Ever searched on your browser for stuff like ‘Indian restaurants’ or ‘grocery store near me’? If you are on your mobile device or a desktop, Google knows your location with a high level of accuracy, so the results it serves a person in Atlanta, GA would be totally different from a person in Taos, NM. Here is how it does that and why you should care about it.
First, why should I care about SEO as a local business owner?
When a person is doing a local search, they are usually coming in with a purchase intent, which is very powerful. This means they are ready to buy a product or service right now.
eg. If a person searches for “water heater error code 65”, that usually means that person may have a real problem and either they are trying to fix it or are in need of a plumber to fix it.
Another example, a person searches for “second hand furniture near me”, here that person is most likely looking for a second hand furniture store where they want to purchase some furniture.
You see why is this so important? There is a potential client out there searching for you with purchase intent. Now Google’s job is to connect that person to a local business which can solve their problem.
This is where local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) comes in
The way your website is structured and the way your content is layed out on your website gives signals to Google what it is all about and what services you offer. Your website is considered to be a second location of your business. With the help of local SEO, you are actually making it easier for the users to interact with your business.
Here are certain factors you can address on your website so that Google understands its purpose. In future, I will be adding more posts detailing each of these and how you can accomplish this yourself.
1. Make sure your page follows SEO rules for your H1, H2, H3 and other tags.
2. Make sure the title of your home page or landing page reflects the user intent.
3. Try to add structured data (or JSON-LD) to your website to make your intent to Google even clearer
4. Add your website to local directories like Yelp, Tripadvisor etc. The more “social signals” you send to Google the more likely it is to rank higher in search results.
5. Create a Google search console account if you haven’t already done it.
6. Create your Google MyBusiness page. It is absolutely critical to do this to rank in local search results.
At Taos High Tech, we offer all of these services as part of our SEO package. Hit us up for a free consultation and we can explain how we can help your local business get discovered online.
Recent Comments