How Google’s Algorithm Impacts Local SEO
As a local business, showing up for local searches on Google in the areas you serve is essential. Local search engine optimization (SEO) does exactly that! While Google remains the number one resource for users searching for information about a local business, today’s search landscape is faster-paced and more competitive than ever. Catching the eyes of users in the midst of AI search results, visual elements and continually developing enhancements to search results is increasingly difficult. By optimizing your website for local searches on Google, you can reach audiences in a specific geographic area, increasing visibility to your brand and business to your location.
At Blue Compass, we provide local SEO services and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to SEO and everchanging digital best practices. We’ve helped clients across a wide range of industries incorporate local SEO into their digital marketing strategies, increasing their presence on Google and generating more business. Discover how Google’s algorithm impacts local SEO today, and local SEO best practices from our digital experts.
What Does Local SEO Mean?
Local search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on improving your business' online visibility within a specific geographic area via local listings. Businesses that consider Google’s local SEO ranking factors rank higher for local searches on Google and are eligible to appear for Google’s Local Map Pack. Local SEO is a critical strategy to attract nearby customers and drive more sales.
Local SEO presents an excellent opportunity to build trust with potential and existing customers. A key part of local SEO is providing Google with important information about your business and its physical location. That way, Google can pass the information along to users who are searching for your business. This information includes things like the address of your business, hours of operation, opening date, rating and more.
Local SEO Ranking Factors For Your Google Business Profile
Google’s algorithm considers hundreds of local SEO ranking factors to determine a website’s rankability and deliver an optimized search experience for a user’s query. Not to mention, the algorithm goes through nearly 500 to 600 updates per year! But don’t worry, our experts make it easy by highlighting the key components to focus on, and providing some of our local SEO best practices to appease Google’s algorithm and dominate local search.
Stand Out With An Optimized Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free online tool that every local business should have. A GBP will make your business eligible to show in Google’s Local Map Pack. This SERP feature takes up more screen real estate by prominently displaying local businesses at the top of search results when a user searches for a product or service near them.
Your Google Business Profile should focus on relevance, distance and prominence. Is your business relevant to the user’s search query? How far is your business located from the location the search took place, or was there a location mentioned in the query? And, what is your brand’s reputation? By filling out information like your business’ name, address, phone number, hours of operation, etc., Google will have a better understanding of your business and be more likely to show it over your competitors.
Build Trust With Consistent NAP Listings
Name, address and phone number (NAP) are the three most important pieces of information for your business. Google uses them to confirm your business is legitimate and eligible to appear on Google. Users need this critical information to visit your physical location or reach out via phone. Your NAP can appear across multiple locations including your website, GBP, Google Ads and social profiles.
It is vital that your NAP is consistent and accurate across all platforms. The more consistent your NAP is, the more confident Google’s algorithm becomes that your location and business information are correct, ultimately increasing your brand’s rankability.
Receive & Reply To Online Reviews
Reviews are another important local SEO ranking factor to be aware of. Reviews can be posted on various platforms, however reviews on your GBP, third-party websites and your own website are the most valuable. When your brand receives high-quality reviews continually, it proves to search engines that it’s well-known and well-liked. In addition to positive reviews, recency, diversity in types of reviews and authority of the reviewer matter.
Replying to reviews is just as important as receiving them. Whether they are positive or negative, we make it a best practice to monitor our reviews on a regular basis and reply to each one. This shows Google and other reviewers that you care about your customers and are either grateful for their generosity in leaving a positive review, or sorry to hear their experience wasn’t satisfactory and that you wish to resolve it.
Traditional SEO Still Matters
Although optimizing your GBP is critical for improving local SEO, your website is still the most valuable player in your local digital marketing strategy. Traditional SEO ranking factors and best practices should always apply. Without a user-friendly, SEO optimized website, there is nowhere for users to go when they find your business on Google. Getting customers to your site is just the first step, but keeping them there and guiding them to make a purchase is a whole other ball game.
Unique and original content that is evergreen will stand the test of time on Google. Maintaining fast load speeds and a healthy SEO score creates a positive experience for users. If you want to learn more about SEO for your website, our experts cover Google’s top ranking factors and SEO best practices in our blog.
Local SEO Best Practices To Help You Get Started
Our SEO professionals create custom strategies for businesses of all sizes and industries. We take pride in staying well-informed with changes to Google and continually update our best practices to help our clients gain a competitive edge in search. Our local SEO best practices can help you optimize your website, online listings and overall digital footprint.
- Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile to take up more real estate on Google, provide users with information about your business and become eligible to appear in Google’s Map Pack.
- Ensure consistent NAP citations across all platforms to build credibility and Google’s trust that you are a legitimate business with a physical location.
- Improve your website’s SEO health. Performing periodic SEO audits of your website and resolving any technical or on-page errors will ensure your site is indexable and able to appear on Google.
- Create unique and original content using SEO best practices, such as keyword research, internal linking, sequential heading tags and schema markup.
- Develop new content regularly to showcase your brand’s expertise in the industry. Additionally, content recency is a ranking factor.
- Utilize local business schema to tell Google about your business in its preferred language. Schema makes your content more crawlable and can make your site eligible to show for enhanced results.
Take Over Local Searches On Google With Our Local SEO Services
At Blue Compass, we work with businesses to improve their local SEO rankings through strategic keyword research, reviews, consistent business information across platforms and authentic content. The nuances that surround local SEO strategies can be overwhelming to small business owners with so many other important tasks to accomplish, but with our local SEO services, we can help you make it a priority!
If you need help implementing local SEO best practices, or want to learn about developing a local search and SEO strategy, reach out! Our digital marketing experts offer industry-leading local SEO services designed to tackle any challenge and we would love to discuss how we can help your business start outranking your competitors and dominating the local search landscape.