Local search engine optimization (local SEO) is similar to (national) SEO in that it is also a process affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine‘s unpaid results (SERP- search engine results page), often referred to as “natural,” “organic,” or “earned” marks. In general, the higher ranked on the search results page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users; these visitors can then be converted into customers. Local SEO, however, differs in that it is focused on optimizing a business’ online presence so that its web pages will be displayed by search engines when users enter local searches for its products or services. Ranking for local search involves a similar process to general SEO but includes specific elements to rank a business for local search.

For example, local SEO is about ‘optimizing‘ your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. Most of these searches take place on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines. Still, it would help if you also used sites like Yelp, Home Advisor, LinkedIn, Local business directories, social media channels, and others for better optimization in your local area to help Yelp, Home Advisor, LinkedIn, Local business directories, social media channels, and others.

The birth of local SEO

The origin of local SEO can be traced back to 2003-2005 when search engines tried to provide people with results in their vicinity and additional information such as opening times of a store, listings in maps, etc.

Local SEO has evolved over the years to provide a targeted online marketing approach that allows local businesses to appear based on a range of local search signals, providing a distinct difference from broader organic SEO, which prioritizes relevance of search over a distance of searcher.

Local search results

Local searches trigger search engines to display two results on the Search engine results page: local organic results and the ‘Local Pack.’The local organic results include web pages related to the search query with local relevance. These often include directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, Facebook, etc. The Local Pack displays businesses that have signed up with Google and taken ownership of their ‘Google My Business’ (GMB) listing.

The information displayed in the GMB listing and hence in the Local Pack can come from different sources:

• The owner of the business. This information can include opening/closing times, descriptions of products or services, etc.
• Information is taken from the business’ website
• User-provided information such as reviews or uploaded photos
• Information from other sources such as social profiles etc.
• Structured Data were taken from Wikidataand Wikipedia. Data from these sources is part of the information in Google’s Knowledge Panel in the search results.

Google can show relevant local results in Google Maps or Search depending on the searchesGoogle Maps or Search. This is true on both mobile and desktop devices.

Google Maps

Google has added a new Q&A feature to Google Maps allowing users to submit questions to owners and respond.^[8] This Q&A feature is tied to the associated Google My Business account.

Google My Business

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool that allows businesses to create and manage their Google listing. These listings must represent a physical location that a customer can visit. A Google My Business listing appears when customers search for businesses on Google Maps or in Google SERPs. The accuracy of these listings is a local ranking factor.

Ranking factors

Local Online Marketing

Major search engines have algorithms that determine which local businesses rank in local search. Primary factors that impact a local business’s chance of appearing in the local search include proper categorization in business directories, a business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) being crawlable on the website, and citations (mentions of the local industry on other relevant websites like a chamber of commerce website).

In 2016, a statistical analysis study assessed how and why businesses ranked in the Local Packs and identified positive correlations between local rankings and 100+ ranking factors. Although the study cannot replicate google’s algorithm, it did deliver several interesting findings:

• Backlinksshowed the most important correlation (and Google’s Toolbar PageRank, suggesting that older links are an advantage because the Toolbar has not been updated in a long time).
• Sites with more content (hence more keywords) tended to fare better (as expected).
• Reviews on GMB also were found to correlate with high rankings strongly.
• Other GMB factors, like the presence of photos and having a verified GMB page with opening hours, showed a positive correlation(with ranking) albeit not as important as reviews.
• The quality of citations, such as a low number of duplicates, consistency, and a fair number of sources, mattered for a business to show in Local Packs. However, authorities did not influence their ranking within the pack: “citations appear to be foundational but not a competitive advantage.”
• The authors were surprised that geotargeting elements  (city & state) in the title of the GMB landing page did not have any impact on GMB rankings. Hence the authors suggest using such features only if it makes sense for usability.
• The presence of a keyword in the business name was one of the most important factors (explaining the high incidence of spam in the Local Pack).
• Schema structured data is a ranking factor. The addition of the ‘LocalBusiness’ markup will enable you to display relevant information about your business to Google. This includes opening hours, address, founder, parent company information, and more.
• The number of reviews and overall star rating correlates with higher rankings in the Google map results.

Local ranking according to Google

Prominence, relevance, and distance are the three main criteria Google claims to use in its algorithms to show results that best match a user’s query.

• Prominence reflects how prominent a place is in the offline world. An important museum or store, for example, will be given more prominence. Google also uses information obtained on the web to assess the importance, such as review counts, links, articles.
• Relevance refers to Google’s algorithms attempt to surface the listings that best match the user’s query.
• Distance refers to Google’s attempt to return those listings that are the closest to the location terms used in a user’s query. If no location term is used, then “Google will calculate distance based on what’s known about their location.”

Local ranking: 2022 survey from 40 local experts including SEO Experts like William Jones, Chris Palmer, and Michael Merlino

According to a group of local SEO experts who took part in a survey, press releases, backlinks, and local citations are more important than ever to rank locally.

Near Me Queries

As a result of both Google as well as Apple offering “near me” as an option to users, some authors^] report on how Google Trends shows very significant increases in “near me” queries. The same authors also note that the factors correlating the most with Local Pack ranking for “near me” queries include the presence of the “searched city and state in backlinks’ anchor text” as well as the use of the ” ‘near me’ in internal link anchor text.”

December 2021 Product Reviews Update (Dec. 1)

The goal of the Google product reviews update, like the April Product Reviews Update, was to reward outstanding product reviews in search results. Google wanted to show users content with insightful analysis and original search, written by topical experts or enthusiasts. It took about three weeks for this update to fully roll out.

Google’s new advice for this update: provide more multimedia “evidence” around your product reviews and include links to multiple sellers.

November 2021 Local Search Update (November 30)

Google said this global update was a “rebalancing of various factors we consider in generating local search results.” It ran between Nov. 30 and Dec. 8, overlapping with the December 2021 Core Update and December 2021 Product Reviews Update. However, Google didn’t confirm this update happened until Dec. 16.

November 2021 Core Update (Nov. 17)

This was the third and final Core Update of 2022. Like all of Google’s core updates, the November 2021 core update was wide-reaching, impacting websites and SEO across all languages, and took about two weeks to roll out fully.

So when you need a Local SEO expert, contact G3 Agency today!