Local SEO
Local search engine optimization, sometimes called local SEO, is just like organic search engine optimization in which it is the paid advertising of a site or a page on a search engine that is paid for but is not affected by the natural algorithm behaviour of the search engines. Organic search engine optimization (SEO) on the other hand, happens to be on the unpaid side, and therefore is affected by the natural search results of the search engines, which are influenced by the users themselves. While both organic and local SEO is important for higher search rankings and drive traffic to a site, they do have distinct differences.
Many small businesses are already aware of the benefits of local SEO. This is because many businesses do not have access to a good amount of traffic that could result in organic search results. Because of this, most small businesses already know the importance of optimizing for local SEO. However, even smaller businesses need to begin thinking about optimizing for local SEO so they can draw in more local customers and increase their profitability.
So, what is local SEO? This is very simple. It is simply optimizing for keywords within a particular area or city that you want your business to get started in. You can do this by going online and doing some keyword research on the specific area that you want to target.
For example, suppose you were starting a business in Elkhart, Idaho. You would want to make sure that your business page on google, or any other search engine that you use for your business, targets the city of Elkhart. Doing this will help you get rich results from the google map searchers. The last thing that you would want to do is miss out on potential customers because you did not target Elkhart as one of your cities to begin with. This is why it is so important to do the proper keyword research for your business.
But how does this local strategy benefit businesses? Well, first of all, people who search for a business in Elkhart are looking for local businesses. Google's data, which comes from all of its customers, gives businesses located in certain geographic areas rich with the information that they need about location-based searches. This means that businesses located in Elkhart will get more hits on their Google Places business page than businesses in some other area that Google could possibly analyse.
Also, it helps to have a strong local SEO strategy for a couple of reasons. When people do a search for a local service in Elkhart, for instance, they are more likely to see your business than a business that does not have a local presence. Local SEO, then, can give your business a more professional image, especially if your website is nice and user-friendly. Organic SEO or search engine optimization, though, is a more difficult approach to take because it takes time to get used to certain technical aspects of search engines and content. But if you hire an SEO firm to handle both tactics, you can be sure you'll get started on the right foot.
The most important aspect of your SEO campaign, though, is to realize that you're going to have to work at it regardless of whether you choose to incorporate organic SEO or local SEO into your plan. Organic SEO alone can boost your rankings in the major search engines; however, you'll need to work on other types of marketing to get the word out about your website. For example, when you are trying to get more people to visit your website to see what you have to offer, you need to have quality content and landing pages that are well-written and interesting. Landing pages are the pages visitors land on after typing in a search phrase. If your landing pages aren't optimized properly, you're not going to draw them in.
However, while optimizing for rankings in the organic portion of Google is important, you should also make sure you are getting your message across to all of the people who use the search engine on a regular basis. This means optimizing your content so it is easy for web spiders to read and understand. It also means making sure any pictures you use to promote yourself and your website are search results-friendly. While it is extremely important that you optimize for both organic and local Google listings, you don't want to leave keywords out, either.