Mastering Local SEO To Rank Your Small Business Locally

Is your small business the first choice for the locals in your neighborhood?

If it is not, then your local SEO might need some work.

A leading Dallas SEO agency advises the proper use of local SEO for several reasons. One is that approaching Local SEO is not just about being found; it is about being chosen by your neighborhood as the go-to business.

Secondly, “near me” searches are slowly and steadily becoming the future of conducting business.

Why do we say that?

Search engines, especially Google, witnessed a 150% increase in the search query with the qualifier “near me”.

The trend is set to continue, as Google reports that voice search which is gaining traction fast, is especially loaded with “near me” local search queries.

Therefore, as the experts at a renowned SEO Company in Dallas say, local SEO becomes an indispensable tool for small businesses to feature in local searches.

This article will broadly outline the steps involved in mastering local SEO that will help your small business rank in local searches.

But first, if you are unsure why you should invest money, time, and effort in showing up locally, here’s a quick fact check to shun those thoughts.

• 46% of searches are local, 86% depend on the internet to find local businesses, and 30% conduct a local search once weekly.
• More than half of the “near me” searches result in a customer visit to the business. 72% of consumers visit the store if it is within 5 miles, and 76% visit within a day.

Is Doing A Local SEO Worth It For Your Small Business?

Let’s take an example. Suppose, you own an Italian restaurant in Dallas, TX. People in your town are searching for Italian restaurants with the qualifier, “near me”.

So when someone in your town searches for an “Italian restaurant near me”, you would want your restaurant to feature in the top ranks of the search results. This will happen only when you properly implement the principles of local SEO.

The SEO strategists at a pioneering Dallas SEO company remind us that the advantages of local SEO are immense for a small business. Look at some of them below:

• Increased visibility: It can make your business feature high in search results, especially when the search query is related to your business, products, services, or locality.
• Higher web traffic: When your business ranks higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), it brings more organic traffic to your website.
• Better lead generation & conversion: Better visibility and higher traffic result in the opportunities to generate considerably better quality and number of leads and conversions.
• Competitive advantage: Even a small business can have a competitive edge locally over the big players that do not have a local presence.

How to Do Local SEO For Small Businesses?

Let us build up the hypothetical example of an Italian restaurant in Dallas, TX, and move around the steps involved in implementing local SEO in Dallas.

The Italian Good Taste, a local restaurant in Dallas offering Italian cuisines had been recently doing a brisk business. They had a website, but it did not fetch them as much local attention and customers as they would have wanted.

To increase their penetration in the local market, they approached a Dallas SEO agency. The agency, after a thorough audit of the website of The Italian Good Taste, recommended focusing local SEO in the Dallas area.

Accordingly, the following steps were implemented:

1. Thorough keyword research was conducted to identify the local keywords that were relevant to the business. These keywords were used by the local customers while conducting their search for local restaurants offering Italian foods.
2. Next, the website of The Italian Good Taste restaurant was optimized with these keywords, structuring it in an SEO-friendly way, especially its title tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content.
3. The website schema and its relevant descriptions were accurately suggested for Google to display them on search results pages.
4. High-quality and helpful content was created by implementing and focusing on the local keywords according to the local SEO in Dallas to cater to local customers and Italian food aficionados.
5. The website was optimized for viewing on mobile devices since 6 out of 10 customers used mobile devices to search.
6. Separate services pages were created for each service and type of products the restaurant offers, for example, takeaways, reservations, or food menus such as specials, meals, and snacks.
7. The restaurant’s profile was thoroughly updated and verified on the Google My Business listing. This was a crucial step because it helped the restaurant to appear in Google Maps and “near me” search results.
8. Local citations were built by mentioning the restaurant’s name in the local online directories, Yellow Pages, social media sites, etc. It helped in ranking the restaurant in local search results.
9. The local online reputation was managed and revamped by creating a business page on social platforms and engaging with the local community through positive feedback, suggestions, comments, and contributions.

Be Chosen By Your Neighborhood

The result of the local SEO activities by the Dallas SEO agency for The Italian Good Food was phenomenal. It started to feature high on local search results, customers flocked to them, and their business took off.

Now, it’s time to let your business be your neighborhood’s favorite. Implement local SEO and see your business grow. Almost magically.