What is Local SEO, and How Does It Work?

Local SEO is what it sounds like: the science of making your business more visible in local search results on Google.

Local SEO is a search engine optimization strategy that helps your business be more visible for searches in geographic areas on Google.

If you have any local businesses, then this can help to drive customers and grow revenue!

If you’ve ever searched for a restaurant and noticed that three other restaurants nearby also pop up, then chances are good that those businesses were utilizing local SEO to gain visibility before they even had any patrons!

But before you can understand local Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it’s important to learn how Google works.

How did search engines evolve?

In the early days of the internet, there were relatively few websites. Navigating was easy because it would take up a small space on your screen and you could find what you wanted quickly. Once we started to add more sites, search engines became popular so that people can easily locate them without spending hours scrolling down pages after page in hopes of finding one they might like or need for school or work related purposes.

Google uses hundreds of factors on and off your website to determine if it’s a relevant result for its search engine. Factors form your “digital footprint,” and each factor has a different weight or value, which the search engine combines to return results. Your digital footprint determines whether or not you’re a top result to an inquiry that a user types into Google. The internet may have started with only a few websites, but it has grown to be one of the most important parts of our lives. One way in which this growth occurred was through search engines who helped users find what they were looking for more easily than before.

How Google determines Local Ranking

It’s an algorithm, not magic

You might be wondering how we know the best local results. Well it all comes down to math! When you enter your search into Google Maps, our algorithms assign a relevance score which increases as distance decreases and prominence rises until there is only one result left. For example if two businesses are within 50 miles of each other but business A has more reviews than B then they will both rank higher in local rankings because their importance scores were closer together even though their distances may have been farther apart.

Local results are based primarily on relevance, distance, and prominence. A combination of these factors helps us find the best match for your search. For example, our algorithms might decide that a business that’s farther away from your location is more likely to have what you’re looking for than a business that’s closer, and therefore rank it higher in local results.

The algorithm looks at various on-site and off-site factors to determine which websites have something related to your search. All of the relevant sites are added to the list, which is then ranked by prominence thanks in part due its ability to use algorithms that can figure out what you need based on previous questions or searches.

The efficacy of your SEO can be improved by trying to increase the relevancy, prominence and link popularity of your website. If the right elements of your site’s digital footprint are optimized, your site shows up higher in more search results.

How Local SEO pattern is different

What about the organic search results for local businesses? After analyzing billions of searches, Google figured out that people seeking certain types of businesses need results from their immediate area. That’s why Google’s local search algorithm considers a proximity factor, which is a way of saying that Google takes your location into account when you search for a local queries (a keyword with local intent). This happens even when the searcher doesn’t include a city name or “near me” in their search.

If you’re at office and want to get a pizza delivered for lunch, for example, if you search “pizza delivery” in Google, it displays the list of local locations near your office on its SERPs. (search engine result pages).

But if you try to search for the same thing while you are at home, you’ll get a totally different set of results. Considering how well known of a food item the pizza is, it makes sense that if you need a pizza delivered, it needs to come from somewhere nearby.

Local SEO has existed as long as people have looked for businesses by location, but it was only limited in the past due to desktop-only searching. Mobile internet access has grown in recent years, meaning that mobile search is also taking off. In order for a business to succeed and show up higher on the SERPs rankings, they need a strong local SEO strategy.

What matters for local SEO

What does this mean for search marketers? While the local map pack is displayed within the standard Google organic search listings, separate algorithms power the main Google searches for local rankings and the local map pack. As a local business, you have the opportunity to appear in both the main organic search results and the local map pack at once.

One of the most imposing challenges for new marketers is figuring out how to make their marketing efforts effective.

Local content and quality backlinks are key to local SEO, just as it is in Google’s traditional search algorithm, so, If you have multiple locations, it’s important to build local landing pages that cater specifically to each of the geographical areas., where you should include not only your business name but also its details like address and phone as well as optimize their titles tags, meta descriptions, and follow SEO best practice. This should be taken into consideration as well in your content marketing and link building strategy.

Additionally, location-based factors like having an active Google My Business page and listing with data aggregators will help your rankings in the local search results. – that should be published by your local customers – are also taken into consideration in your local oriented SEO rankings and as consequence you should also take them into consideration in your local SEO efforts, from developing keyword research focused on your local audience, building citations, managing Google My Business listings, business profile and Google posts, and even monitor your inclusion in local packs.

Website content is a significant factor, just as it is in Google’s traditional search algorithm, but location-based factors like Google My Business, citations, and review signals are also included.

Start Utilizing Local Seo

Now that you have a better understanding of the different types of SEO and how Google ranks local search results, you can start to optimize your site’s digital footprint in the local oriented search ecosystem. This way your business can rank higher on the results page, which may result in more potential customers finding your business.

One of the key factors that influence your visibility in these searches is how well-known you are locally. To stay up-to-date with what signals are changing in importance, Once you begin improving all aspects of your local SEO, you’ll be able to serve more people in your area and grow faster.