create local advertising campaigns;
• Analyze and monitor the performance of your points of sale.

More traffic to your website, more visits to a store or point of sale, a better e-reputation… listing your business locally has many advantages.

If you have an agency or a physical store, you have every interest in betting on this very powerful SEO lever which will help your future clients to find you more easily.