What is Local SEO, and How Does It Work?

Local SEO means making it easier for people in your area to find your business when they search for it on Google. If you have a shop or provide services in a specific area, local SEO can help more people see your business in the search results.

Imagine you're searching for something like "best pizza near me" on Google. If a map pops up with a few pizza places listed under it, it due to local SEO. It's a shortcut for businesses to get noticed by local customers.

But before diving into local SEO, it's good to understand how Google works. And one way to boost your online presence is by creating your own website. You can build it from scratch, get your own web address, keep track of visitors, and make it easier for people to find you through search engines.

How did search engines evolve?

In the early days of the internet, finding websites was simple because there weren't many around. But as the internet grew, it became harder to find what you were looking for. That's when search engines came into play.

Search engines were like digital librarians. You could type in what you were looking for, and they'd find websites that matched your search. Google was one of these search engines, but it stood out because it started looking at how websites were connected to each other. This helped it figure out which sites were trustworthy and important.

Nowadays, Google considers lots of things to decide which websites to show in search results. These things make up your "digital footprint." It's like your online reputation. Google looks at factors both on and off your website to decide if it's a good match for what someone is searching for. So, having a strong digital footprint can make you more likely to show up when people search for things related to your business.

So how does Google work?

When you search on Google, it looks at lots of different things on websites to figure out which ones are the best match for your search. These things are like clues that help Google decide which sites to show you.

But there's something many people don't know. Google doesn't search the whole internet in real-time every time you type something in. Instead, it uses something called the Google Index. It's like a giant library where Google keeps copies of all the websites it knows about. So when you search for something, Google looks through this library to find the best matches for your search.

To create the Google Index, Google employs little programs called "spiders" that crawl the web. These spiders follow a simple plan. They begin with one webpage, then follow the links on that page to explore other pages, and keep doing this over and over.

As these spiders crawl through web content, they gather information and store it in Google's servers, building up the index. It's pretty amazing because these spiders work really fast and can crawl through trillions of pages. This helps keep the index super up-to-date, ensuring that new websites and links are found quickly.

How Google ranks search results

When you search something on Google, it uses special methods called algorithms to quickly decide which websites to show you. These algorithms look at the index and pick out the websites that best match your search. Then, they arrange those websites in a list called organic results.

The algorithms consider a few things when picking and ordering the websites. They look at how relevant a site is to your search, how well-known or important it is, and how many other websites link to it. This helps Google show you the most helpful and popular websites first.

The algorithm checks both what's on a website and what's happening outside of it to decide which sites match your search. It gathers all the websites related to your search and ranks them based on how important they are.

By improving your SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you can affect how relevant, important, and popular your site seems to the algorithm. If you tweak the right parts of your website and its online presence, your site can appear higher in more search results.

Local SEO is a different pattern

When you search for something local on Google. Like a nearby restaurant or a local service, Google uses a special algorithm to show you the best options in your area. They figured out that when people are looking for certain types of businesses, they usually want results from nearby.

So, Google's local search algorithm considers your location, even if you don't specifically mention it in your search. This "proximity factor" means Google takes into account where you are when you search for something local, whether you include a city name or not. This helps you find what you need close by, without having to add extra details to your search.

When you search for "pizza delivery" while you're at work, Google shows you pizza places near your office. But if you search for the same thing at home, you'll see different results because Google knows you're looking for a pizza near where you live.

This makes sense, right? You want a pizza delivered from somewhere close by, whether you're at work or at home.

Local search has been around for a while, but it used to be mostly for people using desktop computers. Now, with more people using their phones to search, local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has become super important. It's a big deal for any business that offers local products or services, as well as for people who market to local customers.

What matters for local SEO

For people who market online, it's important to know that Google uses different rules to decide what shows up in regular search results and in the map pack. Even though the map pack is part of the regular search listings, it has its own way of working.

As a local business, this means you could show up in both places at once, which is awesome for getting noticed by more people.

If you're just starting out with online marketing, it can be tough to figure out where to put your energy. The key is to focus on the things that will give you the best results. This might include things like making sure your website shows up when people search locally. Keeping your Google My Business page looking good, getting positive reviews from customers, and making sure all your business info is consistent online. If you get these things right, you'll have a better chance of showing up in both regular search results and the map pack.

Moz, a company that studies marketing, does a yearly survey called the Local Search Ranking Factors. They talk to about 35 to 40 experts from all around the world who know a lot about local SEO. Their survey tells us what things affect how easy it is to find local stuff online.

One important thing is having content that's specific to your area and getting links from local websites. This is just like what matters in regular Google searches. If you have more than one location for your business, it's smart to have separate pages on your website for each place. On these pages, you should put details like the address and phone number. And it's also important to make sure these pages are set up well for search engines.

Your content and links should also focus on local things. It's good to be on Google My Business and get listed in local directories. Also, getting good reviews from people in your area is helpful.

There are special tools to help with local searches. They can help you figure out what local people are searching for, get listed in local places online, and see how you're doing in local search results.

Having good content on your website is important, but so is being on Google My Business, getting listed in local places, and having good reviews from local customers.

Start harnessing SEO

Now that you've got a handle on the basics of SEO and how Google sorts out local search results. You can focus on things that will boost your website's visibility in local searches. This means paying attention to signals that make your site look good to search engines in the local online world.

By doing this, your business has a better chance of showing up nearer the top of the search results. And when that happens, more people who might be interested in your business could find you, which could mean more customers for you.

There are lots of factors that affect how easy it is to find your business in local searches, and this field is always changing and growing. To stay on top of what's important, you can check out Moz's yearly survey. It's like your playbook for making a strategy.

As you work on improving each of these important areas, you'll start to reach more people in your area. And when more folks can find you, your business can grow faster.