…With Local Search Rankings
You likely already know that a majority of potential new customers and leads to your business will first look online to find the local services they need or a problem they need solving, whether it be for a plumber, a fitness instructor, a landscaper, a party planner … basically anything!
What is Local Search?
Local search is when people type in (or speak) a question where they need to find something that has local intent.
For instance, “Find pizza near me” is an obvious local search. A search engine like Google knows that the person is looking for a pizza restaurant, and in a location near where they spoke into their mobile phone or near their home if on a computer.
Google will tailor their search results to both nearby restaurants and those restaurants with excellent ratings.
Getting Listed in the Local Search Results
Google states right on their page how they determine local ranking. They are:
Relevance – How well does your business match what the user is searching for?
Distance – How far away is your business from where the user searched?
Prominence – How well-known is your business?
Before we go further into how Google determines local ranking, you first need to register to be listed in the results in the first place!
There are three main steps to getting your business listed in local search:
1. List your business in Google My Business: https://www.google.com/business/
2. Gain Citations for Your Business: Citations act as “mentions” and “votes” from other authority websites and reviewers, which helps you begin ranking in the local search listings.
3. Customer Reviews: Reviews are important not only for the obvious benefit of customer feedback, but also because it shows that your business is popular enough for people to want to leave reviews in the first place!
Putting it All Together
Now that you know how to get listed in the local search results, it’s time to put everything together. The final piece of the puzzle is your own business website, as well as your presence around the web.
You can have a blog on your website, where you publish articles for your visitors, clients and (most importantly) potential clients to read. Syndicate these articles to your Facebook page, link them to your Twitter feed, and even create an attractive cover graphic and publish on Pinterest and Instagram.
How does Google determine where your website fits in? It all comes down to the strength of your brand. The authority and relevancy of your website is one factor. If your website ranks well on the regular search results, it will also rank well in local search.
This is one strategy to gaining more customers by ranking in local search. By combining some or all of these factors and taking meaningful action, you can build your online presence into a powerful brand to dominate the top of local search. Whenever a nearby customer is looking for a service like yours, you will be there, open for business and ready!
To make it easy for your customers to find you and increase your profits you need a quality website that increases your visibility without increasing your advertising spend.
Strathfield Web Design is a professional web design agency based in Strathfield. We are fully certified and our award winning team can assist you with all aspects of your website development and digital marketing.
Contact us today on 02 9742 5635 for a free website planning consultation.