What is Local Search Engine Optimization?
Local Search Engine Optimization, sometimes called Local SEO, is like SEO in which it also is an ongoing process affecting the visible online presence of a site or a particular web page, most often referred to simply as “local” or “inbound.” This SEO technique can include both paid search results and organic search results. Organic SEO is the technique applied to reach a specific audience. PPC, or pay-per-click advertising is a popular form of organic SEO. This form of SEO is less time consuming and requires a little more thought, but the results are very obvious.
In order to understand the importance of Local SEO, it’s helpful to first understand the two major players in the game – Google and Yahoo! Google is by far the leader in terms of popularity of search terms and Google AdWords. Yahoo! also has a strong presence in the field and recently was acquired by Microsoft; Yahoo!
With the above in mind, understanding how Local Search Engine Optimization can benefit your business would be beneficial, isn’t it? Local Search Engine Optimization provides many tangible benefits. For instance, having a well-optimized site with relevant content can give you a higher ranking on Google. Having this rank boost can lead to higher traffic and ultimately more sales. With increased traffic and sales comes more profits.
Another tangible benefit of Local Search Engine Optimization is that it can increase the quality of customer relationships. This is especially true in the sales arena because better service areas increase the likelihood of sales and the corresponding increase in income. Many times, the sale is made in the customer relationship area. The sales and service areas are where the two parties come together and that is what Local Search Engine Optimization is all about.
There are several other tangible benefits from Local Search Engine Optimization and they include building organic traffic to your site which is free and can be sustained over time, building organic rankings which is free and sustainable and, of course, building local online visibility. Organic traffic is free and sustainable because it is generated through organic searches. Organic searches are those searches that are performed via Google, Yahoo!, and MSN using the appropriate keywords. All these efforts can lead to increases in organic traffic and that leads to an increase in sales.
On the flip side of the coin, the opposite of increasing organic traffic and establishing local customers is losing organic traffic and establishing local customers. Losing local customers is a definite defeat of your SEO efforts because once the customers leave, that’s it. It’s as dead can be and you have to work harder if you want to keep your customers. With Local Search Engine Optimization, you can be sure that you won’t lose any customers and you can be pretty sure that you won’t lose any customers because your SEO efforts will get you local customers organically.
In addition to the above benefits, Local Search Engine Optimization includes elements like content marketing, social media marketing, PPC or pay per click advertising, video advertising, and mobile website applications. Content marketing is basically the blogosphere where you submit your articles and make them available to others who might find those articles useful. Social media is basically Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, among many others. PPC or pay per click advertising is used to get a higher ranking in the search engines and for generating traffic.
In summary, Local Search Engine Optimization should encompass all the elements of organic search engine optimization and also the elements of elements such as social media, content marketing, PPC, and mobile application development. This is the way a truly optimized site should look and work. It also requires a great deal of customer data analysis of your competition. So keep in mind that having a site optimized for your particular market can mean the difference between getting tons of new visitors and getting tons of new business, but also between getting new customers and getting new sales.