A Guide to Local SEO

Customers are searching for the best products and services near them – and they want answers… fast.Will your business show up at the exact time when local customers are looking? Will they pick you out of all the local businesses that offer the same products and services?Search Engine Journal’s ebook, A Guide to Local SEO, tackles what you need to know about optimizing for local search.Local search engine optimization requires a strategic and targeted approach that is distinct from general SEO.Brick-and-mortar businesses wanting to win against competitors should make sure all the local signals across Google’s local search landscape are consistent and correct.We created this comprehensive guide to help local SEO professionals gain a better understanding of today’s local search landscape.

What Is Local SEO?

Local SEO means increasing the online visibility of local businesses. It’s similar to organic SEO, but requires additional focus on geography.Specifically, you want to land high in search engine result pages (SERPs) for local searches.There’s no reason a New York restaurant would want to rank highly in Houston’s local search results. They want people in New York to find them.So it’s imperative to improve your local SEO if you want to increase your organic local traffic.According to Safari Digital’s local SEO report, Google Business Profile signals, including keywords and backlink profile, are top ranking factors.These are the signals that help local businesses rank in Google’s three-pack.The Google three-pack consists of your top three local search results.This used to be a seven-pack, but Google truncated it to suit mobile searches better.This is where you want your business to show up for local searches.So how do you land there? Here’s a step-by-step guide to upgrading your local SEO: locally targeted content, like a list of local eventsDon’t fret; we’ll cover these steps and some additional local SEO tips in more detail below.