What is Local Search?

by Ascensor Limited Big Things coming in digital 2018

Almost half of all mobile users searching for local businesses visit that day. 18% of those users end up making a purchase. One third of all searches have local intent so if your company is relying on local consumer traffic, then it’s important to make sure your business is visible in the local search results.

So what is Local Search? There are three common definitions:

· Local Search is any search that is aimed at finding something within a specific geographical area. E.g. "Coffee Shop in Leeds".

· Local Search is looking for information online with an intention of making a transaction offline. E.g. "ATM in Leeds".

· Anything that you would traditionally look for in a directory such as the Yellow Pages, becomes a local search when you do so online. E.g. "Butchers on Random Street".

For some brick-and-mortar businesses, all search is local. Most of these businesses will only draw customers from a specific area. E.g. barbers, laundromats, sandwich shops etc.

Others are location-specific, but those who are searching for them are most likely not in the immediate area, but they hope to be some time in the future, such as car rental agencies, campgrounds, ski resorts etc.

So, just about anyone who does business in the real world has the potential to be affected by local search.

How Google Views Local Search

Any search engines goal is to return the most relevant results for a query. Google continually tries to interpret local intent and deliver the best local results when it does.

With a good local SEO strategy and calling top Digital Agency Leeds, you could find yourself at the top of the local results for the best Click-Through-Rate (CTR) as most users with local intent are more likely to use that map and reviews to choose a business.

Google caught on to how important local searches are way back in 2007 when local business information began to appear in SERPs and Google had begun ramping up local SEO parameters in the search algorithm.

Most importantly is that to this day the NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) citations is still an important ranking factor locally. If your NAP is consistent across all channels, then the search engine will see this information as trustworthy. However; information that conflicts across channels will cause search engines to lose confidence in your listing and give users with another listing they’re more confident in.

The Most Important Local SEO Factors

The most important ranking factors for local SEO are:

· Distance - How far each potential search result is from the location term the user has specified. If their location isn’t specified in their search, Google will calculate the distance based on what is known about the users location.

· Relevance - This refers to how well a local listing matches what the user is searching for. Making sure your business information is consistent across the internet will help Google better understand your business and make sure that it matches you to relevant searches.

· Prominence - Some places have more of a presence in the offline world and local search results endeavour to reflect this. This is also dependant on information that Google has about a business from across the internet. Reviews and score are a factor in the prominence of a business’ local ranking.

Local SEO Strategy

Having a strategy in place specifically for your Local SEO is highly recommended. Firstly, your customers need to be able to find you. Secondly, you need to make sure that you own all your online real estate. This includes citations across the major online directories. Most of the local citations are free and serve to boost your visibility.

Your goal should be within the local and organic listings using the following tools:

· Claim and verify your Google My Business listing.

· Optimise citations.

· Remove duplicates.

· Focus on Web Design Leeds

· Add local Business and Review Schema to your website.

· Optimise on-site content to be geo-targeted.

· Respond to directory reviews.

· Consistently build local links.