Is Local SEO Worth the Investment?
Imagine a customer searching on Google for ‘restaurants near me’ in a busy, metropolitan area like Boston MA.
They’re going to get results from small local restaurants but also huge, national chains.
Which business will stand out more to the consumer?
If you own a local restaurant in the Boston area, will yours even appear on the list?
This is where local SEO comes into play.
Local SEO can improve your local business’s visibility online.
It can help your business appear on the first page of local search results.
This is especially important for keywords related to your local area.
By using local SEO strategies, your business can become more well-known and attract more customers.
But it requires an investment of time and money to generate returns.
Many small business owners don’t have the time, resources, or SEO tools to implement a local SEO strategy on their own.
What is Local SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
Local SEO is about finding the right keywords for your business in your local area.
It also involves optimizing your website and online profiles for those keywords.
This helps your business appear higher on the search engine results page (SERP.)
Improving your rankings helps more local customers find your business online.
They’ll see your business listed when searching for keywords related to your products and services.
Local SEO helps you reach the right audience when they’re ready to buy.
Benefits of SEO for Local Businesses?
Some local business owners don’t think SEO is worth the investment of time and money.
The truth is the initial startup costs for developing a strong local SEO campaign offer a significant return on investment.
Once you implement an SEO strategy, you can analyze its impact on your site traffic, leads, and conversions.
Then make tweaks as necessary to fine tune the process.
Although SEO isn’t a one-and-done, in time, it becomes easier to maintain and requires less time to manage.
The biggest benefits of a long-term SEO strategy are:
- Get your business in front of a larger audience of your ideal clients.
- Drive free organic online traffic to your website and social media pages.
- Save time and money by generating leads without paying for Ads.
- Generate brand awareness, establish trust, and authority.
- Improve your online reputation with more customer reviews.
- Stay ahead of competitors by ranking higher to get more online visitors.
- Get a better return on investment than other digital marketing methods.
What Are the Key Elements of SEO for Local Businesses?
The most important elements of SEO for any business are:
- Keyword research – Keyword research is the analysis of what your target audience searches for and how they search for it. Understanding keyword search volume and competitiveness allows you to optimize SEO to your target audience, so your message gets to the right people at the right time.
- Local SEO – Local SEO improves your ranking in the local 3-pack (or map-pack) and the search engine results page. It uses resources like Google Business Profile, local citations, and directory sites to get your business seen in local searches.
- Onsite SEO – Onsite SEO uses the content on your website pages to improve ranking on search engine results pages and drive organic traffic to your website. It’s important to know the places to put keywords because this information is crawled by Google and used to establish your business as trustworthy and reputable in your area. One SEO tip from my freelance SEO friend Pawan Gill is: “Naturally incorporate your seed keyword into the HTML title tag, meta description, H1, H2s, the beginning of your content, and image alt text. Avoid keyword stuffing and ensure readability. Write for the reader, not the search engine.”
- Customer reviews – People trust client reviews almost as much as a personal recommendation. The business with more 5-star reviews has a better chance of winning over the potential customer.
- Content creation – Content creation is writing and posting unique, engaging content across your platforms. The goal is to use onsite SEO and establish yourself as a reputable source of trustworthy information in your industry. Your content can increase brand awareness, grow your customer base, answer customer questions, increase customer engagement, and get more eyes on your website and social media pages. If you’re reading this blog, you can see for yourself the value of content creation for your business.
- Link building – Links are a major ranking factor. Combining internal links on and external links to your website will increase your trust rating and encourage customer engagement. A link from another site to your site is like a vote of confidence for you.
- Analytics and reporting – Getting accurate, real-time information on the results of your SEO strategy allows you to adjust as needed to improve your reach and visibility.
How Can Local Businesses Improve Their Search Engine Rankings?
Even small businesses can compete with larger local and national businesses.
A robust SEO strategy includes:
- Connect your website to Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
- Do keyword research.
- Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile
- Optimize your Bing profile and Apple Maps
- Analyze your competitors who are in the top 3 for your industry and area.
- Review the structure of your website.
- Use schema markup to help Google understand your site better.
- Optimize onsite SEO.
- Write unique, engaging content to draw visitors to your site and establish value.
- Create local business listings online and ensure your business name, address and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all listings.
- Leverage the power of local directories where people can leave reviews like Yelp, Angi, and more.
- Re-evaluate keywords regularly to determine which ones are still relevant and which should be deleted or updated.
- Creating optimized content for your website pages that’s locally relevant.
- Begin the local link building process.
- Ask for and respond to positive online reviews.
- Optimizing your content for mobile search.
- Consistently track and monitor so you know what to add or adjust.
How Long Does It Take for Local SEO to Work?
Local SEO requires patience to see results.
However, once you begin to see the benefits, you’ll be glad you put in the effort.
It can take around three to six months to start seeing results depending on how competitive your industry is in your area.
But once you’ve determined what works and perfected your local SEO strategy, it won’t require as much upkeep.
Local businesses can see quicker results by using SEO on their websites, Google and Bing profiles, Apple Maps, and social media.
This is especially true if they’re not in a very competitive market.
What Does Local SEO Cost?
The cost of local SEO can differ based on whether you’re doing it on your own or hiring a professional.
It also depends on the specific strategies you choose to implement.
The process begins with a meeting to discuss your business, services, goals, growth plans, target areas, and target audience.
Then marketers can develop a realistic timeline for developing and implementing personalized local SEO strategies and offer you an estimate for affordable SEO services.
Many agencies offer bundles that help you save money while increasing your reach.
SEO is not a one-and-done strategy, and usually includes an affordable monthly recurring fee.
You need to keep monitoring, because Google’s algorithm changes, new competitors come, or existing ones start their own local SEO campaign.
How Can You Tell if Local SEO is Working?
Marketers can analyze the success of their digital marketing to see what’s effective and what needs to be changed.
You’ll know if Local SEO is working if:
- Your keyword rankings are improving.
- Your website has increased organic traffic.
- Visitors stay on your website longer.
- You have increased engagement on social media.
- You have a greater response to calls to action.
- You have a higher conversion rate.
- Customers tell you that they found you through an online search.
Can Small Local Businesses Use SEO to Compete with Larger Businesses?
Yes, small local businesses can absolutely use SEO to compete with larger businesses.
Search engines like Google and Bing reserve space on their search results pages for local businesses. As stated above, this space is known as the map-pack or 3-pack.
Ranking in the top 3 on Google Maps can significantly increase your online visibility and drive more traffic to your website.
This can ultimately lead to more sales and growth for your business.
Many people prefer supporting local businesses over large corporations.
They believe this keeps money within the community and stimulates the local economy.
This support can lead to growth and prosperity for small businesses in the area.
What Are the Alternatives to SEO for Local Businesses?
SEO is a proven way to boost website traffic and attract customers, but there are other marketing strategies available.
Other digital marketing methods for building your customer base and increasing your reach are:
- Online paid advertising.
- Social media marketing.
- Email marketing.
These pair best with SEO, but they can make a difference on their own as well.
Learn More About SEO for Local Businesses
If you’re ready to know how SEO can help you grow your local business, call us today or contact us online.
At SEODriver, we specialize in working with local businesses to help them increase their ranking.
Because higher rank means more clicks, and more customers.
SEO works around the clock to bring in leads, boost traffic, and improve visibility to help you reach your business goals.
Although we’re located in the Boston area, we do work with local businesses across the US.
Our team works hard to find solutions for local businesses that want to thrive in the online marketplace.
We offer affordable digital marketing bundles that include progress monitoring and monthly reporting.
Let us help you stand out from the crowd and make your mark in your industry.
Our digital marketing services are tailored to your business’ unique goals.
We assess where you are, and understand where you want to be, so we can recommend the best strategy for you.
Schedule your free strategy call today!
