Every business, irrespective of its nature or size, will need local SEO optimization. This is the best way to create awareness and promote your brand among your local leads and customers.

So What is Local SEO?

It is an optimization strategy to gain more visibility on Google local search results. It is especially helpful for brick-and-mortar businesses that have physical locations.

Not only does local SEO optimization help drive traffic to your website, it also makes it possible for your business to survive the competition against larger brands that have access to unlimited resources. Here are a few ways to achieve local SEO optimization:

#1. Get your business listed on Google

In order to do this, you will have to register an account on Google My Business. All you need to do is provide some details as requested and verify them in order to gain visibility in the local search results of Google. The information you enter will appear on the Google Search Knowledge Panel as well as on Google Maps.

• Make sure the information you provide is accurate and up-to-date
• Put up your logo, mention your operating hours, and give details about the products and services you sell.
• Use a lot of images
• Encourage customer reviews and respond to them sincerely
• Publish posts regularly

#2. Try Voice Search Optimization

With the patience levels of people reducing day by day, voice search is about to gain a lot of popularity. Find out what questions people ask while speaking into their voice devices. Use long-tail keywords as far as possible. The tone needs to be conversational.

#3. Check out local news stories and events to create your content

You don’t have to always speak about your product or service to grab the attention of your local customers. Whether you want to write blog posts or create videos, you can base them on local news stories, events, and activities. You can also include a few location-specific webpages to improve the local SEO of your website.

#4. Focus on mobile optimization

With more and more people using their smart phones to buy products and services, it makes sense to optimize your website for the mobile devices.

• Use big fonts to make your content easily readable
• Increase the loading speed of your website
• Don’t use too many images or too much text. Convey only important information as briefly as possible

#5. Use Local Keywords

Local SEO optimization is all about making your keywords relevant to your local customers. Use local keywords in your URL, web copy, and Meta content. You can also include some hotspots and region-specific landmarks.

#6. Focus on Getting High-Quality Backlinks

This is one way of driving maximum local traffic to your website. Make sure you create high quality content that is share-worthy. Submit guest blogs to reputable websites that have a high DA (domain authority). Tie up with local influencers on Instagram and Facebook and encourage them to link back to you.

SEO keeps changing every now and then. Before you know it Google would have introduced some new features for its local searches. Staying on top of local SEO is important if you want to optimize your website for the local searches.