Marketing 101: Why Your Small Business Needs Local SEO Services
According to Google, 46% of searches on their search engine are for local shops and services. What does that mean for your business? Well, if your small business specifically caters to your local areas, such as a brick and mortar store or in-person service, you’ll need SEO that helps you reach those looking for your local services. Local SEO services will help your company reach even more people in the St. Louis area.
Not convinced? Read on to learn why in 2019, targeting your neighbors is even more important than ever before.
What Is SEO?
First, let’s start with the basics. What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization.
It is a system in which you tailor the keywords on your website or social media to meet what people are searching for. This is a simple answer for a much bigger concept, but SEO at its core means finding a way to make your business’ site come up first when people are searching for the services you offer.
If you’ve ever spent time on Google searching for someone or something, you’ve probably not gone past the second or third page. Once you get past those pages, you start to lose interest.
As such, you want your business as high-ranking as possible within those keywords so that people are more likely to click on your business and convert to customers.
How Is General SEO Different From Local SEO?
Say you run a dentist’s office in St. Louis. You can hire an SEO company to make your practice come up high in search results. They can do this by finding keywords people are searching for related to dentistry.
In this example, let’s say the SEO company has found that a lot of people are searching for information on cavities. They create content based around searches for information on cavities, giving people the information they’re looking for.
Now your dentist’s office is one of the first things that comes up when people look for information on cavities. That should be a done deal and help you get more patients, right?
Unfortunately, no.
That’s because you’ve targeted people searching for information for cavities, not people who are searching for a dentist in St. Louis. As such, you may see an uptick in people coming to your site, but what good does that do if they’re in California or South America? They’ve received the information they need, but since they don’t need a dentist in your area, it’s not likely they’ll be in your chair any time soon.
Local SEO uses keywords to target local customers. Instead of simply people who are looking for information on cavities, now you’ll get people in St. Louis who are looking for a dentist. Now, you can covert the people surfing on your site to patients.
Mastering Local SERPs by Using Local SEO Services
Have you ever needed service and you searched for something like “best dog groomer near me” or “coffee shops near me?”
Most of the time, you’ll come with something they call a “3-pack” or a local search engine results page (SERP). These are the top three businesses that show up underneath a map of your local area showing you where dog groomers are in your city.
While you may decide to go for a dog groomer that’s closest to you on the map, you may also really want the one that has the best SEO results because it appears more trustworthy. Because of this, you’ll likely choose one of the top three listed under the map, or at least look at those first.
Getting on a local SERP page isn’t exactly rocket science, but it does take knowing what you’re doing to get there. Hiring a local SEO service company can get you on that local SERP page without wasting time out of your day learning SEO.
Making Sure Your Site Is on Google My Business
You may have noticed when you look up a business on Google, you’ll get to a page that tells you where the business is, what the business does, and may sometimes have ratings and reviews.
This is something called Google My Business, and it is important that your business is not only listed there but is up to date.
This is what helps the local SERP find you, as well as gives potential customers information on your business. If you Google business and very little comes up about it, it’s unlikely you’ll want to visit the business if you’ve never been before.
A local SEO service can help make your Google My Business page look professional and polished, and ensure it looks enticing to those who are both locals and on vacation, and of course, looking for what exactly your business provides.
Can’t I Do My Own SEO? Why Do I Need to Hire Local SEO Services?
Certainly, you can strike out on your own and try to craft an SEO strategy that will have your business turn up on the front page of Google’s results. You can even try to ensure that your business ends up in the “3-pack” by working on this yourself and neglecting to hire local SEO services.
However, as a small business owner, you’ll waste valuable time you could devote to other projects. You’ll also be spending time and money on trial and error when you could leave it to the experts who can get you the results you need.
Want to take your small business to the next level? Contact us today for a free consultation. Let’s see how far local SEO can take you.
Also, consider our free Local SEO Health Audit report as it includes a reputation management assessment amongst other beneficial data to help you optimize your domain to help your business grow!
