For those who are not familiar with Search Engine Optimization(SEO) it is a marketing strategy that generates organic traffic to your webpage and helps your business rank higher organically on search engines. Most business owners have a presence online that gives the whole world an opportunity to see them, but if you are a business that provides local services and accumulates profits from mostly local consumers then gearing your website with local SEO is an absolute necessity. Did you know that 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information? About 50% of consumers who searched for a product/service on their phone visited the store within a day and 18% of local searches on phones lead to purchases within days. 

If you have ever searched for a product,service, or brand online then you probably searched with the term “near me” or even added your city and state ,so that only local services/products show up. As a business owner, if you want to be visible for your local market, your website and Google My Business needs to be optimized for your local market to help you rank higher locally on search engines. Consumers want to find details about your service/product quickly and if you are nowhere to be found that can be a problem. So, should you use only local SEO? Absolutely not, you should use both local and traditional SEO because it will double the amount of potential traffic for your business. 

Here are some of the most important ranking factors Google uses for local listings:

1.Domain Authority Of Website

2.Proximity Of Address To The Are Being Searched

3.Proper Google My Business Category Associations

4.Quality And Authority Of Structures Citations

5.Click-through Rates From Search Results

6.Consistency Of All Citations Throughout Primary Sources Like Your Website,Google My       Business Etc. 

7. On-page Signals

8.Social Signals

9.Review Signals

10. Inbound Links

The list goes on. This is why SEO is a long term investment rather than a quick fix. The more features you have like these the more competitive you will be in your category. In other words, local SEO is a very targeted approach and very effective.

Google states that one in three searches in the U.S. is a local search because 87% of people use their phones when they are out traveling or in need of something. Even “near me” searches show a tremendous growth of over 150% more than traditional searches. Which brings us to another very important topic, “The Map Pack” this consists of three local business results pulled from Google Maps when a consumer searches for something local. The first results to appear at the top of your search will be paid ads, which have a small AD icon next to the result. Below will be the Google My Business map results in a box with a couple local businesses listed. After the map box is where the organic Local Pack listings are displayed . As mentioned below SEO services concentrate on providing you that organic visibility. While paid ads are great too, they can get expensive and should also be used strategically.