Using Geolocation optimization on your website for local mobile search is critical to your business websites success. Assuming you have a local business or one that targets audiences in a specific location. Using today’s Geolocation technology and a Local Search Focus for search optimization should be your #1 priority.
How does geolocation work? – Geolocation services have access to databases that give them the information needed to locate someone online through their IP address. Depending on which browser you are using, the HTML5 Geolocation API approximates location based your public IP address, cell tower IDs, GPS information a list of Wifi access points and signal strengths.
The SEO world knew as early as 2011 that searching with Local intent was important. In fact this article shows that 54% of searchers use a local modifier in their search terms. Furthermore 60% of local searchers add a town or city name to their search and 42% go as far as adding a zip code. (now that is Local Search Focus)
A 2014 report from Google suggests just how important mobile technology has made concepts like SEO for local businesses. The report states that 50 percent of people who do local searches on a smartphone visit a store from that search within a day. And 34 percent of tablet and desktop users will also visit a store within a day of searching it online.
This means that local businesses that use Geolocation optimization technology to optimize their sites for local searches can see improvements almost immediately.
Lets Optimize our page elements for Local Search
It’s important for local businesses to take advantage of technology in their local marketing efforts. When it comes to local search marketing, you are not only targeting industry-specific terms but Geo-specific terms as well. So, doing the keyword research is very important.
If you plan to advertise using Google Adwords you can always use their keyword tool. But what if you just want to do research for your own internal pages?
SERP Sniper recommends the FREE version of SemRush. I think this tool provides just enough data in its free application to be useful including the metric for the number of results in Google.
Once you have your keywords, the next thing to do is let search engines know what locations you are targeting. Include Geo-specific information, keywords and phrases in the specific places on your website as described below.
Title and Meta Descriptions
When it comes to search results, people are going to see your website’s SEO title tag and meta description, or other related snippet from your website, first.
Note that when searching for Local SEO Services Kingwood people will see those bold keywords in both the title and snippet about the website. Make these two areas count for local search by doing the following:
Lets add Geolocation Technology
- Locally Optimized Title Tags – The SEO title tag is one of the most important elements for on-site optimization. Make sure it includes your primary keywords and your location within 70 characters. Note, Google sometimes chooses alternate titles for search results. You should still assume that Google might choose your specified title tag to link to your website in SERP’s. So get it right.
- Locally Optimized Meta Descriptions – Again, Google might choose a snippet of text from your website instead. It never hurts to have an optimized meta description. Make sure it includes your primary keywords, areas your business serves and phone number, if possible, within 165 characters.
- Local Address & Phone Number NAP – Most businesses place this information in their website’s footer so it shows on all pages. Be sure this is text and not in an image. This is good Geo location technology for search engine bots and for people on their mobile phones as your phone number will be clickable!
- Location Specific Pages – create a page on your website specific to each physical location & area you service (Geolocation technology). If these are solid keyword rich pages with relevant and actionable content the search bots will index them. This way, anyone searching for your business or service in a particular neighborhood or city should be directed to the appropriate page.
- Embed a Map – you can get the HTML code directly from Google Maps, or if you are using WordPress it is easier using a plugin.
Top Reasons to use Geolocation Optimization for Local Search
This report is a recap of their 2015 Local Business Search Webinar. This is a great read filled with actionable information so don’t forget to download it.
According to the report from ComScore Neustar-Localeze; The top three (3) reasons you should optimize your business website for local search are.
- Opinions on Relevance and Trustworthiness of Search Results. When it came to Opinions on Relevance and Trustworthiness; 72% trusted Local Search Results while only 5% trusted the paid results.
- Activities Resulting from Online Local Business Search. Over half of online local searchers visited a business at their store after conducting an online search. Further an additional 37% said the contacted the business over the telephone.
- Reasons For Selecting A Business When Searching for Local Businesses. The most common primary reason for selecting a business was familiarity with that business. 61% select a business based on its location. 44% select a business based on its consumer ratings and reviews.
As you can see, optimizing your website for local search is a big deal so don’t neglect it.
OK, that does it for now. I hope you find this article useful to improve the SEO for your local business’s website. As usual if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to your comments.
