Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 1 Now that the designing of the site has been completed, your job is done, right? Wrong. In fact, it has just begun. Your beautifully designed site with menus and submenus is nothing but a page unless it is accessible via the World Wide Web. This is achieved only when you get high ranking in search engines. Ranking in local search results of Google is next to impossible. Once you start with you local search engine optimization you will have tons of hands guiding you to follow various practices. By following every practice, you might end up doing worse for your site. Google lists a site higher only if it is visited often. You cannot ask your potential customers to visit the site often. It is automatically done once it is listed high in search engines. If you are not doing well in your area, then you can let your competitors take the plunge to rank high in search engines. You surely do not want your competitors to beat you in rankings. This is well achieved when you pay attention to local SEO. You must have heard and read a lot about local SEO. Though many companies opt for it, not many know what exactly it is. It is surely a confusing topic. What exactly is Local SEO? If you own a local business you will understand the challenges as an owner you have to face. Local SEO is all about getting higher search engine ranking when a customer types a specific area. It is believed that around 97% of users tend to search for local services and products. Apart from this, around 90% of the Google search results do not ever pass the results that are loaded on the first page itself. The second page is often considered as second preference. This type of SEO is needed when you want to get noticed in the home market. This is achieved when the site is optimized for local SEO. Is Local SEO different from traditional SEO? Ranking of the site according to Google and other search engines is done based on the number of links received from other sites. The site that gets more links tends to get higher ranking and ultimately more traffic. However, when talking about local sites, these sites are only relevant to local areas. As a search engine, it needs to take care of many aspects than just links. No matter how small, medium or large your business is, opting for local SEO is highly recommended. Types of Businesses for Local SEO Any company that does business locally should not neglect the importance of local SEO. It can be anything from a local restaurant, dentist, lawyer, doctor or even a retail outlet. It is somewhat the same as local Yellow Page directory. Benefits of Local SEO There are innumerable benefits associated with Local SEO. Mentioned are some benefits of it: 1. It helps in improving and enhancing the search engine ranking. 2. It helps your business to get front page ranking on various major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. 3. It helps in increasing the leads, sales, and even conversions. Now that you know all the information on Local SEO you should know how to do it. If done correctly it can reap huge benefits. But a single mistake is more than enough to get your site down rather than ranking high. Mentioned are 11 effective ways of doing Local SEO: Create Local Place Page This is the prime step towards local SEO. Ensure you have a great local business page for all the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Creation of the local page is easy as all you have to do is to offer accurate business information like hours of working, contact number, location and so on. Online Reviews It is believed that Google largely takes into consideration reviews when getting ranked high. You should know that reviews serve as a direct platform for customers to get easy information on products and services. The reviews are for Google users who take your business on SERP. One of the best ways to get easy reviews is by adding a button on your webpage itself. This makes easier for your visitors to post prompt and quick reviews. Photos It is rightly said, “A picture can speak a thousand words.” Remember this aspect when getting high local SEO ranking. When a client searches for your business locally they surely want to see pictures. Google+ allows you to post around 10 pictures at one go. Ensure the photos posted are not fake and of your products and services alone. Photos help your visitors to get easy information. Target Right Keywords Keywords play an important role when talking about getting a high ranking. When it comes to local SEO, the limelight goes on long and geo-specific keywords. Instead of using the keyword “plumber”, when using local SEO it is wise to target “plumber in Pennsylvania”. When you take a closer look you will find it actually changes the whole dimension. This further helps you to compete effectively with your competitors and rank high in search engines. Get Ready For Less Competition When you do business nationally or internationally you have to compete with a larger audience. However, this is lessened when you opt for local SEO. You will find the competitions are reduced to certain organizations or businesses in that certain area itself. The reason for this is because the keywords you use are location specific. This actually works in the favor of your business as you will not be competing internationally, but just local businesses. Citations When talking about local search engine ranking, citations play a major role. Google actually takes them as votes. However, it is of paramount importance that the citations match the details that are posted on your site and Google local page. As compared to traditional SEO, Local SEO is more into citations. It is basically a non-link mention of the address, contact number, brand name, and more. It mainly aims at listings on various directories and also getting positive reviews. You can put an icing on the cake by considering some common techniques of including blogs and quality links. Conversions No visitor likes to wait for minutes and hours in order for the site to load. They will obviously prefer other sites that are offered as second or third suggestions. This leads to losing your customers. It is seen that conversions tend to drop drastically when a webpage takes the time to load. To boost and enhance the conversion rates ensure the pages load quickly. Normal time for any page to load is 0-5 seconds. If it exceeds more than that you know you are lagging behind. Results Not many companies understand the importance of getting fast results as long as SEO is concerned. It is seen many of the SEO companies tend to continue with the optimization process until there are some great results to show. However, this can be effectively avoided with Local SEO as it offers faster results. Solutions That Are Readymade As compared to traditional SEO in which an expert makes use of various tools when it comes to managing the processes, there are certain tools that help in your Local SEO. High ROI It is believed that Local SEO helps in getting higher ROI easily. There are a number of reasons that shows why local businesses get high ROI. One of the main reasons is because it is basically physical providers. As you do business locally you can expect less competition, and thus better chances of getting high listings in Google and other search engines. Social Media Integration Social Networking sites have made a great impact on getting high exposure. You are highly recommended to have a healthy dose of effective social media contact. It is a great platform to reach out to a larger local audience. It is a great recipe and should not be neglected in any way. Ensure you have a great presence on various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. These are some of the most and effective 11 ways to do Local SEO. It is your easy ticket to getting high ranking and exposure on Google search engine. If your business largely relies on local customers and visitors, then local SEO is surely made for you. It is one of the best ways to be seen on the first page of Google and other search engines. In this way, you can expect a lot of businesses. Once you opt for Local SEO you will actually notice the difference and establish a strong online presence. You should know that most of the searchers never ever go past the results other than the ones posted on the first page. Make use of this aspect and get high ranking and the much-needed exposure. Do not make your customer wait for long! Make use of Local SEO techniques and get high listings easily. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on Submitedge SEO Blog and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Kane Pepi <p>Kane Pepi is an experienced financial and cryptocurrency writer with over 2,000+ published articles, guides, and market insights in the public domain. Expert niche subjects include asset valuation and analysis, portfolio management, and the prevention of financial crime. Kane is particularly skilled in explaining complex financial topics in a user-friendly … View full profile ›More by this author:VoIP Basics: Everything Beginners Should Know!Bitcoin Investment, Trading & Mining: The Ultimate Guide for BeginnersIs This a Better Way to Set Your 2020 Goals and Resolutions?