Local SEO focuses search marketing on the audience most likely to buy from a business in your area. If you run an established Internet business with a physical location, localizing your search results puts your website in front of nearby customers instead of leaving that traffic to the nearest competitor.

Why local search results matter for your business

Many local services and businesses already run search marketing campaigns, but they still miss a key piece. By localizing results, the effort is aimed at the people who would actually visit, buy, or book in that area. Without it, most potential customers never see your site at all and click through to a competitor instead, which can still send new visitors your way even when it does not bring direct sales.

How search engines rank local business URLs

There are two main ways local businesses can localize their results. The first is submitting the website URL to major search directories. That process mirrors what search engine companies do to rank sites: a search engine scans the source code and decides placement based on where the URL sits. Google, Yahoo, and other leading engines note the URL and assign it a ranking.

This directory path does not always pay off for local SEO, because engines are constantly looking for new sites to index, so backlinks from established sites can be ignored by the bots. Most business listing services only list home pages, so a link-heavy main page may not show up at all. That is why many companies also hire a professional SEO service to handle local SEO.

Organic results versus paid placements

Organic search results are generally treated as higher quality than ad-influenced ones, though organic still has limits, including how long engines spend on each page. To earn strong organic placement, you need creative content and careful keyword use so the major engines notice the site in a different way.

Tactics that lift local rankings

Adding social media to a local SEO campaign pulls in more local customers and creates more backlinks to the site. Social media encourages visitors to share content with others, which builds those backlinks, and keyword research shows social media users are more likely to share a site with people who share their interests.

To put this into practice: make sure the site has a solid set of content and well-optimized pages, run local map pack advertising campaigns to pull in targeted traffic, and consider hiring professionals who can optimize pages for search engine rankings. These moves boost search traffic, but rankings still need steady care if the site is going to keep showing up high in the SERPs.

FAQ

What does local SEO do for an established Internet business?

It focuses search marketing on the audience most likely to purchase from a business in the area, so the site shows up for nearby customers rather than being outranked by competitors.

How do search engines rank locally listed URLs?

Search engines scan a site’s source code, note the URL submitted through major search directories, and assign it a ranking based on where it sits in that code.

What tactics help boost a website’s local rankings?

Solid content, well-optimized pages, social media sharing for backlinks, local map pack advertising campaigns, and professional optimization of pages for search engine rankings.

Related coverage

• Local SEO Explained: How Nearby Customers Find Your Business
• Local SEO – Connecting With Your Local Audience