DW Tips

There is good news for local business owners, nonprofits, and professionals who have done some homework on search engine optimisation (SEO). Most of what you've learned applies to what is called local search engine optimisation (LSEO). The latter isn't so much different as added: SEO plus the "L" factor.

For the restaurant, retail store, professional office, accounting firm, or school is local SEO more important? In fact, it is indispensable, but it builds upon and requires effective SEO. For example, crafting web page content, titles, headings, and contact information are crucial for all optimisation--local and national/international.

But, when it comes to LSEO, you want your web pages to come up as often as possible--and as high as possible in the rankings--when users enter local searches for products or services. Specific elements you need in order to rank high in local searches often are divided into two types. Local searches that produce local "organic" results related to local relevance and results that are part of the "Local Pack."

The Local Pack are businesses that have signed up with Google. (In New Zealand, as you probably know, Google is overwhelmingly the dominant search engine.) The business takes ownership of its "Google My Business" (GMB) listing. You should not skip this step--not in New Zealand or, really, anywhere.

GMB takes its information for the Local Pack from you (the owner), your website, users who upload reviews or photos to your site, and generic data from information sources like Wikipedia.

A feature you cannot help but notice is Google Maps that pinpoint business locations and give directions. Added, now, is a Q&A application so that searchers can submit questions and you can respond.

Google, like all search engines, uses algorithms or formulas to rank how local businesses are displayed in response to a search. The complexity of those algorithms has become legendary, but for local optimisation a few factors stand out:

• You should be in the proper category or categories in all business directories where you are listed.
• Your business name, address, and phone number must be available to the search engine. One key is a separate contact page.
• The number and relevance of what are called "citations"—in this case, your mentions of other relevant websites like the chamber of commerce--count.
• Getting the name of your state and city into the title of your GMB landing page, according to one major survey, doesn't count for much, so those elements need not constrain your use of the best title possible for the crucial page.
• On the other hand, that survey showed, use of at least one keyword (search term) in the name of your business is important for where you rank in the Local Pack.
• Reviews and overall star ranking count. But we all knew that.

There are factors, of course, you can't change. Google is going to prioritize the business or other listing geographically closest to the searcher. Google also gives a certain priority to what it calls "prominence,"  how famous nationally or regionally you are. That perhaps applies more to museums, schools, or large stores than most local restaurants.

We offer these examples not as a guide or checklist, but a reminder that the local factor looms large in your online sales and marketing online. With so much to keep in mind, constant changes (such as in algorithms), and Google "roll-outs" of new features, most businesses, accounting and other professional firms, and nonprofits such as schools benefit from our expertise at Designer Digital--on a regular basis or for a periodic "checkup."

We welcome your inquiries about your website, online sales, digital marketing, and the spectrum of issues related to search engine optimization, local and otherwise.