Local SEO differs from normal or nationwide SEO by including a location metric.
Location metric can mean three things
- Vanilla Circus Ltd (solicitor + London)
- keyword near me (solicitor near me)
- keyword, and Google defines your location via your IP address. (solicitor)
If you are based in London, then the search results should all be very similar. Where there is a difference tends to be in Google My Business Google Local Maps. However, there can be a very poignant difference as if you are logged into your Google account. Google tracks all of your searches and all of your locations in your Google account. So if you’re based in Edinburgh and that is where you normally reside then your Google account will probably think you’re in Scotland. So if you search for a solicitor, you are likely to get a solicitor plus Edinburgh.
Google is not perfect.
Local search and what it means to business
One of the problems with the Internet is that you can search for a carpenter or solicitor who is based close by only to make an enquiry by telephone and find their location miles and miles away.
Alternatively, as a business, you can get an enquiry that looks very exciting and is worth a ton of money, only to find out they’re based in Timbuktu. It is a hard part of conversion optimisation to ensure that all sales leads have a degree of being able to be closed.
Again, the Internet is not perfect.
If you’re a business that has a defined location and there are elements of needing customers to come to those premises, perhaps you are a restaurant, a café, a bricks-and-mortar shop, a dental doctors clinic, the list is endless, then you might find that your marketing has a much better return on investment if you invest in local SEO.
Target people by location. Target your search results by location.
If you need people to be local, you only really want to turn up for searches where the person either used a plus location or is in your area. Although this can be difficult with blog content, when it comes to services or product pages, this should be imperative to your online marketing.
Converting web traffic into revenue becomes a lot easier when the customer lives around the corner.