What is local SEO and why is it so important? –

Can you imagine that a potential client searched in Google for the product or service that you offer just in the geographical area where your business is located? As is logical, in addition to our product or service being able to satisfy the search intention of this user, we must add the proximity of the business with respect to it. For this reason, this type of specific search requires certain actions when it comes to promoting our business to appear among the first results.

This set of positioning techniques is known as local SEO and in this section we are going to tell you in more detail what they refer to, as well as why it is important to work on them in a business that has its area of ​​action in a specific geographical area.

What is local SEO?

When we talk about local SEOwe refer to the set of web positioning techniques, which are aimed at increase the visibility of a businessin searches by users who demand a product or service in a specific location.

That is, it is sought that the website of a company that has a physical commercial premises or that provides its services for a specific geographical area, can be found by potential customers who perform a search related to your product or service in that location. In this way, the potential client, the search engines will provide an offer of options, based on those around them.

It should be noted that this strategy is not at odds with global positioning, since we can work at both levels of action. Let’s take as an example, a law firm located in a municipality of Madrid such as Móstoles. Many potential clients may be looking for the services of a lawyer based on their proximity, and do so through terms such as “lawyer in Móstoles” or “law firm in Móstoles”. However, this firm may also carry out electronic procedures, so you may be interested in being found at a national level as well. In this way, both types of strategies can be worked on.

Google My Business: Our ally in local SEO

It is a free tool provided by Googlewhich aims to link our presence on the Internet, with a physical location or, where appropriate, if it does not exist as such, with a specific geographical environment of action.

A company file, which will include information about the business, as well as its main means of contact. Through a series of panels, it will allow us to configure the different options. Our company will be displayed publicly to those users who carry out a search that has to do with the product or service that we offer, either because they are close to our location or that, on the other hand, their search intention has to do with a specific geographical location.

We call this section, where a series of businesses that meet these search conditions will be listed. “Local Pack”. We are interested in our company being positioned as high as possible for said list, for this, the profile optimization It’s fundamental.

In addition to local visibility, Google My Business offers us a large number of options. It is noteworthy, the possibility that your customers can make ratings and reviews about your business, since they can be a point in your favor, serving as recommendations to future clients who come to consult them. This will help us improve our Online Reputation.

It is undoubtedly a closest communication channel with the customer, since we facilitate contact and put at your disposal all kinds of practical information you may need. Likewise, it will help us when it comes to making strategic decisions regarding local SEO, since we will have certain statistics, which will help us to check how the file is working among our users.

Why is it so important to work on a local strategy?

If our business does not have a product or service, capable of being distributed globally, it is important that we know that the local SEO strategy will help us gain visibility in those geolocated searches. If, on the other hand, we do have the capacity to serve globally, but nonetheless we want to intensify the presence where our business has physical headquarters, local SEO techniques can also help us. In both, the geographical component favors us, as well as the proximity of users when competing to appear among the first positions.

Regarding the advantages for our business, we can mention some of the benefits that working with a SEO strategy locally:

• This is an important tool when it comes to generate local trafficsince if we do not work on it, our main competitors will gain relevance in our field of action.
• The appearance of our business in sections such as , will not only bring us quality traffic to our website, but it is also a mechanism of attracting customers to our physical headquartersas it will be displayed to users based on their proximity.
• In addition, the simple fact of appearing among the first local organic results, provides a image of professionalism to our businesswith respect to those that appear below.
• It offers the possibility of display detailed information and make yourself known to the public close to our geographical area.

Furthermore, it should be noted that almost half of the searches currently carried out provide local results. This trend is becoming increasingly important in the eyes of Google, since its main objective is to provide the user with results that are most in line with your search intent. And if this search intent is satisfied locally, Google will provide you with your results within the «Venue Pack«, where Google’s local search results are located. Also, the eldest use of mobile devices when performing any type of search on Googlewhere at all times it is easier to know our location.

For all these reasons, the local SEO it becomes an indispensable tool to get our local business to potential customers. In , we work the local SEO in our projects of . If you have a local business and want to increase the visibility on your website, do not hesitate to contact us.