Local SEO: Boost Your Business's Online Visibility in 2024

Okay, so you own a service or service area business and you’re tired of having to market with paid search (PPC) or a site like Angi or Home Advisor to get all of your leads.

Right now you’re basically invisible online if you’re not spending money. And that hurts. You want the internet to love your business for what you do - not just for your money.

There’s got to be a better way!

There is. It’s called SEO or search engine optimization.

But if you run a local business, it’s not just regular SEO you need. It’s a special kind of SEO: 🎺 local SEO! 🎺

You probably heard of local SEO through one of 2 equally likely scenarios:

The internet told you that it’ll magically help you grow your business
While you were asleep and dreaming a giant sloth came to you, stared into your soul, and telepathically projected the words “local SEO” into your being. You awoke in a cold sweat, but somehow also filled with love, and knew you had to do local SEO.

Then you Googled it, read some articles, and got buzzword overload.

Don’t worry. I’m about to break everything down for you like a soggy cardboard box on recycling day.

TLDR
What is Local SEO?
Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Creating high quality content
On-Page Local SEO Techniques
- Best practices for on-page SEO
Website optimization
- Tips for optimizing your website
Building Local Citations and Backlinks
Leveraging Customer Reviews
Local SEO Best Practices for 2024
Key Takeaways
FAQs

TLDR

It’s pretty helpful to have a clear idea of what we’re talking about.

So here’s the TLDR:

Local SEO is applicable to any service business that serves customers at its location or any business that travels to customers to serve them
Businesses with multiple locations will need to do some aspects of local SEO for each location when it comes to their Google Business Profile, but they can share the same website and should have service area pages for each location they have or serve
If you do a Google search and you see a map with 3 listings for businesses, then Google is serving you results for Local SEO based on the businesses’ Google Business Profile. If you scroll down you’ll see the traditional organic search results (which have some different criteria for showing)
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is absolutely necessary and must be optimized for local search. That means you need to have accurate and updated business information, list your services, have steady reviews (4.2+ rating is ideal) that you respond to, and add photos and updates to your GBP frequently (1x per week is good)

What is Local SEO?

Alright, so what is local SEO exactly?

It’s the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in Google Map Pack and on search engine results pages (SERPs) for local searches.

Local searches are searches the include location-based keywords. For our purposes they also include a product, service, or your type of business. Ex. “denver lawn service”, “little rock landscapers”, or “missoula mulch”.

The goal of local SEO is to get your website to show up in the top 3 results within the Google Map Pack or Local Pack when someone searches for a location-based keyword related to your business.

Why the top 3?

Because the top 3 results that show up in the Map Pack also get almost 50% of the clicks. So it’s worth paying attention to Google Map Pack SEO.

One thing to note is that Google Map Pack rankings are much more volatile than traditional organic search rankings.

They vary throughout the day and there’s evidence that Google will prioritize businesses during their hours of operation and rank them lower when they’re closed.

While local SEO extends beyond just the Map Pack, the Map Pack itself is a pretty large component of it and you absolutely should focus on optimizing your Google Business Profile first…even before you have a website up.

Local SEO vs traditional SEO

The biggest difference between local SEO and traditional SEO is the Google Map Pack: Traditional SEO doesn’t have it at all.

Instead, traditional SEO is search optimization that is (basically) geographically unconstrained.

E-commerce uses traditional SEO, for example. Even though you may only sell something in the United States so your business isn’t unconstrained, no one is searching for “socks near me” or “las vegas sock company”…except random people writing about SEO and taking screenshots.

Google will take into account where the searcher is located when showing search results, but we don’t need to get into that.

There won’t be a Map Pack for traditional SEO.

Meanwhile, local SEO will have a Map Pack that you can click into to see even more results from local businesses.

Importance for local businesses

But here’s the thing: local SEO is not about getting your website to rank higher through gaming the system.

Things that used to work back in 2012 (when I first got into SEO) no longer work.

SEO is primarily about providing value to your customers and creating a positive user experience.

When you optimize your website for local SEO, you’re not trying to manipulate search engines; you’re trying to create a website that is relevant, useful, and easy to navigate.

In fact, user experience signals matter so much that Google has had patents for using user behavior to modify search results since 2015.

What that means is that having good SEO means you’re simultaneously improving your user experience (UX).

This in turn means you’re more likely to convert traffic into leads, appointments, or sales.

Key benefits for small businesses

Getting more leads and sales is a huge benefit - obviously - but that’s the combination of several other key benefits for local businesses.

Local SEO that gets you to the top requires that you become the authority in your industry, service, or expertise for your area:

Giving quotes to, or posting articles in online trade magazines that link back to your website
Posting helpful blog posts that are timely and demonstrate your knowledge/expertise while solving a problem for someone
Answering questions in the Q&A on your Google Business Profile

It means you’re more engaged with your community:

Posting regular updates with photos to your GBP
Giving offers and creating urgency with GBP offers
Guest posting on other local sites or getting links from non-competitors in similar industries, local newspapers, local governments, etc.

The more you are engrained in your community and known to be the “go-to expert”, the more leads will come to you naturally and the more you’ll be able to set your prices because you’ll be in short supply but high demand.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Remember that Map Pack we were talking about?

You don’t just show up on there magically. You have to optimize your Google Business Profile to show up high in the rankings.

Importance of claiming and verifying your GBP

Start by claiming your Business Profile and verifying it.

You’ll need some documentation about your business and the location to do this.

Tips for completing your profile

Your profile isn’t just used to communicate with your potential clients or customers, it’s also how you directly tell Google what your business is, what it does, where it does it and/or what area it serves.

Key things that you absolutely need to include are:

Business name, hours, location, website, phone number
What area your business serves (if it doesn’t accept customers at its location - i.e. if it’s a service area business)
Your primary category and a secondary category
Your Services (in the Services) tab
High quality images of your business and your work

Completing your GBP isn’t the whole story though. Google cares deeply about frequent updates and activity.

Leveraging GBP features (posts, Q&A, photos)

Once you’ve put the basic information in above, you’ll need to create a calendar (you can use the content calendar we mention in the next section) for your GBP updates, offers, and events.

You also can add some Q&A’s if you have frequently asked questions. The rank of both questions and answers is determined by upvotes, so keep an eye on these. Anyone can add questions or answers.

There’s no set amount that you should post updates and photos, but the top ranking businesses in competitive markets post at least once a week. These updates should always include photos, a short message, and a call to action.

While it’s best to include pictures of your completed work, you can also include more salesy pictures if you have offers. Just make sure not to violate Google’s policies on messaging in the offer or on any images.

Creating high quality content

Great! Now you’re sold on the value

…but how do you optimize your website for local searches?

Well, it starts with creating high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. This means writing articles, blog posts, and other content that is informative, engaging, and optimized for local keywords.

Keyword research

Conduct keyword research and figure out which pages are the most valuable to you - that is, the ones that should get the most traffic based on the search volume. This kind of keyword is usually something like “lawn service ithica” if you’re a lawn care company.

If you alredy have a page that is focused on talking about how you provide lawn services to Ithica, NY, then that’s great - now you need to optimize it. You’ll want to optimize any pages, however, it’s best to start with the ones that have the most search potential.

Using a content calendar

But how do you know what kind of content to create?

You can figure that out by creating a local SEO content calendar, which is basically a content strategy that helps you identify and schedule content for your target audience and service areas, relevant to your business.

If you already have a marketing calendar then you can use that as an initial guide to work from so that your messaging is consistent and the timing is right.

Remember though, it can take weeks or months for a page to get indexed by Google, so you’ll want to create and post any blog posts or articles to your site well before you’re running matching marketing campaigns if you want to make the most of your marketing strategy.

Tips for creating high-quality content for local SEO

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But how do I create high-quality content that is relevant to my target audience?” Well, it’s actually quite simple. You just need to write about topics that are relevant to your business and your target audience.

For example, if you’re a plumber, you might write about topics like “How to Fix a Leaky Faucet” or “The Importance of Regular Plumbing Maintenance.” These types of articles are not only informative and engaging, but they’re also optimized for local keywords.

And don’t forget about the importance of long-tail keywords. These are keywords that are more specific and less competitive than broad keywords. For example, instead of targeting the keyword “plumber,” you might target the keyword “emergency plumber in [your city].”

On-page local SEO techniques

Screenshot of an SEO Content Blueprint

To make your content really benefit your business you need to follow on-page SEO best practices, as shown in the screenshot of one of the pages from an SEO Content Blueprint above.

You can use AI or write the content yourself, but no matter what you should follow this process:

Conduct keyword research and find a good keyword to target
List out secondary keywords that are related semantically
Figure out an engaging and SEO optimized title and an engaging meta description
Create an outline with 3-5 sections, plus a “Key takeaways” or “Conclusions” (call it whatever you want that makes sense) and an “FAQs” section
Write the first draft
Edit the draft (you can use AI for writing, but not for editing. You need a person to do edit)
Add in external and internal links, and optimized images with proper alt text and file names
Publish the post with a URL slug that fits SEO best practices for URL slugs (has your keyword, isn’t too long)

Best practices for on-page SEO

The page title should be between 51-60 characters and should include the primary keyword you’re targeting on that page (i.e. “Lawn Service in Ithica, NY - Lawn Care, Mowing, & Trimming”)
The meta description should be about 150-155 characters. This, plus the title, are what your potential customers or clients will see in the search results so you want something compelling that will make them click on your page instead of a competitor’s
Have high quality, unique, web optimized images that don’t delay page load and also don’t have large file sizes. Your images should have relevant, accurate “alt” text
Make sure your text colors and background colors have a high enough color contrast ratio for accessibility
Don’t have text on images. If you do, make sure the “alt” text has the same text as well
Your image file names should be descriptive and relate to the keyword, ex. “freshly-trimmed-lawn.jpg”

Website optimization

But that’s not all. You also need to make sure that your website is technically sound and easy to navigate. This means having a fast loading speed, a mobile-friendly design, and a clear and concise navigation menu.

Tips for optimizing your website

Do a Lighthouse audit on you most important pages before you start
Click through your site on your phone, tablet, and computer to check the user experience from a customer’s perspective. Ask yourself these questions:
- Is my website easy to navigate?
- Can users find useful information about my business and services?
- Is there an obvious way to contact me?
- Have I provided evidence of my work and earned their trust (blog posts, reviews, testimonials, a photo gallery of completed projects, etc.)
- Do I have a “local service page” for every service I provide, and in every area where I work?

And don’t even get me started on the importance of local citations. These are online directories that list your business and its contact information. They’re a crucial part of local SEO, and you need to make sure that your business is listed in as many of them as possible.

Building Local Citations and Backlinks

One of the biggest reasons having a lot of high quality content on your site helps you is that it provides something for other sites to link back to.

When a site links back to yours, it’s called a backlink.

Google uses the relevance and topical authority of the sites linking back to you as measures of how authoritative your site is, which helps boost your rankings.

In fact, having a lot of high quality backlinks is one of the key things that pushed websites to the top of the rankings.

Reach out to local newspapers, similar businesses that are not competitors, and other relevant community groups to see if you can provide them a guest post or quote for one of their articles in exchange for a backlink.

Leveraging Customer Reviews

Customer reviews are your lifeblood, not only for generating trust and more leads, but also for search.

You should consistently ask customers to leave you reviews on Google as well as other review sites like Yelp, and send them a direct link.

Additionally, you should have a “Reviews” or “Testimonials” page on your site that highlights some of your reviews.

When it comes to reviews, Google cares takes into account if:

Businesses have a steady stream of them and not just random bursts (which appear shady)
You respond to reviews - whether they’re positive or negative - and how quickly
The review mentions specific services
There are photos included in the review

When asking customers for reviews, if you’ve established a good rapport, you can send them a picture of the completed work and/or ask them to include it in the review if they’re happy.

Local SEO Best Practices for 2024

Finally, let’s talk about the importance of building a strong online presence for local SEO. This means creating a website that is easy to navigate, has a clear and concise navigation menu, and is optimized for local keywords.

But it also means creating a presence on social media and other online platforms. This means having a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and other social media profiles that are relevant to your business.

And don’t forget about the importance of online reviews. These are reviews that customers leave on your website or on other online platforms. They’re a crucial part of local SEO, and you need to make sure that you’re encouraging your customers to leave reviews.

Key takeaways

Local SEO is a crucial part of online marketing, and it’s not just about getting your website to rank higher.

It’s about providing value to your customers and creating a positive user experience.

By optimizing your website for local SEO, creating high-quality content, and building a strong online presence, you can drive more traffic to your site and increase conversions.

So, what are you waiting for?

Get started with local SEO today and watch your online visibility soar!

FAQs

What is local SEO vs SEO?

While SEO or traditional/national SEO focuses on goods or services that can be delivered anywhere within a large area, local SEO focuses on services that are either provided in one location at the business, or in a specific service area.

How much does local SEO cost?

The cost of local SEO can range from several hundred dollars per month to several thousand per month or into the tens of thousands (or more) for competitive industries and competitive markets. On average you should expect to pay between $300 and $2500 per month for local SEO.

Is doing a local SEO worth it?

SEO has one of the highest ROIs of any digital marketing or marketing at all. While it often takes 6-12 months to begin to pay off, unlikes other modes of advertising it provides an “evergreen” source of traffic that compounds over the life of the business. It is definitely worth doing local SEO, however, if you need immediate benefits you will also need to explore other marketing options until your SEO gains traction.