7 Local SEO Strategies for Dominating the Hyper-Local Search Landscape

Intro

Have you ever performed a Google search to find a business near you? If so, you engaged in a local search.

Whether you added "near me" to your search term or typed in a specific city or state, you participated in a search for hyper-localized content.

But the question is, did you find what you were looking for?

If you're a local business owner, hopefully, your potential customers do‌ — ‌whenever they perform a local search for a business in your industry.

Ideally, they land on your Google Business profile (formerly Google My Business). Or, even better, your website.

If they don't, it might be time to rethink your local SEO strategy to boost your search visibility. In this article, we’ll share seven tips to help you dominate ‌local search results.

1. Do a local SEO audit

It's difficult to create a local SEO plan if you don't know where your website stands regarding local search. Are you landing on the third page of Google or page 82?

By conducting a local SEO audit, you can gauge your site's strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for improvement.

An SEO audit tool (like Google Search Console or Semrush) can help you:

• Determine if your website has incurred Google penalties.
• Check the effectiveness of your on-page SEO.
• Check if any links are broken or if you have any duplicate pages.
• Analyze organic traffic.
• Discover relevant local keywords.

Once you uncover the areas where your local SEO strategy is lacking, you can find meaningful and actionable ways to improve it. And we’ll touch on some of those strategies throughout this article.

2. Set up and/or optimize your Google Business profile

When your potential customers are looking for a local business in your industry, they might come across a Google Business (also commonly called Google My Business or GMB) profile.

Screenshot by Britney Steele

This profile features important information about local businesses, such as:

• Products or services
• Website URLs
• Star reviews from customers
• Location and address
• Phone number
• Hours of operation.

Optimizing your GMB listing can help Google better understand your business. This increases the chances of Google featuring your business prominently in local search results and landing a coveted spot in the local pack.

The local pack often appears above the organic search results (those typical blue links) that we’re used to in search results.

Here’s how to optimize your Google Business profile for best results:

• Write a strong description of your business, including the products and/or services you provide and how you can help your target customer.
• Add images and videos to boost engagement with your listing and give your target audience a visual picture of what your business does.
• Create regular posts, including event and offer posts for time-sensitive marketing campaigns. Include links and CTAs to drive traffic to your website.
• Choose appropriate categories to ensure your business appears in relevant local searches. Then select applicable attributes that represent amenities and features your business offers, such as "free Wi-Fi" or "gift shop on-site."
• Post answers to questions in the “Questions & answers” section. Include keywords in your answers to improve your Business Profile's ranking for those keywords.

If you need inspiration, perform a quick Google search and take notes from the businesses that appear at the top of the local pack.

3. Use relevant local keywords

Use the right local keywords that are relevant to your business. Ranktracker's Keyword Finder tool can help you discover popular keywords that your potential customers are using in local searches.

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The tool even shows the ranking difficulty for each keyword so that you can find keywords you have the best chances of ranking for.

If you need ideas for the keywords you should be targeting, just type a keyword that relates to what your business does and your location into Ranktracker's search bar.

For example, an event planner in Los Angeles might search "event planner in Los Angeles."

Plugging that keyword into Ranktracker's Keyword Finder will turn up a list of suggested keywords related to that search.

Follow this template for finding relevant local keywords:

• [business type/product/service] in [your location]
• [business type/product/service] [your location]
• [your location] [business type/product/service]

To further increase your chances of ranking for different search terms, use long-tail keywords.

These keywords are more specific than your typical search term, often containing modifiers like "best" or "near me."

Long-tail keywords have less search volume but can help you rank higher in the SERPs due to less competition. Plus, they illustrate a specific situation or intention from the searcher.

Targeting these keywords is often more likely to result in a purchase. Why? 56% of buyers use queries with three or more words. That's because people who use long-tail keywords know what they want and where they want it.

So, instead of trying to rank for the highly popular keyword "flower shop in Detroit," you might target "Detroit flower shop with same day delivery."

Or, instead of using the keyword "pizza restaurant in Manhattan," you might use "best pizza delivery in downtown Manhattan."

4. Create hyperlocalized content

After gathering a list of keywords to target, you can start creating hyperlocalized content that incorporates those keywords.

Gain audience trust and build authority in your industry with different types of content like case studies, customer testimonials, and blog posts with a local focus.

Here’s a perfect example from Nashville Guru, which writes specific, listicle blog posts about places to eat and drink in Nashville.

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Additionally, if you serve different locations, create product or service pages for each area. Use appropriate keywords in each of these pages to rank in the search.

Sprinkle local keywords organically and naturally throughout your content. But don't write for search engines. Write for people. This means your content should be high-quality and provide value to your audience.

Adding keywords in a way that's not keyword stuffing helps Google understand what your web pages and posts are about. It also provides a positive user experience for visitors who don’t enjoy reading spammy content.

And don't forget to add relevant keywords to your:

• Meta-titles and descriptions
• Image alt tags
• Headers (i.e. H1, H2, H3, etc.)
• Page titles
• URLs

5. Add your website to local directories

Link building is another key way to rank in the SERPs, whether there's a local focus or not.

One of the best methods for gaining backlinks for local SEO is to build your local citations.

A citation is a reference to your business that includes your basic contact information, including your business name, address, and phone number (NAP).

By listing your business in local directories, you're not only gaining relevant backlinks, but you're also increasing your chances of getting traffic.

Post your business information on Yelp, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and directories specific to your industry. And consider going beyond including your NAP.

Add information like your business description, social media platforms, reviews, photos of products, and the industries you serve.

When your local business is listed on reputable directories that gain lots of search traffic, this sends a signal to Google that your website is trustworthy and authoritative.

From there, your local search rankings can increase significantly.

This Yelp listing features The Old Triangle Pub, a local diner in Minnesota City, Minnesota. It includes the diner's website, phone number, directions, and even a way to message the business.

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6. Leverage local schema markup

Local business structured data helps search engines find all your important details on your website.

Adding this structured data to your website can increase the chances of your pages showing up in rich results like Google's Knowledge Panels, reviews, and Google Map locations.

But if search spiders don't know where to look, it can be difficult to find the information needed to categorize your content.

Schema markup language is code that you add to your website and tags the information you provide (e.g. business name, address, phone number, opening hours, etc.) so that search engine crawlers can understand it better.

Schema.org is a great resource for finding different schema property options relevant to local businesses.

Own a local coffee shop? The most relevant category to use would probably be schema.org/IceCreamShop. What about a hardware store? You'd likely use schema.org/HardwareStore.

After choosing the appropriate category for your business, select sub-properties so search engines can display as much information as possible to searchers.

These sub-properties include your URL, business name, opening hours, phone number, address, areas served, etc.

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In the screenshot above, you can see examples of different properties for local businesses to embed into their websites.

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This screenshot shows different schema markups that a restaurant has included in its website code. It shows structured data for the address, phone number, URL, opening hours, types of cuisine, and even price range.

How do you know if your structured data is‌ working? Use the Schema Markup Validator.

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Using the Schema Markup Validator, enter the webpage or post where you want to test your structured data.

For this example, Alice and Wonder, a local boutique in Chicago, has 0 errors and 0 warnings. That means the business's structured data is valid.

7. Make your website mobile-friendly

When people are on the move, they like to know where they're going. This explains why over 30% of all mobile searches are related to location.

Add that to the fact that nearly 80% of people who conduct a "near me" search on their smartphone visit a business within a day.

So, chances are a lot of your website traffic is from mobile users, which means you should be delivering a positive mobile user experience.

Sites that do tend to rank higher in the SERPs since search engines want to ensure mobile users get access to the information they need quickly and without hassle.

To create a mobile-friendly website, follow these pointers:

• Optimize page speed by compressing images and minifying CSS.
• Implement a responsive design that automatically adjusts to screen size.
• Use a font that's easy to read on smaller screens.
• Optimize forms and input fields for mobile.

To help check if your site is perfectly optimized for mobile, plug it into Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

Screenshot by Britney Steele

It’s a free and simple way to see how your page scores (read: performs) on mobile devices.

Screenshot by Britney Steele

Wrapping up

Achieving high rankings in ‌search engines is something to be proud of. But if you're a local business, your site should appear in location-specific search results.

Start optimizing your pages and posts to appeal to a local audience to generate more website traffic and, ultimately, drive more sales and conversions.