Local SEO. Part 2: Is your business suitable for local promotion?

We continue our series of materials about local SEO. In this part, we will discuss how to determine if a local promotion strategy is right for your business. To read the first part, follow the link.

Today we will talk about the following aspects:

• How to Determine If a Local SEO Strategy is Right for You.
• About 6 types of local companies for which local SEO will be effective.
• Let's look at each type of business and highlight the problems that such companies face when promoting.

Adapted training materials and the experience of leading experts in the field of SEO were used to write the material. The article is useful for marketers and business owners who want to increase sales and improve the visibility of their local brand.

What is local SEO?

To better understand what local SEO is, let's look at the example of searching in a search engine. For example, the request “order website creation” shows two types of results:

• Regular search results (company website).
• Search results on maps (local search), which are tied to the user's geographic location.

The main difference between these types of results is that organic search results are not location-specific, while local results show businesses located near the user.

Is Local SEO Right for Any Business?

In order to effectively use local SEO, there are two key criteria to consider:

• The company must have a physical office, store or representative office with a specific address.
• The company or its employees must interact with customers personally.

It's also important to register your business with Google My Business to ensure it appears on Google Maps. Description, title and other details must be filled in as required by Google.

Types of local companies

There are 6 types of companies that can effectively use local SEO:

• Offline companies (with one location, multi-local and with different types of activities).
• Companies with field services and delivery (with one service territory and multi-territorial).
• Home business.

Offline companies

Offline companies have physical stores or offices where they sell goods or provide services. There are several subtypes in this segment:

• Companies with one location: for example, hairdressers, small shops, ateliers, dental offices.
• Multi-local companies: for example, chain stores, pharmacies, fast foods.
• Multilocal companies with different types of activities: such as networks of clinics with different areas.

Problems of promoting offline business

There are several problems for such companies:

• Geo-referencing: For example, a dentist located in one city may not appear in search results in another city, even if their services are available.
• Promotion of different types of activities: in the case of companies with branches engaged in different types of activities, the question arises of what exactly to promote - the company as a whole or individual branches.

Field service and delivery business

Companies that provide drive-thru or delivery services can cover a much wider area. Examples of such businesses:

• Delivery of pizza, sushi, water and other goods.
• Services of plumbers, electricians, home appliance repairmen.
• Babysitters, housekeepers.

Problems of promoting companies with territorial service

For these companies, there is a problem of being limited in search results if the Google My Business profile does not include all possible service territories. For example, a company that serves multiple cities may not appear in search results for cities not listed in the profile.

It is important to indicate all areas where services are provided in order to be included in the search results for clients from these areas.

Home business

Some entrepreneurs operate their business from home, listing their home address as the business address. Examples of such companies:

• Tutors.
• Manicure or tailoring specialists.
• Home nannies, massage therapists.

Local SEO Challenges for Home Businesses

For such companies, the problem is that it is not always convenient to publish the home address, as this violates the personal privacy of the owners. There is also a problem with phone calls outside of business hours.

To solve these problems, you can use business phone numbers and include only the house number in the address to maintain privacy.

In the next part, we'll show you how to create and share a Google Maps profile to effectively promote your business.

If you have any questions about local SEO, write to the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" at info@seo.computer.

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