Best way to increase local business with “Near Me” in keywords

Optimizing a site for local search is the key to appear on the front pages of Google SERP. Precisely all of this is needed to be found online by the local audience visiting the site and are willing to turn out into potential customers than mere fans. So you need to hire an SEO Company that can assist you for the same.

Why Local Search Is Important

Here are a few stats that prove how important local search continues to be for businesses:

50 percent of people who did a local search on their phone went to a physical store within one day.

34 percent who did their search on a computer or tablet did the same.

18 percent of local mobile searches lead to a sale within one day.

60 percent of American adults conduct searches for local services or product information on tablets and smartphones.

50 percent of searchers on their mobile phones who conduct local searches are looking for things like a local business address.

78 percent of local-based searches on a mobile device end in purchases being made offline.

71 percent of people who have been surveyed have said they search for the location of a business in order to confirm its existence before going there for a first-time visit.

1 in 3 searches on a smartphone was conducted just before arriving at a store.

97 percent of consumers looked online for local businesses in 2017, with 12 percent looking for a local business online every day.

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The Different Types of Local Searches

Let’s start by reviewing the different types of local searches and results that occur within search engines:

Keyword Only – Keywords without a city name rely more heavily on traditional organic ranking factors, although in some cases they can still include local results. Examples of this would be a website designer or divorce attorney.

Keyword + Location – Keywords that include a city name rely more heavily on true local ranking factors and will most likely pull from local listings like Google My Business or Google+ pages. An example of this would be Michigan vacation spots or Detroit plumber.

Mobile Based Searches – Keyword searches performed on mobile devices can produce very different results than that of desktop computers. A desktop and a mobile phone search can have completely different results for the exact same phrase which confuses and frustrates a lot of marketers. Such search inquiries and results can occur with or without a geographical phrase added to the search term.

 

To rank within the above types of listings, you’ll rely less on the link building side of things, and more on local NAP citations, local reviews, and My Business signals.

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Google My Business

If you haven’t already, you’ll need to claim your Google My Business page.

All you need to know is that once you’ve set it up, you should include the following:

Add a long, unique description that’s formatted correctly and includes links.

Choose the correct categories for your business.

Upload as many photos as possible.

Add a local phone number to your listing.

Add your business address that’s consistent with that on your website and local directories.

Upload a high-resolution profile image and cover photo.

Add your opening times/days (if relevant).

Get real reviews from customers (I’ll come onto this).

NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number)

Consistency is key here. You need to ensure that you have your full NAP across your whole website (i.e. every page). Furthermore, you must use the exact same details/format when you mention your address on other websites (i.e. local citations).

You’ll also want to use Schema.org markup on your NAP to give the search engines all they need to display your company information correctly.

Here’s the code that you can adapt to your own website:

<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/LocalBusiness”>

<p itemprop=”name”>COMPANY NAME</p>

<p itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>

<p itemprop=”streetAddress”>ADDRESS LINE 1</p>

<p itemprop=”addressLocality”>CITY</p>,

<p itemprop=”addressRegion”>REGION</p>

<p itemprop=”postalCode”>POSTCODE/ZIP</p.

<p itemprop=”telephone”>PHONE NUMBER</p>

<meta itemprop=”latitude” content=”LATITUDE” />

<meta itemprop=”longitude” content=”LONGITUDE” />

</div>

Make Customer Feedback Visible with Reviews

One of the most influential factors to impact near me search results are customer reviews.

Google makes it easy for customers to review a business (link is external). They simply have to open Google Maps, find your business, select “write a review,” and score it out of five stars.

Increasing the number of positive reviews users leave can have a dramatic and positive effect on local search. This is especially true when it comes to Google Reviews because unsurprisingly, Google places greater weight on these reviews than on reviews from other sites, such as Yelp.

Responding to reviews is another way to improve your local search ranking. It shows that you value your customers and want them to have a good experience.

Local Directory Websites

Next, it is recommended that you focus on local directories as the general link categories.

Building out these local directories will help you increase your website’s link authority for local searches.

Citation / NAP Sites

These sites are where you submit your money site to in order to increase its local search presence.

These citation sites are usually NAP-focused.

What does NAP mean? It means the name, address, and phone number of your business that you wish to appear on these sites.

The function of these citation sites is to increase your citation / NAP presence on Google.