Why local seo is important for small business

When you're a small business in a digital world, you need to do everything in your power to stand out from the crowd, aka the very busy online space. 

Every business is trying to sell their products or services, and one of the most effective ways to attract potential customers is by ranking well on Google and being referred to by apps like ChatGPT. 

To rank well, you need to make sure you are Search Engine Optimised (SEO), but we know this can feel like a huge wall for small businesses to overcome. It's hard enough to understand the terms, let alone implement them in a strategy. 

We get into it below.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is simply the technical term for optimising your content based on keywords that are associated with a particular location. 

For example, this is a list of general keywords you might associate with a painting company: 

• Find a painter

• How to paint my living room

• Best painters and decorators 

This is a list of local keywords that you might associate with a painter in Brighton: 

• Best painter in Brighton

• Where to find painters in Brighton and Hove

• Brighton decorators 

Local SEO capitalises search engine rankings based on a physical location. This means searchers can find good quality services (yours) in their particular area. You might want to think about including a location strategy based on the areas in which you want to do business. 

Does this sound confusing? If you still aren't comfortable with what traditional SEO is, we recommend you take a look at this page here.

Why is local business good for you

The importance of engaging with your local community can largely depend on what industry you're in - for instance, you might find it more beneficial if you're an electrician than a digital agency.

Jobs that rely on physically travelling to their clients and customers obviously need the convenience of short commutes. At the same time, digital work can still be delivered to those outside of the company's town, city, and even country these days. 

However, it's important to say that the local community matters to some degree for every business. There's certainly been a social push to "shop local" and support small businesses; this is something every company should try to take advantage of. 

Engaging with the local community is good for: 

• Attracting new customers

• Building trust

• Getting access to local publicity (magazines, digital papers)

• Strengthening branding

So, how do you begin? We outline some initial steps.

1) Think about what keywords resonate with your business

Before you do anything, it's worth sitting down with your team or marketing manager and brainstorming some words or phrases that you think represent your business. 

You may have already done this in a previous business exercise. But also think about which words you think potential customers might be using to look for your service online. For example, if you're a florist in London that specialises in fast delivery, your potential customer might type into Google "last-minute flowers London".

When thinking about what local keywords you might want to use, it's generally best practice to consider what locations you do business in and expand from there. For example, if your business is based in Brixton, you might want to think about local keywords that include:

• Brixton (exact location)

• Streatham (surrounding area)

• Crystal Palace (surrounding area)

• South London (wider area)

• London (city) 

This is also a great exercise to get you thinking about where you are willing to do business, how long you want to commute, etc. 

2. Do local keyword research 

Next, it's worth looking outside of your own business and doing some generalist keyword research. 

You need even more data to verify your above suspicions. It's easy to say, "I think our customers will be using x keywords". But are they really? Sometimes, search volume is surprising. 

Using a tool like Semrush or Moz is a great way to check how your local keywords are performing. The top three things to look at are:

• Traffic volume

• Keyword difficulty 

• Intent

By checking difficulty, you can make sure that you aren't wasting your time chasing unattainable traffic. 

3. Create localised content

Now it's time for creation. You should work with an SEO writer to build optimised content for your website. 

They'll know best practices around on-page optimisation, ensuring that you give your page the best chance it can to rank and attract visitors. 

Some important considerations for building content are: 

• Who is going to write or create the content

• What type of content is it (blog page, service page, etc)

• Where is it going on the site (consider your site map)

• Are you going to repurpose the content for socials

• How will you track its performance

• 
  

Answering these questions is essential for your overall SEO strategy. 

4. Build local citations and backlinks

Aside from pure content creation, you also need to think about additional tactics to rank your local seo keywords. 

Consider things like: 

• Mentions of a business's name

• Listing the local address or phone number

• Building links to high authority local sites

• 
  

All of the above adds additional context to where you are based, not only to Google but to the people visiting your site too. 

5. Measure success

Of course, you then need to measure!

To know if your tactics worked, you should monitor local SEO performance metrics using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track rankings, traffic, and conversions.

You don't have to use all of them. If you're a small business, it's often best to stick to one or two tools so that you don't get overwhelmed, confused, or end up with redundant data insights that actually don't tell you anything about your business. 

Some entry-level metrics you could track are: 

• Page rank position (how high up is your page ranking on search engines)

• Page visitors (how many people are landing on that page, has it increased?)

• Referral numbers (have you gained more authority in your local market?)

One important thing to remember is that local SEO can take time. It's not uncommon to only notice rank chances after a couple of months, so patience is also key. 

Final thoughts on why local seo is important

We know that the world of SEO can be confusing. It involves a lot of numbers, time, and good faith that the hard work you're putting in now is going to pay off in a couple of months' time. 

Of course, local SEO is just one part of overall engine optimisation; you need to decide as a business if it's the right direction for you to go in.

Or speak to someone who can do the hard work for you: keyword research, competitor analysis, content creation, and help you make an informed decision, before you throw lots of resources at it. 

Speak to us to shed more light on SEO.