Local SEO is a great way of driving regional visitors to your e-commerce website by ranking for topics relevant to local searchers. That is the reason why local SEO is essential for your e-commerce and worth investing in alongside standard SEO.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO ( Local Search Engine Optimization) is the process of ‘optimizing’ your online attendance to attract relevant local searches. It helps businesses advertise their products and services to local customers at the exact time they’re seeking for them. These searches take place on Google and other search engines such as Bing, Yelp, Apple Maps, etc. However, most of the people are using Google to search for local businesses
Google’s Local ‘Snack Pack’ VS. Organic Results
Take a look example of the search results for “solicitor in Camberley”…
”Google Snack Pack is a boxed area that appears on the first results page when a local online search is made through Google’s search engine. The Snack Pack box displays the top 3 local business listings most relevant to the search inquiry”. In the report of Moz, 33% of clicks go to the local “snack pack” results and 40% going to regular organic results.
How to make the use of local SEO for your e-commerce website
Firstly! Remember that local Google searches are performed from many different devices and apps, so ensure your e-commerce is optimized for viewing on different types of devices.
Tip 1. Set Up and Optimize Google My Business, Bing Places, Apple Maps Listings
Optimizing your Google My Business is the cornerstone of local SEO. It is one of the top local ranking factors for both “snack pack” and organic results. It is a free online business listing that will help you become visible during Google searches and on Google maps when users search for keywords or your business. Click Here To set up GMB
Some tips for optimizing your GMB for local SEO:
- Add in all the correct data you have about your business
- Use local keywords wherever you can
- Include pictures of your business
- Respond to all of the customer reviews posted on your GMB
- Look out for incorrect edits
- Use Google Posts to keep your customers informed
Next up — Bing Places and Apple Maps Listings
Bing has a 7.81% market share in the US which means it’s about 1/10th as important as completing your GMB profile. And Apple’s iPhone has a 32.9% market share in the US — that’s ⅓ of all smartphone users or tens of millions of people. If you are doing local SEO at Global/Us, you should claim and optimize your Bing Places and Apple Maps Listings
Tip 2: Local keywords Research
The success of local SEO is improved by the content you publish on your website. You need to generate much content optimized for local keywords. The more content you have, and the better it answers local questions, the greater your ability to feature in local SERPs and driving people to your eCommerce site. To boost traffic through local SEO, you need to use long-tail keywords with a local suffix. Some of the content you can use to optimize your e-commerce store for long-tail keywords include:
- Add local content resources, such as places to visit in your area, to your blog
- Publish guest posts from other local businesses, or bloggers, on your eCommerce website
Tip 3. Build local citation
A local citation is a reference to your business’s general contact information. They can present all around the web, including directory sites, websites, apps, social media platforms, maps, and anywhere else where users could be seeking information about local businesses. That way, you need to make sure your site features on citation sites and online business directories. Not only will this help customers find your business, but improving your search rankings. There are two main types of citations: structured and unstructured.
Tip 4. Optimize On-Page SEO
It is also essential that you optimize your website’s content to supply to your clients’ queries. In case you have multiple locations, you need to implement them all in your eCommerce website. One of the useful tips to boost your e-commerce website’s relevance to the clients’ queries is to have your main keywords in the most critical part of the site, like URLs, Heading, Title, meta description, content, etc. Another necessary thing to keep in mind is to make use of structured data, as having well-formatted content on your website will help search engines better understand your content
Tip 5. Add Schema Markup for Local Businesses
By implementing the Schema code to your e-commerce website, you’re helping the search engines identify certain text on your sites, such as your business’s name, address, and phone number. In fact, there’s a huge list on Schema.org so but what type of Schema markup should you use? See the below useful schema examples.
Read more: How to add schema Markup to Magento Ecommerce?
- name
- address
- telephone
- logo
- description
- streetAddress
- addressLocality
- addressRegion
For a restaurant, for example, you could use the following markup terms, too.
- openingHours
- servesCuisine
- priceRange
Tip 6. Link Building for Local Sites
According to Moz, “link signals” are the most critical ranking element for local organic results. For the local “snack pack,” they’re the second most important element.
You should have already built a base set of links when building local NAP citations. So here are a few ways to build links to local business websites…
- Create and promote a useful local resource
- Guest blogging is still an awesome way to create high-quality links.
- Steal more of your competitor’s links With link intersect
Tip 7. Reviews
A great way to leverage the reputation of your local business is having positive feedbacks from your current customers on your online store and Google local page. These reviews and ratings not only help new visitors to make a purchasing decision and but also enhance your website’s CTR (click-through rate). Besides, It is again a positive signal considered by search engines to increase rankings of an eCommerce website. There are some tips help your business improve the number of your reviews:
- Offer your clients a discount if they leave a review
- Ask them for review: a huge percentage of clients will leave you a review if you simply ask them to
Tip 8: Connect with Local Influencers
Collaborating with local influencers can help your brand in myriad ways. You can hire influencers in your area who are relevant to your niche business, ask them to share their feedback about your local business with their fans. That way, you easily reach more new customers based on the suggestions made by the online micro-influencers or mega-influencers.
